The United States of America is made up of 50 sovereign states with their own constitutions. The American electoral system is therefore quite complicated. It has largely grown historically. As the American settlements expanded, the original 13 colonies became 50 states. Today, the electoral process is governed by the Constitution of the United States of America.
The Constitution requires each state to have a republican form of government and prohibits states from violating certain rights (e.g., „No state shall … deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; or deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws“). Otherwise, the states retain considerable power. The American system may seem complicated, but it ensures that voters have a voice at all levels of government.
Government agencies
The Constitution of the United States sets out the requirements for holding federal office, but each of the 50 states has its own constitution and its own rules for holding state office.
The only elected federal officials are the president, vice president, and members of Congress – the 435 members of the House of Representatives and the 100 senators.
Election of Federal Offices
Elections for federal offices are held in even-numbered years. Presidential elections are held every four years on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. Elections for the 435 seats in the House of Representatives are held every two years. Senators serve six-year terms, staggered so that one-third of Senate seats are up for election every two years.
Each of the 50 states is entitled to one seat in the House of Representatives, with additional seats apportioned according to the population of each state.
Each state draws the boundaries of its congressional districts. States have considerable leeway in doing so, as long as the number of citizens in each district is as equal as possible. Not surprisingly, a party in power in a state will try to draw the lines to favor its own candidates for Congress.
The Senate is designed so that its members represent larger constituencies – an entire state – and each state is represented equally, regardless of population. Thus, small states have as much influence in the Senate (two senators) as large states. The two chambers of the US Congress, the House and Senate, have almost equal powers, but are elected differently.
Caucuses or Primaries
Primary elections in the United States take the form of caucuses or primaries.
Primaries: State governments fund and organize primaries like any other election: voters show up at a polling place, vote, and leave. Voting is anonymous and quick. Some states have „closed“ primaries, where only registered party members can vote. For example, only registered Democrats can vote in a closed Democratic primary. Open primaries are open to all voters, regardless of party affiliation.
Caucuses: State political parties hold caucuses in public buildings, schools, or private homes, where loyal party members speak openly for the candidates they support for the party’s nomination. These are community events where attendees vote publicly.
The parties in each state decide whether to hold primaries or caucuses, and some states have switched from one format to the other over time. Some states have both primaries and caucuses. For example, in Alaska and Nebraska, Republicans hold primaries and Democrats hold caucuses. In Kentucky, Democrats hold a primary and Republicans hold a caucus.
Transfer of power peacefully and orderly
Elections help ensure the peaceful and orderly transfer of power from citizens to their elected representatives and from those representatives to their successors. Unfortunately, this has gone very wrong in recent history.
The fathers of the American Constitution did not have political parties in mind when they drafted it. But as voting rights were broadened and the nation expanded westward, political parties emerged. Two major parties – the Democrats and the Whigs – became firmly established and powerful in the 1830s. Today, the Republicans and Democrats dominate the political process – both heirs to their 18th- and 19th-century predecessors. With few exceptions, members of the two major parties control the presidency, Congress, governorships, and state legislatures. Every president since 1852 has been either a Republican or a Democrat.
The outcome of elections in some states is historically determined. This is why some states are regarded as (mostly) Republican and others as (mostly) Democrat. This alignment is confirmed with each new election; only a few states, the swing states, have changed their voting behavior over the course of history.
To the German translaion of this article: Es ist kompliziert – So wählt Amerika