Voter’s Guide, Part 1: US Civics 101
For many, one of the first words that comes to mind when they think of America is democracy. Leaders in America are elected by winning the most votes from the population in an election. Except that the reality of America’s democracy - or more accurately, a constitutional federal republic - is not quite so simple. Not everyone is eligible to vote, and even if you are eligible there are often additional steps that must be taken in order to actually cast a vote. Neither are leaders directly elected by voters. As has been discussed much in the news lately, the US has an electoral college system. States play a role in determining where and how your vote is counted, and just because someone wins the popular vote doesn’t mean they actually win the election. If you’re feeling confused and a little overwhelmed by all this, you’re not alone. Sadly, even in the record-high turnout election of 2020, only 66% of the eligible population actually voted, and uncertainty in how to vote is certainly a major factor for why that percentage isn’t higher. In past elections, the voter turnout rate has been even lower, and the US has a relatively low turnout rate compared to other voting nations.
image by Statista
Before I jump into a tutorial on how to vote, I’d like to cover some of the history and complexity of voting in America and shed light on how our current electoral system works. But for those of you wanting to get straight to the facts of how to vote, feel free to skip to the next section of this map.
1. Federalism and the many, many layers of government
The most well-known political elections in the US are the presidential ones, which have happened every 4 years since 1788. The headliner of elections, this is when the entire nation votes on who should next become President of the United States (POTUS). But in the US, there are many other types of elections too, all the way down to your town’s sheriff and school board members. Let’s do a quick run down:
Presidential elections: Every 4 years, to elect the POTUS. When you vote in this election, you also usually vote for members of Congress (US Senate and US House of Representatives), members of your state’s legislature, local government officials (county representatives, town mayors, judges, school board members, etc.), and ballot measures both state and local. Always on the first Tuesday of November of the election year.
Midterm elections: Also occur every 4 years, at the midpoint between presidential elections, and also always on the first Tuesday of November. So while presidential elections happened in 2012, 2016, and 2020, midterm elections happened in 2010, 2014, 2018…. These involve all the same possible electoral races except for the POTUS. Midterms and presidential elections are together referred to as federal elections.
State elections: These can happen in any year and at any time of year. They involve voting for members of your state’s legislature, the state governor, and any state-wide ballot measures.
Local elections: Just like state elections, they can happen in any year and at any time of year. These involve voting for representatives or ballot measures at the county or city level.
So to summarize, in the US we vote for a new president every 4 years, new members of Congress every 2 years, and new state and local representatives (typically) every year. That’s a lot of voting! To see what elections may be coming up in your area, check here.
image created by Wikipedia - map of the United States, showing electoral votes by state as of 2020
2. The Electoral College
Let’s talk a bit more about the presidential election, which involves a confusingly named institution called the electoral college (not actually a college). The electoral college is a political institution that becomes suddenly relevant every 4 years, before rapidly fading away from the national consciousness until the next presidential election. While there are many subtle details as to how the electoral college operates, here’s what it basically boils down to: each of the 50 US states are allotted electors equal to their number of representatives (proportional to the state’s population) plus its senators (two). As of 2020, this sums up to 538 total electors - meaning a candidate needs to win 270 electoral votes in order to become president. During the presidential election itself is when states decide which candidate will get its electoral votes, typically awarding all of them to the winner of that state’s popular vote (Maine and Nebraska are the exception) - AKA, whichever candidate gets the most total votes in that state.
What this all means is that a candidate can potentially be elected president without actually winning the overall (national) popular vote, as happened when Donald Trump won the election in 2016 with only 46% of the popular vote - 2% less than Hillary Clinton. Because Clinton’s votes were more concentrated in states she had already won, Trump was able to win the electoral vote by winning in the states needed to pass 270 electoral votes, despite receiving fewer overall votes. Due to this unusual structure for awarding votes, the electoral college may occasionally elect a candidate who loses the popular vote, a phenomenon called electoral advantage. For this reason, there have been calls for electoral reform or even for total abolishment of the electoral college altogether. As with any political issue, there are multiple perspectives on the issue.
3. Primaries and Caucuses - the election before the election
There is one more important element to US elections you should know, one which occurs before the elections discussed above. Elections as we usually think of them are called general elections, and are intended to fill a public office. But in many cases, there is first a primary election, in which voters choose which candidate they want to run in the general election itself. These are usually done by a political party basis (e.g. Democrats, Republicans), so that each party holds a primary election to determine who they will run as their candidate in the general. They also occur at different times in different states - for the presidential election they happen sometime between February to June in the same year as the general election. There are two main types of primary elections:
Open Primaries: Any voter can decide on the day of the primary election which party’s ballot they would like to vote on. This is just like a general election in which you can choose which candidate/political party to vote for.
Closed Primaries: Only those registered as a member of the political party prior to the election can vote in that party’s primary election. Thus only voters registered as Democrats can vote for candidates in the Democratic primary, and only voters registered as Republicans can vote in the Republican primary (whether no-party affiliation voters are eligible also depends on the state).
image by William H. Frey of Brookings
To find out if your state has open or closed primaries, check here. In addition, for determining each party’s presidential nominee, there is one other type of “primary election”, known as a caucus:
3. Caucuses: Voting is done by a private meeting in which voters assemble into groups representing the respective candidates, and the number of voters in each group determines the delegates a candidate receives. As of 2020, these are the states with caucuses - but note that states may switch from one system to another, so it’s best to look it up for your own state.
Despite the amount of information discussed here, we have only scratched the surface of the US electoral system. Individual states may have exceptions to the rules listed above, and it would take several books to outline the entire process for each state. However, you do not need to know all this information to vote. What’s important is to look up the rules for the state you live in (and plan to vote in) ahead of time, so you are prepared for the voting system in place and understand the results of the election. This is what we will jump into next.