The US Presidential Election Process Explained

Updated Dec. 31, 2020. This post has been updated to reflect the situation after the 2020 election.

Many people still don’t fully understand the process of electing a president. And, contrary to popular belief, it is way more complex than it seems at first. So in this post, let’s go through the process of electing a president from start to finish, from nominations, to primaries, to debates, to Election Day, and to the Electoral College voting.

Nominations

The process starts over 1.5 years before the actual presidential election takes place (presidential election years occur once every four years). Not long after the midterms, campaign trails for the presidential election start. At this stage, everyone is trying to get their party’s nomination for presidential candidate. Since each party only runs one candidate per election, this process is crucial.

All persons trying to gain nomination must first meet a few basic requirements outlined in the Constitution: they must be a natural-born citizen of the U.S., been a resident for 14 years, and be at least 35 years old.

There can be dozens of people trying to gain their party’s nomination at this stage. Debates are held within parties and some candidates drop out. Only about six or seven make it to the primary elections that begin in February of each election year. During this time, hopeful nominees travel around the country trying to gain support and finances. Here are all the people who tried to become the Democratic nominee this year. The last person to drop out of the race in 2020 was Bernie Sanders, who suspended his campaign on Apr. 6, 2020, leaving Joe Biden as the presumptive nominee.

Candidates debate each other and try to advertise their policies so they can advance to the primary elections. Republicans have no debate this year as the nominee is incumbent President Trump.

Primaries

Primary elections are a series of elections (though now basically organized by states) held by each party in all 50 states and five territories, beginning in February and ending in August of every election year. Primary elections help a party filter down all hopeful presidential candidates down to just one. All U.S. states and overseas territories, as well as Washington, D.C., hold primaries. There is also usually a separate primary for Americans living abroad to vote in the primaries.

There are two main types of primary elections: closed elections and caucuses. Closed elections are simply normal elections: voters go to a polling place or request a mail ballot and fill in their choices in private. Caucuses are gatherings of people who show support to a candidate by physically being there. If a voter decides to support another one, they physically move over to another side of the room. During a caucus, nominees speak to caucusgoers to convince more people to join their side of the room. In the end, the number of people on each side or area of the room is tallied up. (Only American Samoa, Guam, Iowa, Nevada, North Dakota, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Wyoming hold caucuses. The rest hold closed elections.)

The first two primaries, and thus the most important, are the Iowa Caucuses, which occurs in early February, and New Hampshire’s primary election, usually a week or two after the Iowa Caucuses. In 2020, these two events were held on Feb. 3 and Feb. 11, respectively.

The rest of the states (and territories) hold their primaries later on. Super Tuesday is a day in late February or early March in which a large number of states host primaries. In 2020, Super Tuesday was on Mar. 3, and 15 jurisdictions (Alabama, American Samoa, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia).

Oftentimes, only registered voters with a party are allowed to vote in that party’s primaries. This is to stop opposition voters from choosing the weakest candidate and sabotaging the entire process. This is known as a closed primary. (Open primaries are open to all voters regardless of party registration, but people can only choose to vote in one.) As seen in the map below, each state runs its primaries in a different way, and the distribution of how each state runs its primaries is split between blue and red states. For instance, among states that host closed primaries, nine had Democratic state governments (Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington, D.C.), nine had Republican state governments (Alaska, Kentucky, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, and Wyoming), and one (Pennsylvania) had a divided state government.

In addition to voting for who they would like to become the nominee for the President of the United States, voters also vote for who they would like to be nominees for congressmen, senator(s), local and state government officials, and so on. Special elections and ballot measures may also be hosted alongside primaries as well.

Primaries are not outlined in the Constitution. However, they are now an inseparable part of the electoral process.

Party Conventions

In July (August in 2020 due to COVID-19), each party hosts its own convention (the Democratic National Convention, or DNC, and the Republican National Convention, or RNC). In theory, the nomination of the candidates is supposed to happen here. When voters vote in primaries, they are actually telling delegates (people appointed by the party) to vote for the candidate that won their assigned area in the state. Usually, these delegates pledge to vote for the candidate that they were assigned, although they are technically free to vote for whomever they choose.

At the convention, these delegates, along with superdelegates, usually high-ranking party officials, vote for whomever they would like to run for President of the United States. In the 2020 DNC, there were 1,344 delegates at stake. However, by this time, usually all but one candidate has dropped out of the race, so the convention is simply an extremely ceremonious occasion to rubberstamp the nominee. Usually, these conventions are simply another way for the candidate to advertise their platform.

Interestingly, though, in years past, conventions used to be extremely competitive affairs with many people fighting for their party’s nomination.

Debates and final campaign process

By now, the conventions are over and candidates may see their ratings in polls go up due to the convention bump. Heading into September and October, presidential debates occur. This is usually a series of three debates (one was canceled for the 2020 election) where the Democratic and Republican presidential candidate debates each other over campaign issues and hot topics, plus another, separate debate for the vice-presidential candidates.

These debates are very popular with voters and elections may have even been decided due to them. Over 67 million people watched the 2020 debates on television (not including online streaming).

Usually, these debates are held at a university or college lecture hall, although this year, it is likely to be moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The race now is usually very intense, with the two candidates back-to-back.

Election Day

Election day has been set by Congress to be the first Tuesday after Nov. 1, a date that falls between Nov. 2 and 8. In 2020, this day was Nov. 3. Election day is not a federal holiday, though it is a state holiday in some states. Besides voting for president, voters vote for their congressmen, senator(s), state and local government offices, special elections (if applicable), and any other voter-decided issues or positions. Senators and congressmen are elected based on the popular vote; the president is not.

Instead of directly voting for the president, state voters are actually helping a state decide how its electoral votes in the Electoral College should be cast. The Electoral College is a body of voters (appointed by states) who pledge to vote according to the state’s popular vote, which ultimately elects the President. The Electoral College is laid out in the Constitution (why it exists is not something we will get into today). This essentially makes the presidential race 51 statewide (plus Washington, D.C.) elections and explains why candidates only need to focus on certain swing/battleground states (states that could vote either way) to win, as the races in most states (like California or North Dakota) are essentially guaranteed to go one way.

All states, except Maine and Nebraska, award all the popular votes to the candidate who got the most votes. Maine and Nebraska give two electoral votes to the statewide winner, and the remainder according to how its congressional districts voted.

The map below, which can be accessed here, shows the popular vote margins for the 2020 presidential election.

Electoral College

The electors of the Electoral College meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December to cast their votes for the president (and thus vice president, since both run on a joint ticket). In 2020, the date falls on Dec. 14.

There are 538 electors: the number of senators plus the number of representatives in Congress. 270 electoral votes are needed for a candidate to win.

Although electors pledge to vote for the candidate that won in their state, in theory, they can vote for whomever they wish. Electors that don’t vote for their state’s winning candidate are called faithless electors. Faithless electors have never influenced an election, although the possibility is there. 32 states and D.C., though, do have laws preventing faithless votes, laws which have been upheld by the Supreme Court. There were no faithless electors in the 2020 election, though there were seven in 2016.

Because the Electoral College has voted for the nationwide popular vote loser four times (1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016) in history, there have been calls to eliminate the Electoral College and replace it with a more democratic system (more details here).

Should there be a 269-269 tie in the Electoral College, the vote for president goes to the House of Representatives, where each state gets one vote. This has only happened in 1800 and 1824. The Senate votes for the vice president, where each senator gets only one vote. This has only happened in 1836.

In general, however, the nationwide popular vote winner becomes the next President of the United States.

In early January after the new Congress is sworn in (this occurs on Jan. 5, 2021, for the 2020 election), Congress tallies up and certifies the electoral votes, and the president-elect will be inaugurated on noon EST on January 20 (a set date).

Although congressmen and senators can object to the certification, it is usually for show only and has no implication on the final result of the election.