The election of President and Vice President of the United States is, technically, an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty states or Washington, D.C. cast ballots for members of the U.S. Electoral College, known as electors. These electors then in turn cast direct votes, known as electoral votes, in their respective state capitals for President and Vice President. Each of the states casts as many electoral votes as the total number of Senators and House Representatives in Congress, while Washington, D.C. is represented by the same number of votes as the lowest-represented state, currently three.
In modern times, almost all electors are pledged to vote for a particular presidential candidate, thus the results of the election can generally be determined based on the state-by-state popular vote. The candidate who receives an absolute majority of electoral votes for President or Vice President is then elected to that office. If no candidate receives an absolute majority for President, the House of Representatives chooses the President; if no candidate receives a majority for Vice President, then the Senate chooses the Vice President.
These presidential elections occur quadrennial. Registered voters cast their ballots on Election Day, which since 1845 has been the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, coinciding with the general elections of various other federal, state, and local races. The Electoral College electors then schedule to formally cast their electoral votes in mid-December at their respective state capitals. Congress then certify the results in early January, and the presidential term begins on Inauguration Day, which since the passage of the Twentieth Amendment has been set at January 20.
The Electoral College and its procedure is established in the U.S. Constitution by Article II, Section 1, Clauses 2 and 4; and the Twelfth Amendment (which replaced Clause 3 after it was ratified in 1804). Under Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, the manner for choosing electors is determined by each state legislature, not directly by the federal government. Originally, many state legislatures selected their electors directly instead of using any form of popular vote, but the political parties in the various states currently conduct their own separate elections to help choose their slate of electors. The Twenty-third Amendment, ratified in 1961, then granted electoral votes to Washington, D.C. Electors can also technically vote for anyone, but unplugged electors or faithless electors have since been rare in modern times.
The nomination process, consisting of the primary elections and caucuses and the nominating conventions, was never specified in the Constitution, and was instead developed over time by the states and the political parties. The primary elections are staggered generally between January and June before the general election in November, while the nominating conventions are held in the summer. This too is also an indirect election process, where voters from each U.S. state and Washington, D.C., as well as those in U.S. territories, cast ballots for a slate of delegates to a political party's nominating convention, who then in turn elect their party's presidential nominee. Each party's presidential nominee or the convention may then choose a vice presidential running mate to join with him or her on the same ticket, and this choice is often rubber-stamped by the conventions, depending on that convention's rules. Because of changes to national campaign finance laws since the 1970s regarding the disclosure of contributions for federal campaigns, presidential candidates from the major political parties usually declare their intentions to run as early as the spring of the previous calendar year before the election (almost 18 months before Inauguration Day).
These presidential elections occur quadrennial. Registered voters cast their ballots on Election Day, which since 1845 has been the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, coinciding with the general elections of various other federal, state, and local races. The Electoral College electors then schedule to formally cast their electoral votes in mid-December at their respective state capitals. Congress then certify the results in early January, and the presidential term begins on Inauguration Day, which since the passage of the Twentieth Amendment has been set at January 20.
The Electoral College and its procedure is established in the U.S. Constitution by Article II, Section 1, Clauses 2 and 4; and the Twelfth Amendment (which replaced Clause 3 after it was ratified in 1804). Under Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, the manner for choosing electors is determined by each state legislature, not directly by the federal government. Originally, many state legislatures selected their electors directly instead of using any form of popular vote, but the political parties in the various states currently conduct their own separate elections to help choose their slate of electors. The Twenty-third Amendment, ratified in 1961, then granted electoral votes to Washington, D.C. Electors can also technically vote for anyone, but unplugged electors or faithless electors have since been rare in modern times.
The nomination process, consisting of the primary elections and caucuses and the nominating conventions, was never specified in the Constitution, and was instead developed over time by the states and the political parties. The primary elections are staggered generally between January and June before the general election in November, while the nominating conventions are held in the summer. This too is also an indirect election process, where voters from each U.S. state and Washington, D.C., as well as those in U.S. territories, cast ballots for a slate of delegates to a political party's nominating convention, who then in turn elect their party's presidential nominee. Each party's presidential nominee or the convention may then choose a vice presidential running mate to join with him or her on the same ticket, and this choice is often rubber-stamped by the conventions, depending on that convention's rules. Because of changes to national campaign finance laws since the 1970s regarding the disclosure of contributions for federal campaigns, presidential candidates from the major political parties usually declare their intentions to run as early as the spring of the previous calendar year before the election (almost 18 months before Inauguration Day).
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