Le système électoral américain

The Electoral college system

It is the system that every four years, the United States uses to choose the new president and the vice president.

The president of the United States is elected by indirect universal suffrage, via presidential electors. Thus, it is not directly the citizens who vote for their president.

The day of the election for the citizens, “the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November”, they choose a president but in reality, they vote for electors affiliated to a particular candidate. For example, if Donald Trump takes away the majority of votes in California, the 55 electors of the state will be the ones selected before by the republican party. The electors are chosen state by state, and are selected by the political party or by the candidates for the presidency.

When the electors vote, they follow the popular vote most of the time, and vote for the candidate for whom they were elected.

There are currently a total of 538 electors, corresponding to the 435 representatives, the 100 senators, plus three electors for the District of Columbia. Every state has electors corresponding to the number of senators and representatives within this state. They are representatives of the inhabitants. They are the Electoral College who will elect the new president. In order for a candidate to win presidency, he must obtain 270, or the majority of the electoral college votes.

With that system, it is possible to become president without having the majority of votes, because the population determines the number of electors. It is the case of the California for example, because it is the most populated state in the US with 38 million of inhabitants. She have 55 electors while smaller states like Alaska got only 3.

There are certain states who have a long history voting for a particular party. These are known as “safe states”, while others are (tidering ?? ) between parties and are called “swing states “

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