Electoral system of the United States

United States - Presidential Election Methods

The President of the United States is not elected by direct popular vote, but by the Electoral College delegates appointed by each state in proportion to its population. Candidates who receive a relative majority of the votes in a state, and whose political party is affiliated with that state, may elect all of the state's Electoral College delegates. This system was created because the delegates to the Constitutional Convention at the time of the framing of the U.S. Constitution did not intend to determine the method of electing the president, so they provided a number of Electoral College delegates to each state and left it up to the states to determine their own method of selection. Today, all state electoral college delegates are popularly elected.

There are some peculiarities to this method. For example, the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the country may not receive the most electoral votes. This has happened three times in U.S. history: in 1826, 1888, and 2000. Opponents of this type of election law argue that the system is undemocratic because the person with the highest popular vote may not be able to become president. Supporters of the system argue that the presidential election law prevents regionalism. This is because a candidate who receives a slight majority of the popular vote in multiple states can outvote a candidate who receives an overwhelming majority of the popular vote in only one state. So in order to gain electoral votes, a candidate must consider the demands of all regions of the United States generally, not just some of them.

Presidential powers

The powers of the President of the United States are much greater than those held by similar offices in other countries. The powers of the President of the United States, according to Article II of the U.S. Constitution, "shall take Care that the Laws be actually executed." In order to fulfill that responsibility, the President controls the federal government's executive staff of about 4 million people, including more than 1 million active-duty military personnel. In addition to this, the president has a degree of legislative and judicial power.

U.S. cabinet members and justices are nominated by the president and approved by the U.S. Senate. The President of the United States has about six thousand personnel nominations each year.

The U.S. president has veto power over bills passed by Congress, but can override his veto if a two-thirds majority of both chambers of Congress votes to pass the bill. According to the U.S. Constitution, the president is the supreme commander of all U.S. forces, but the U.S. Constitution states that the power to declare war is vested in Congress. The president has the power to ratify treaties, but only if a two-thirds majority of the Senate agrees to do so.

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