Chapter 13. The Electoral System. | U.S. Government Honors.

By: John Mark Shorack, Ibis Almada, Katherine Szetu, and Paul Ji.

How the electoral process works:

The selection procedure takes place on a state-by-state basis with registered party supporters voting for candidates in a series of elections, known as primaries or caucuses, held earlier in the year. This result will determine the number of delegates each state will send to the party convention. In the primaries, every supporter gets a vote while in caucuses, groups of registered local party members meet to agree on a candidate, and then cast a vote as a group.

By June, when the last primaries are held, both parties will have selected most of their delegates for their respective conventions. At their national conventions, each party decides on their presidential candidate. Also at the conventions, each party nominates a list of supporters to serve as electors in each state. The number of electors per state is determined by population size.

When the citizens cast their votes, it doesn’t directly count towards an individual candidate. Instead, their vote goes towards a group of people called “electors,” and these people vote as a group for their state’s preferred candidate in December.

Why certain individuals choose to become presidential candidates:

The reason to become President certainly depends on the candidate and their point of view. However, many candidates have the same general reasons. Most want to become President’s because it gives them power, or they want to be remembered.

Power, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is the possession of authority or control. As President an individual will have a lot of work, but also authority. They are Commander in Chief, they are Chief of Party, and even Chief Legislator. The amount of power the President has caused many individuals to become candidates.

Many individuals as well, want to be remembered. This inspires them to become a public figure, such as the President, and be remembered pretty much forever. They will go into History books, people minds and biographies. The Presidency allows the citizens spirit to continue in the people and this drives many candidates.

Presidential candidates work really hard and are inspired to become Presidents most the time because it gives them power, and they will be remembered in their country for years to come.

What factors limit who can or will become a candidate?:

There are several factors that limit candidacy today. Candidacy is really important since from these candidates the citizens choose their rulers.

One of them is the economic resources that a party, group or an individual has. In today’s world money is a priority especially in the political world, since that money would be use for electoral campaigns, propaganda, and many other things. In addition to money, another factor that affects the candidacy process is the position the person has in the government and the amount of time he/she has been there. The seniority privilege can be consider an example of how important this is. The years of experience are a really influential factor that limits who can become a candidate. Both the citizens and the government consider experience an important characteristic in a candidate because they are more knowledgeable about governmental processes, efficiency and know what to do in certain situations.

How the caucus and primary system now results in the selection of a party nominee:

The caucus and primary system today are put by the government to help the states select their candidates for national convention. In primaries the voters choose some or all of the state party delegates for their party’s national convention and express their preference between different contenders for their party’s presidential nomination. The dates for primaries are very crazy, because every state wants early dates, hence the schedules become heavy in those days were various states are having their primaries. Name, recognition, and money are also key factors for primaries, these determine if a candidate is going to be likable.

Caucuses are held on the states that do not hold presidential primaries. These are closed meetings of members of a political party, who will get together to choose the delegates for national convention.

For our project, we had to research some of the presidential candidates from the 2008 Presidential Election.

Barack Obama:

*General background information:

Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was born of mixed ethnic parentage – American mother and a Kenyan father. He goes on to study law at Harvard Law School, and that is where he met Michelle Robinson, his future-wife-to-be. After he had graduated, he became a Senator of the state of Illinois in 1996. During these years, Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans to draft legislation on ethics and health care. In the year 2000, he ran for the seat in the House, but did not win. He regained the Senate for the state of Illinois back in 2004. In February of 2007, Obama announced that he was going to run for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. He goes on to beat Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, and goes on to beat John McCain in the national presidential election to become the first-ever African American President in the history of the United States of America.

*Point of view on major issues:

Obama supports access to abortion. Health care law requires contraceptives to be available to women.
Obama is against the wars happening in the Middle East. He ended the war in Iraq, and plans to end the one in Afghanistan.
United State will no longer use harsh interrogation techniques.
He is an advocate for women’s rights.
He has not pushed for stricter gun laws as president.
He approves of gay marriage.
He believes the working families should get a tax break, while rich people should continue paying the money they should.
Universal health care.

*Special qualities or qualifications:

He is the first African American President.
He was previously a Senator of Illinois.
He was raised in a hard environment, and by a single mother.

Hillary Clinton:

*General background information:

Hillary Clinton was born on October 26, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois. She married Bill Clinton in 1975. Later on she served as first lady from 1993 to 2001, and then as a U.S. senator from 2001 to 2009 (New York). In early 2007, Clinton announced her plans to run for the presidency. However, when she realized that Obama held the majority of the delegates vote she conceded her nomination. Yet Obama named her his Secretary of State, after winning the presidential elections. As Secretary of State, Clinton became the first First Lady to serve in a president’s cabinet.

*Point of view on major issues:

Women rights
Human rights
Supports legal and safe abortion
In favor of clean and renewable energy
Free Trade
Supports Immigrants
Pro-gun control
In favor of health care bill
Supports LGBT

*Special qualities or qualifications:

Promoted the use of social media to convey the country’s positions.
First First Lady to serve in a president´s cabinet

John McCain:

*General background information:

July 1967, he survived the first of many of his near death situations. While he was trying to take off on a bombing mission on the Vietnam war; A missile accidentally fired from a near plane, and hit his fuel tank. After this incident he had the option to go home and take a break, but he decided to keep his duty. On October of that same year, his plane was shot down during a bombing on Hanoi, North Vietnam. This caused him to eject and due to that he broke both arms and his leg. He was kept prisoner in the “Hanoi Hilton” by the North Vietnamese; where he was deprived form medical treatment and beaten. Five and a half years later he was able to return home, where he decided to continue his serving to the country and regain his naval flight position. He later retired form the Navy in 1981. He left with honors including, the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. In 2000, He run against George W. bush for presidential elections. That same year McCain was diagnosed with skin cancer; he had surgery and all cancerous tissue was removed.

*Point of view on major issues:

Values duty
Honor and service of country
Fight for reforming Washington, eliminating wasteful government spending,
Strengthening our nation’s armed forces.
Liberal views

*Special qualities or qualifications:

Liberal views
Representative of Arizona re-elected thrice
Retired from Navi with Honors
Fought for His country

Mitt Romney:

*General background information:

Mitt Romney, a Presidential candidate in 2008 and 2012, was born in Detroit, Michigan. His parents were Lenore LaFount Romney, and an ex-governor of Michigan George W. Romney. In his career as a professional he founded Bain Capital, and insurance company, was Chairman of the Republican Governors Association, and Governor of Massachusetts between 2003-2007. He is a professed Mormon. In terms of education, he got his undergraduate at Brigham Young University, and later his Masters and Law degree in Harvard.

*Point of view on major issues:

Pro-Life.
Anti-Abortion
In favor of Capital Punishment
Hardline Approach towards China.
Education is the center of the American Dream

*Special qualities or qualifications:

Clear cut values
Previous Governor of a State
Experience in elections (Lost against McCain in 2008 and for the Senate)
Businessman, knows about money.
Cares about his family.

As a group, we had to come up with some good qualifications or qualities of a good Presidential Candidate.

Charismatic / Inspiring.
Can connect with the people.
Influential.
Able to convince people.
Honest.
Experienced.
Trustworthy.
Clear values / Strong beliefs.
Responsible.
Organized.
Open minded.
Politically astute.

We also had to make a list of pros and cons of the current electoral system.

Pros:

It has a good filter so that not anyone can become a candidate.
All the conventions, meetings, and campaigning help inform the public of the candidates.
It is clear and organized, since there is already a set procedure for each things.
It requires the candidates to consider a wide range of national interests, as well as regions.
It has been used in the U.S. for a long time, so most of the people feel comfortable and informed about the whole process.
It brings many powerful and important figures in American politics together.
It evens out the difference in population and size of its states.
The decision is not only on big states because small states can also create a difference.

Cons:

The popular vote does not have the final decision over the election of the President.
The two-party system does not leave much room for a third candidate that could rise up against them
It can prevent the winner of popular vote from being elected.
Voters in less populous states have an unfair advantage since they have more electoral votes per person than larger states.
The bipartisan domination of the government prevents many potential to-be presidential candidates to not even be considered for the seat.
People will do just about anything to get the major party nomination, even if that meant lying.
It is not able to completely show national will since there is no place for more specific minority parties.

To conclude this whole project, we had to answer the question, “Does the current electoral process result in the best candidates for President?”

The current electoral process has been the way in which the presidential candidates have been selected ever since the Framers established such a system. There were obvious benefits for why the Framers constructed such a system because it filtered the candidates who were full of potential from the ones that were merely trying to do it for no good reason. Also, having such an electoral system allows for a clear and organized elections, primaries, conventions, and caucuses on many different governmental levels. However, it has come to our attention that this system of selecting our presidential candidates do not bring out the best possible pool of people to be considered for the seat.

To begin with, the United States of America is one of the best archetypes of democracy, and “democracy” is an idea, a belief, that every single person gets a chance, and that the people have the power. However, with the way the system is constructed, we believe that the very definition and the beliefs that democracy stands for get demoted because of it. The people, who should be the ones with power, are not truly electing and choosing the candidates. The bipartisan system dominates the government to an extent where if a candidate was not nominated from one of the two major parties, they had no actual chance of winning. Also, the informal qualifications which the politicians have put on presidential candidates make it vulnerable to anyone inexperienced, but are famous, to be considered for the nomination, instead of people who are actually influential, charismatic, politically astute, and would make a great president. A prototype of such abuse of prestige and fame for presidency is Ronald Reagan. He was able to become the president by utilizing the fame that he had acquired in his celebrity years. Should a person be considered for the presidency just by the fact that they were known? If that’s the case, there would be countless people that would be eligible for the nomination.

As you can obviously observe, the electoral process is flawed. If the United States, the true epitome of democracy itself, is to elect a President that is worthy of being the leader of a nation with such a title, it must reform right away in order to allow people with true potential to have a shot at becoming the presidential candidate.