Us Elections

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Brie Laura-Mihaela

US Elections Elections An election is the democratic process of selecting one person from among a group of candidates to fill a political office or other position of responsibility. The word "election" comes from the Latin root meaning "to choose." The election process is accomplished by voting. The people who are qualified to vote are called the electorate. The electorate may vote on issues as well as for candidates. For example, they may vote on tax measures or changes in the law. Elections may be decided (won) in a variety of ways. In many elections the winning candidate must win by a plurality--that is, receive more votes than any other candidate. In other elections a winning candidate must win by a majority--that is, receive more than half the total number of votes cast. Elections may be held to select officers at any level of government. In the United States, for example, mayors, county supervisors, some judges and sheriffs, members of the state legislatures, members of the U.S. Congress, and the president and vice president of the United States are elected to office. However, in some countries with parliamentary forms of government, such as the United Kingdom, typically only the members of the county and national legislatures are elected. The Electoral Process in the United States The national government establishes federal election requirements, and many of the states generally adopt the same rules and practices to reduce costs and avoid the complexity of having two different systems. For example, most states and cities hold their elections the same day as federal elections. The electoral process begins with the selection of candidates and ends with the casting of votes on Election Day. Selecting Candidates Political parties, which are made up of groups of voters who share similar political views, are an important feature of the American political system. The two major parties--the Democratic Party and the Republican Party--nominate most of the candidates who run for public office in

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the United States. There are also minor parties, or third parties, which often promote a single cause or issue. In most elections, each major party selects a candidate and supports him or her with money, advice, and publicity. For the major federal and state offices, including U.S. president, senator, representative, and governor, candidates appear on the ballot identified with a particular party. However, for judges and for many local government offices, candidates often run without any party identification. These are known as nonpartisan races. Qualifications Necessary to Run for Office Although they need not belong to a political party, candidates must meet certain minimum requirements to run for various offices. For example, according to the U.S. Constitution, to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives a candidate must have been a U.S. citizen for at least seven years, be a resident of the state (and usually the district) he or she will represent, and be at least 25 years old. To serve in the U.S. Senate, a candidate must have been a U.S. citizen for at least nine years, be a resident of the state he or she will represent, and be at least 30 years old. To become president of the United States, a candidate must have lived in the country for at least 14 years, be a natural-born U.S. citizen, and be at least 35 years old. Nominating Procedures A variety of nominating procedures are used to select candidates in the United States. Usually, any person who wants to run for an elective office must show that he or she has a minimum amount of public support. A potential candidate might have to collect a minimum number of signatures of registered voters to qualify to appear on the ballot. For many elections (and that includes the most important national and state elections), the candidates from one party compete with each other in a primary election to determine who will represent the party. Primaries are usually held a few months before the general election. Primary elections fall into two main categories: In a closed primary, only voters registered with the party can vote in that party's primary. More common is the open primary, in which voters can participate even if they are not registered with that party. For some elected positions, candidates are chosen by party caucuses 1. In the case of presidential nominations, states send representatives called delegates to each party's

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In the US, a meeting held to decide which candidate a political group will support in an election.

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presidential convention. At the convention, the delegates agree on a final candidate and publicly demonstrate their support for that candidate. Types of Elections The most important election in the United States is the general election, when Americans vote for the president and vice president and members of Congress. It takes place on Election Day (the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November), which in some states is a holiday. State and local elections are also usually held that day. Usually, if a candidate receives a majority of the votes in the general election, he or she is declared the winner. However, in a race where there may be three or more strong candidates, it is possible that no one will receive a majority of votes. In such a situation, a runoff election may be held several weeks later. The two candidates who received the most votes run against each other again, and the candidate who receives the majority of the votes is declared the winner. There are several types of elections in addition to primary, general, and runoff elections. Special elections may be held to fill an office whose occupant has died, resigned, or been recalled. An issues election, called a referendum, may be held to decide whether to accept or reject a piece of legislation. A recall election may be held to decide whether an office holder should be removed from office. If the recall election succeeds in removing the elected official, the office may be filled by appointment by the president or governor or by a special election. Frequency of General Elections Under the American political system, general elections are held in early November. The choice of that time of year has been made in the days when America was largely an agricultural society and farmers were unable to take time to vote until the fall, after the harvests had been gathered. In the United States, presidential elections are held every four years and congressional elections are held every two years (in even-numbered years). In congressional elections the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the United States Senate are elected. There are state elections for governors and other statewide officers. The term of an American governor varies with the individual state--either two or four years. The state legislatures must also be elected at regular intervals. In addition, there are county, city, and even school-board

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elections, which are of vital interest to taxpayers and parents living in school districts. Local elections are held at various times during the year. This round of federal, state, and local elections goes on in every community throughout the nation. No war or disaster has ever halted this vital function of the American electorate. A bit of history During the period between 1789 and 2004, the US has had different presidents, from different parties, some of them having won more than once. From the beginning, the Federalists had the power for 11 years, handing it over to the Democrat-Republicans for the next 24 years. After that, the presidency of the US has been switched between the Democrats (their Party was founded in 1792; a modern one was created in 1828) and the Republicans (their Party was founded in 1854), which became the main political parties in the US. Complete list of presidents between 1789 an 2004: [D] = Democrat [D-LR] = Democrat-Liberal Republican [D-P] = Democrat-Populist [D-R] = Democrat-Republican [F] = Federalist [N-R] = National-Republican [P] = Progressive [R] = Republican [W] = Whig

1789, 1792 1796 1800, 1804 1808, 1812 1816, 1820 1824 1828, 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860, 1864 1868, 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896, 1900 1904 1908 1912, 1916 1920 1924

G. Washington [F] John Adams [F] Thomas Jefferson [D-R] James Madison [D-R] James Monroe [D-R] John Quincy Adams [Coalition] Andrew Jackson [D] Martin Van Buren [D] William Henry Harrison [W] James K. Polk [D] Zachary Taylor [W] Franklin Pierce [D] James Buchanan [D] Abraham Lincoln [R] Ulysses S. Grant [R] Rutherford B. Hayes [R] James Garfield [R] Grover Cleveland [D] Benjamin Harrison [R] Grover Cleveland [D] William McKinley [R] Theodore Roosevelt [R] William H. Taft [R] Woodrow Wilson [D] Warren G. Harding [R] Calvin Coolidge [R]

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1928 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944 1948 1952, 1956 1960 1964 1968, 1972 1976 1980, 1984 1988 1992, 1996 2000 2004

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Herbert C. Hoover [R] Franklin D. Roosevelt [D] Harry S. Truman [D] Dwight D. Eisenhower [R] John F. Kennedy [D] Lyndon B. Johnson [D] Richard M. Nixon [R] Jimmy Carter [D] Ronald Reagan [R] George Bush [R] William J. Clinton [D] George W. Bush [R] George W. Bush [R]

2008 US Elections General information. The United States presidential election of 2008, scheduled for Tuesday, November 4, will be the 56th consecutive quadrennial United States presidential election and will select the President and the Vice President of the United States. The two major parties' candidates have been officially chosen: John McCain, the senior United States Senator from Arizona, for the Republican Party and Barack Obama, the junior United States Senator from Illinois, for the Democratic Party. The Libertarian Party has nominated former congressman Bob Barr, and the Constitution Party has nominated pastor and radio talk show host Chuck Baldwin. Cynthia McKinney is leading the Green Party's primaries. Ralph Nader declined to seek the Green Party nomination and was running as an independent candidate. The election will coincide with the 2008 Senate elections in thirty-three states, House of Representatives elections in all states, and gubernatorial elections in eleven states, as well as various state referendums and local elections. As in the 2004 presidential election, the allocation of electoral votes to each state will be based partially on the 2000 Census2. The president-elect and vice president-elect are scheduled to be inaugurated on January 20, 2009.

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Also known as the Twenty-Second United States Census. The population is enumerated every ten years and the results are used to allocate Congressional Seats (congressional apportionment), electoral votes and government program funding.

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List of Candidates for the 2008 Elections: Presidential candidate Gene Amondson Chuck Baldwin Bob Barr Róger Calero Gloria La Riva John McCain (nominee) Brian Moore Ralph Nader Barack Obama (nominee) TBD

Party Prohibition Constitution Libertarian Socialist Workers Socialism & Liberation Republican Socialist Independent Democratic Green

The two major candidates. General election matchups find John McCain trailing the Democratic candidates. Obama holds a slight 47%-44% over McCain, which is narrower than his six-point advantage in both April and March. Looking ahead to the fall election, a critical question is how independent voters will break, and the evidence so far is decidedly mixed. In an Obama-McCain matchup, independent voters today are evenly divided, with 44% favoring each candidate. A month ago, Obama held a sizable advantage over McCain among independents. But a month before that - in March McCain held a seven-point advantage over Obama. Solid majorities of both Obama and McCain supporters see their choice as a vote for their favored candidate and not as a vote against his opponent. Obama receives more positive support than any Democratic candidate in the past two decades. Fully three-quarters of voters who back Obama in a matchup against McCain view their vote as being for the Illinois senator, rather than against his Republican rival. By contrast, on the eve of the 2004 election, just 43% of John Kerry backers said they were voting for him while 50% were more motivated by their disapproval of George W. Bush. Affirmative support for McCain mirrors the support Bush received in his first bid for the White House in 2000. Fully 64% of McCain voters say their choice is pro-McCain, the same percentage as characterized their choice as being pro-Bush eight years ago. About one-third of those who back the Arizona senator say their vote is anti-Obama (32%).

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John McCain. He was born on August 29, 1936, in the Panama Canal Zone. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy. McCain had a 22-year naval career. He served in Vietnam, where he was a prisoner of war for more than five years, and received many naval honors for his service. McCain's wife, Cindy McCain, has been active in many international humanitarian organizations. John McCain is currently a senator representing Arizona, would be the oldest president of the United States if elected. He has been serving in the Senate since 1986 and he is known for championing legislation that reformed elections financing and lobbying laws. McCain was also a presidential candidate in 2000, but lost the nomination to George W. Bush.

Barack Obama. He was born on August 4, 1961, in Hawaii and has lived in many places, including Indonesia. Obama attended Columbia University in New York and earned a law degree at Harvard University in Massachusetts. His wife, Michelle Obama, also worked as a lawyer and later for the University of Chicago. Barack Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, would be the first African-American president of the United States if elected. He has been serving in the Senate since 2004 and he introduced bipartisan legislation that allows Americans to learn online how their tax dollars are spent. He also serves on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, which helps oversee the care of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Previously, Obama worked as a community organizer and civil rights attorney in Chicago, and served for eight years in the Illinois State Senate.

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Impressions of Candidates. The long primary season has taken a toll on voters' views of John McCain and Barack Obama. For the first time since the campaign began, about the same proportion expresses an unfavorable opinion of McCain (45%) as a favorable opinion (48%). And Obama's image, while on balance still positive, has grown increasingly negative over the past few months; just over half (51%) view him favorably, compared with 59% in late February. Unfavorable ratings of Obama have risen from 35% to 42% over the same period. Reasons for Unfavorable Views. Most voters who express unfavorable views of Barack Obama and John McCain say they dislike the candidates' political beliefs the most, but Obama is also hurt by voters' personal criticism of him. Just over half of voters who hold negative opinions of Obama dislike the Democratic candidate's take on issues, but a considerable minority says his personal attributes are at least partly to blame. In contrast, opposition to McCain is more uniformly guided by political disagreement - nearly three-quarters of voters who hold unfavorable views of McCain say his political beliefs are the reason they do not like him. White working-class critics of McCain are the most likely to say the negative image they have of him reflects a personal dislike - more than a quarter of whites with a high school education or less who express an unfavorable opinion of McCain cite the kind of person he is; other say both personal attributes and politics are a factor. By comparison, only 9% of white Obama critics who attended college cite personal reasons, while about six-in-ten say they dislike the Democratic candidate's political views and 16% say it is both personal and political. Impressions of Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama. At this point in the presidential campaign, nearly half of Americans say they have heard nothing at all about Cindy McCain, John McCain's wife. Barack Obama's wife has been far more visible - about three-quarters have heard at least a little about Michelle Obama, including about one-in-five who say they have heard a lot about her. However, opinions of Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain are divided along racial lines. More black voters have an unfavorable view of Mrs. McCain than have a favorable view; among white voters, almost half have a positive opinion of Cindy McCain and just 13% have a negative view. More than seven-in-ten black voters have a favorable opinion of Michelle Obama, but just 41% of whites do. And Mrs. Obama's favorable ratings are somewhat lower among white voters with a high school education or less; 35% in that group have a positive opinion, compared with 45% of white voters who have attended college.

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Who will win? According to a Poll carried out in May, Barack Obama now runs about even against the Republican nominee, John McCain. Previously, Obama had led McCain by modest margins in three surveys conducted since late February. General Election: McCain vs. Obama

All registered Voters: McCain 44% Obama 47% Among Independents McCain 44% Obama 44% Favorability: All Registered Voters McCain: Favorable 48% Unfavorable: 45% Obama: Favorable: 51% Unfavorable: 42% In our opinion, Obama will win the elections. He would be a better president and many American people are aware of this. McCain rarely talks about his own Vietnam era heroism. But that story can only remind us of the extraordinary courage and integrity that McCain showed under the most trying conditions possible. McCain's courage doesn't entitle him to be President, of course. When a person claims that he should be elected President of the United States on his foreign policy knowledge and experience, and doesn’t have a clue about the differences between Shia and Sunni, three times in two days pushing the definitively false statement that the terrorist group Al-Qaeda was getting assistance from Iran, even though he was publicly ridiculed for the same false assertion the day before, it means that he is confused. Confusion is not a quality for a President.

In addition to this, although many people call him “a liberal”, he is far from being one. McCain's "maverick" tendencies have long annoyed many Republicans. Apparently, one of four Republicans rejects McCain. McCain has spent the last four years arguing that Bush needs to be more aggressive in Iraq and argued for a troop "surge" years before anyone used the word. He seems to be a person who strongly supports the use of force in political relationships rather than discussion or other more peaceful solutions. After 9/11, McCain said to their enemies:

"May God have mercy on you because we won’t."

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Bibliography: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/votes/index.html#source http://ap.grolier.com/browse?type=pep#elections http://people-press.org/ http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html http://en.wikipedia.org/ http://uspolitics.america.gov/uspolitics/elections/candidates.html http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/017301.php G. Brown Tindall, and D. E. Shi, America – O istorie narativă, vol. III, Ed. Enciclopedică, Bucharest, 1996

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