Presidential Election Event – The Presidential Election Process
The 2024 U.S. presidential election is the 60th U.S. presidential election, and the highlights are as follows:
- In April 2023, incumbent President Joe Biden and former President Trump officially announced their candidacy for the 2024 presidential election;
- On January 15, 2024, the Republican primary begins;
- On February 3, the Democratic primary begins;
- On March 5, the "Super Tuesday" primaries ended, with Biden winning the Democratic presidential primaries in 14 states and Trump winning the Republican presidential primaries in 11 states;
- On March 12, Biden locked the Democratic presidential nomination in this election, and Trump locked in the Republican presidential nomination in this election;
- On June 15, CNN released the rules for the first U.S. presidential debate, Biden had three themes in the first debate, including abortion rights, the state of democracy, and the economy, and Trump's team pointed out that immigration, public safety, and inflation were the key issues before the debate;
- On June 27, at about 21 o'clock EST (9 o'clock Beijing time on the 28th), Biden and Trump had the first closed-door televised debate in the studio of CNN headquarters in Atlanta. A CNN survey of voters who watched the debate showed that 67 percent of respondents thought Trump was doing better. Immigration remains a top concern for voters, and Biden has repeatedly lagged behind Trump on this issue. The second debate between the two sides will be hosted by ABC on September 10;
- On July 15–18, the Republican Party will hold its national convention in Milwaukee;
- On August 19-22, the Democratic Party will hold its national convention in Chicago. Party representatives from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. overseas territories will attend the meeting, and the presidential and vice presidential candidates are usually determined before the meeting, and the delegates will only complete the voting ceremony at the meeting;
- From 16 September to 9 October, there will be three debates for presidential candidates;
- Election Day is November 5 (the day after the first Monday in November of the election year), and the results of the election will be determined on that night. Since the U.S. presidential election implements the Electoral College system, presidential election day is actually the "elector" who elects the electorate who represents the electorate;
- On December 16 (the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December), the "electors" selected by each state will go to their capitals to vote and elect the president. Normally, voting in the Electoral College is a routine practice, but there have been instances in history where individual electors have not voted according to the will of their voters. - The presidential election process will not be completed until the President-elect is sworn in at the inauguration ceremony on January 20 of the following year.
The main process and institutional points of the U.S. presidential election are as follows:
1. Voter Eligibility: According to the U.S. Constitution and state laws, U.S. citizens who are at least 18 years old are eligible to vote, and voters need to register and meet the residency requirements set by each state;
2. Primary elections: Usually starting at the beginning of an election year and ending in the middle of the year, candidates from various parties compete for their party's presidential nomination; 3. National Party Convention: After the caucuse, the Democratic and Republican parties will hold their national conventions in the third quarter to finalize their presidential and vice presidential candidates, and discuss and approve their presidential election platforms. 4. Electoral College: The U.S. presidential election implements an Electoral College system, in which voters not only choose among presidential candidates, but also elect 538 electors representing 50 states and Washington, D.C., to form the Electoral College. In elections, the vast majority of states and capitals in the United States implement a "winner-takes-all" system, that is, the person who receives the most votes in a state or capital gets all the electoral votes in that state or capital, and the presidential candidate who wins 270 or more electoral votes wins the election;
5. Electoral and Electoral College Voting: Voters vote for the presidential candidate they support on Election Day, the electoral ballot is the voter's choice of the presidential candidate they support, not the candidate himself, the Electoral College votes according to the results of the state elections, and formally elects the President and Vice President, and the Electoral College vote is held on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December of the election year; 6. Election Results and Congressional Certification: The results of the Electoral College votes are presented to the governors of each state some time after the election, and then Congress convenes a special session on January 6 to formally announce the new president and vice president based on the results of the Electoral College, and then takes the oath of office at the presidential inauguration ceremony on January 20, and the entire presidential election process is finally concluded.