Explaining the US Presidential Elections

[Smokey]

Ok so you'd pretty much have to be living under a rock not to know the US presidential elections are taking place today.... Honestly it's been on every second here on news etc.. I can't imagine what it must be like for you guys over there.

But to be honest i really don't understand American politics ( i'm afraid i'm quite simple on this), i mean here in the UK when we have our general election we vote for whose going to represent usfrom our constituents in parliament- & the party with the most is in charge basically ( a very simplistic take & hopefully i haven't gone & got that wrong lol). But how does it work over there? Is it pretty much the same? If Democrats/Republicans have the most in Congress then there leader ( Obama/Romney) goes into the White house? & what is Congress exactly?

Forgive me for sounding so dumb on this but i really don't understand US politics but want to, yet when i watch clips of the election or read up on it i just cannot digest all the information.

Is it just one election day there? Over here come election day that's it polling stations close votes counted etc.. But do some states vote on different days? I looked up the timeline on Wikipedia & wow i think i've just completely confused myself even more.

If you lovely lot could help i would be ever so appreciative

[tma]

Every year there are elections in the US

every 4 years there is a Presidental election

Congressional elections

2 branches

Senate (# of senators are determined by the population of the state)- these elections rotate so that only 1/3 of the senators are up for re-election at one time - the terms are 6 years

House of Representatives- (2 per state)- terms are 2 years - all are held every two years

Governor of the state- different states have votes different years- 6 year term.

Local elections- vary

Everyone votes on the first Tuesday in November- you vote on all elections that are being held in your district (from President down to local level).

Majorities (in either the House of Representatives or the Senate- or even both) do Not determine who is going to be President- supposedly we the people do.... which is true... to an extent. However, it isn't quite as simple as a strict number of votes- in part due to wanting to balancing the competing interests of a variety of states, and in part because our founding fathers did not trust the "common man"- we have an "electoral college" - these group of people vote for candiates based on the popular votes... I know that there are different numbers of electoral college representives for different state- based on population. This is why "swing states"- are Crucial in US Presidental elections- ("swing states" being states whose popular votes tend to be unpredicatable in terms of party).

Electoral college= confusing and there has been an election where the president who won the popular vote did Not win the election because of the electoral college. And then there was the horrible debacle of 2000 where because it was SO close and there were recounts and nonsense- we didn't have a winner for literally months. I wish I could explain the electorial college better- but... it sort of confuses me a bit.

Anyway... the President can still be elected from one party even if both houses of Congress have a majority of a different party. When that happens it is Really tough because there tends to be a executive vs. legislative branch "war".

Ok... Sorry for the total research paper thing here- it was nice to write about something political that wasn't "Just stop the non-stop rhetoric!". Yay!!

[vote_for_pedro]

Senate (# of senators are determined by the population of the state)- these elections rotate so that only 1/3 of the senators are up for re-election at one time - the terms are 6 years

House of Representatives- (2 per state)- terms are 2 years - all are held every two years

Isn't that backwards? House is determined by population, and each state has 2 senators?

Senate is considered the higher house. Which is why Hilary ran for NY senate rather than Arkansas. She was plowing her path to the presidency.

[tma]

You're right.... I totally arsed that one up. As I was reading that now- I thought- "Duh!! "Representatives"- represent based on population" Which... I did know at one point- just not prior to typing

*and you Know that I agree w/ you on the latter comment *

[Dusty15]

Yes, every state has two Senators and it's generally more prestigious and influential. Senators have 6 year terms and much more individual influence and power. Reps have 2 year terms. There's approx. 435 Representatives (sometimes States gain/lose them based on population changes, etc) and always 100 Senators. Senate has more influential responsibilities like confirming Supreme Court appointments. The restrictions to be a Senator are much stricter than they are to be a Representative.

The day to vote is the 1st Tues in November but most places have early voting which allows you to cast a ballot up to 2 weeks before the election.

[Smokey]

Thank you, you lovely lovely people for trying to help me understand.... I must admit i still don't quite get it but i guess that's natural.

One question though, with the outcome- does the power lie firmly with the Democrats or is the congress very divided? Like how over here no party had a majority at the last election.

I do apologise for sounding so dense... I just don't understand how US politics works lol

[count tiszula]

From a UK viewpoint one way of looking at it [correct me, Americans] is that after their revolution the Americans just adopted the C18 British government system but inexplicably decided to omit all proper hereditary principles.

So the King became the President. He appoints his own cabinet [never mentioned by the news here ] and indeed has huge control over government which would never be possible here for any single person. The Lords became the Senate and the Commons the Representatives, and here I get a bit confused because Parliament [ie Congress] seems to be completely irrelevant to government. They appear to sit in a vacuum passing endless laws which have nothing to do with government .

So Congress is still divided, but this does not seem to prevent the President's own government getting on with things. And as I understand it, if a crisis occurs, the President cannot dissolve Congress and call an election, as Her Maj would do here.## Hmm, I expect that is even more confusing.......

[stephab13]

Wow. This is... way more confusing than I thought it would be!

... The only thing I've been told about American politics is that apparently every election, around 2% of the votes go to Mickey Mouse or some form of cartoon

I'm wondering, though - we all hear about republicans and democrats... do you guys have independents?

Back Down Under - and I'm assuming in Britain, too - we do get MPs that go as an independent, or with a smaller unaffiliated party, like the Greens - and these guys were crucial for the Labour Party to take government this election for us - and I think that's what happened last time in Britain too, yes?

Not that it's really a big deal for you guys, but do you have independent senators and representatives, etc? Or do people just have to... pick a side? And are there smaller parties too?

... Slightly offtrack, but still :-)

[DragonDust]

We so have independents, yeah. I think the Senate has.. two independent members right now, not sure on the House of Reps. There are also 3rd parties like the Libertarian Party and Green Party. Gary Johnson was the libertarian presidential candidate and had some muted support, I don't really know enough about the guy. I think he's more fiscally conservative but socially open. Sounds nice but as 3rd party candidates are pretty much always turned away at debates and don't have much in the way of advertising campaigns, exposure is kinda low.

[Smokey]

We only have one Green MP in our parliament over her, though i'm not sure of the Scottish parliament or Welsh/Northern Ireland Assemblies mind you. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats formed a coalition after the 2010 general election left no party with an overall majority, the Conservatives where the closest party with 307 seats- each party needs at least 326 i think ( though correct me if i'm wrong someone). So the Lid Dems joining up made up that balance.

So are there any Green or Libertarian Senate's? Any in the Congress? It does seem from an outside point of view- certainly the way the UK media play it out, is that you only have Democrats & Republicans, though i suspect what with them being the two main parties who'll get in there the ones that will always get the focus.

Actually Count de tisza that makes pretty good sense, except would you say that the President role is basically The Queen & Prime Minister roles rolled into one?... And that certainly is an awful lot of power for one person...

[tma]

President is only *one* branch of our government- executive- has power of veto on bills (which can still pass with 2/3rds vote of Congress), has powers to send troops (although not to "officially" declare war), and is figure head and representative of country.

Congress is legislative branch creates bills and generally passes bills into law

Supreme Court- judical branch- decides on Constitutionality issues of law (can also amend Constitution- ex: giving women the right to vote, outlawing slavery).