How the US elections work?

As a politics student, one of my biggest battlefields was trying to figure out how the US elections work. In the UK, it's a lot simpler. We have House of Commons and House of Lords. We elect MPs from our constituencies into the House of Commons to represent us. Within the party that has the largest number of MPs in the Commons, they pick a Prime Minister which forms a government. If there is no majority, parties form a coalition. However, in the US it is completely different. 

President of the USA

First of all, how do you become the president? The requirements by the US constitution is that the president has to be a natural born citizen, a minimum age of 35 years and a US resident for 14 years. These people who want to become president arrange themselves according to the political party which best coincides with their beliefs and ideas about how government should work. 

The first step is known as the primaries and caucuses. Candidates from each political party campaign through the country to win the favour of their party members. A caucus is a meeting of the local members of a political party to select delegates to the national party convention. A caucus is a substitute for a primary election. In a caucus, party members select the best candidate through a series of discussions and votes. In a primary, party members vote for the best candidate that will represent them in the election. 

Then comes the national conventions which you will have seen on TV recently. Each party holds a national convention to select a final presidential nominee. At each convention, the presidential candidate chooses a Vice Presidential candidate. These presidential candidates campaign throughout the country to win the support of the population. 

People vote for these presidential candidates through electors. In the Electoral College system, each state gets a certain number of electors based on the number of congressional districts they have, plus two additional votes representing the state's Senate seats. The process of nominating electors varies by state and by party, but is generally done one of two ways. They can either be chosen at national conventions or voted for by the party's central committee. While the number of electoral votes a state is assigned somewhat reflects its population, the minimum of three votes per state means that the relative value of electoral votes varies across America. The least populous states like North and South Dakota and the smaller states of New England are overrepresented because of the required minimum of three electoral votes. 

In order to be one of the electors for a state, you have to be chosen in each State by the political party before the election. Then during the general election, the voters in each State select their State's electors by casting their ballots. The first part is controlled by political parties in each State and the parties either nominate slates of potential electors at their party convention or they chose them by a vote of the party's central committee. The first part results in each Presidential candidate having their own unique slate of potential electors. The second part happens during the general election, when the voters in each State casts votes for the Presidential candidate of their choice they are voting to select their State's electors. The potential electors' names may or may not appear on the ballot below the name of the Presidential candidates, depending on election procedures and ballot formats in each state. 

This means that when you a person votes, they are not voting for the President. They are telling their State which candidate you want your State to vote for at the meeting of electors. The States use these general election results (also known as the popular vote) to appoint their electors. In 48 states and Washington, the winner gets all the electoral votes for that state. Maine and Nebraska assign their electors using a proportional system. A candidate needs the vote of at least 270 electors - more than half of all electors - to win the president election. This means that all 55 of California's electoral votes go to the winner of the state election, even if the margin of the victory is only 50.1% to 49.9%. 

If no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the Presidential election leaves the Electoral College process and moves to Congress. The House of Representatives elects the President from the 3 Presidential candidates who received the most electoral votes. Each State delegation has one vote and it is up to the individual States to determine how to vote. A candidate must receive at least 26 votes to be elected. The Senate elects the Vice President from the 2 Vice Presidential candidates with the most electoral votes. Each Senator casts one vote for Vice President. A candidate must receive at least 51 votes to be elected. 

This year all the states conduct their general elections on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Then electors - the people who will vote in the Electoral College - are chosen based on the victor in the election. The States' electors meet in the state capitals on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December - this year that is December 14, and cast their ballots for president and vice president. They then send those off to Capitol Hill by December 23. 

House of Representatives and Senate 

Established by Article 1 of the Constitution, the Legislative Branch consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which together form the United States Congress. The Constitution grants Congress the sole authority to enact legislation and declare war, the right to confirm or reject many Presidential appointments, and substantial investigative powers. 

The House of Representatives is made up of 435 elected members, divided among the 50 states in proportion to their total population. In addition, there are 6 non-voting members, representing the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and four other territories of the US. The presiding officer of the chamber is the Speaker of the House, elected by the Representatives. He or she is third in the line of succession to the Presidency. 

Members of the House are elected every 2 years and must be 25 years of age, a US citizen for at least 7 years, and a resident of the state they represent. 

On the other hand, the Senate is composed of 100 Senators, 2 for each state. Until the ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913, Senators were chosen by state legislatures, not by popular vote. Since then, they have been elected to 6 year terms by the people of each state. Senator's terms are staggered so that about one-third of the Senate is up for reelection every 2 years. The Vice President of the US serves as President of the Senate and may cast a decisive vote in the event of a tie in the Senate/ 

The Senate has the sole power to confirm those of the President’s appointments that require consent, and to ratify treaties. There are, however, two exceptions to this rule: the House must also approve appointments to the Vice Presidency and any treaty that involves foreign trade. The Senate also tries impeachment cases for federal officials referred to it by the House. 

In order to pass legislation and send it to the President for his signature, both the House and the Senate must pass the same bill by majority vote. If the President vetoes a bill, they may override his veto by passing the bill again in each chamber with at least two-thirds of each body voting in favor.

Ultimately, the US electoral process is complicated but it is vital to understand it in order to know where inequalities lie within it. More people tend to vote for those to represent them in Congress when the election coincides with the Presidential election rather than in the mid term elections. Democrats have held a majority in the US House of Representatives since the 2018 elections, while Republicans have held control of the US Senate since the 2014 elections. This shows how the voting public can tactically vote in the mid term elections in order to signal their dissatisfaction with the president. A majority of the opposition party of the President in the House of Representatives can ultimately make it harder for him to pass through bills.