United States presidential election

United States presidential elections determine who serves as president and vice president of the United States for four-year terms, starting at midday on Inauguration Day, which is January 20 of the year after the election.

The most recent election occurred on November 2, 2004. The next election is scheduled for November 4, 2008. Elections are held on Election Day—the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every fourth year.

Technically the election is done by electors who are chosen by vote of the people. The electors can vote for anyone but with rare exceptions they vote for the designated candidates and their votes are certified by Congress in early January. The Congress is the final judge of the electors; the last serious dispute was in 1877.

1 How elections are administered
2 Ballot candidates
3 1824 scenario
4 Presidential election trends
5 Results
6 Voter turnout
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] How elections are administered

The election of the president is governed by Section 1 of Article Two of the United States Constitution, as amended by Amendments XII, XXII, and XXIII. The president and vice president are elected on the same ticket by the U.S. Electoral College, whose members are elected directly from each state; the president and vice president serve four-year terms.

Elections take place every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November (although in many states early and absentee voting begins several weeks before Election Day). The elections are run by local election boards who ensure the fair and impartial nature of the election and prevent tampering of the results.

[edit] Ballot candidates

Voters are required to vote on a ballot where they select the candidate of their choice. The presidential ballot is actually voting "for the electors of a candidate" meaning that the voter is not actually voting for the candidate, but endorsing members of the Electoral College who will, in turn, directly elect the President.

Many voting ballots allow a voter to "blanket vote" for all candidates in a particular political party or to select individual candidates on a line by line voting system. Which candidates appear on the voting ticket is determined through a legal process known as ballot access. Usually, the size of the candidate's political party and the results of the major nomination conventions determine who is pre-listed on the presidential ballot. Thus, the presidential election ticket will not list every single candidate running for President, but only those who have secured a major party nomination or whose size of their political party warrants having been formally listed. Laws are in effect to have other candidates pre-listed on a ticket, provided that a sufficient number of voters have endorsed the candidate, usually through a signature list. Never, however, in U.S. history has a 3rd party candidate for president secured a place on the election ticket in this fashion.

The final way to be elected for president is to have one's name written in at the time of election as a write-in candidate. This is used for candidates who did not fulfill the legal requirements to be pre-listed on the voting ticket. It is also used by voters to express a distaste for the listed candidates, by writing in a ridiculous candidate for president such as Mickey Mouse or Darth Vader. In any event, a write-in candidate has never won an election for President of the United States.

[edit] 1824 scenario

An 1824 scenario occurs when no candidate receives enough electoral votes to win the election. In such a case, the president and vice president are chosen as per the 12th Amendment. The selection of president is decided by a ballot of the House of Representatives. For the purposes of electing the president, each state only has one vote. A second ballot of the Senate is held to choose the vice president. In this ballot, each senator has one vote. The 1824 scenario is named for the presidential election of 1824, in which Andrew Jackson received a plurality, but not a majority, of electoral votes cast. 1824 is the only presidential election in which this provision of the 12th Amendment for presidential selection has been invoked. In all other presidential elections since the amendment's ratification, one candidate has received a majority of electoral votes cast.

[edit] Presidential election trends

In recent decades, one of the presidential nominees of the Democratic and Republican parties has almost always been an incumbent president or a sitting or former vice president. In fact, the 2008 election is an open race, and it is the first time since the 1952 election and only the second time since the 1928 election in which neither a vice president nor a sitting President will be either party's nominee.

When the candidate has not been a president or vice president, presidential nominees of the three main parties have been state Governors or U.S. Senators. The last nominee from either party who had not previously served in such an office was General Dwight D. Eisenhower who won the Republican nomination and ultimately the presidency in the 1952 election.

Contemporary electoral success has favored state governors. Of the last five presidents (Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush), only George H.W. Bush had never been governor of a state. Geographically, these presidents were all from either very large states (California, Texas) or from a state south of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of Texas (Georgia, Arkansas). The last sitting U.S. Senator to be elected president was John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts in 1960. The only other sitting senator to be elected was Warren G. Harding in 1920, whereas major-party candidate Senators Andrew Jackson (1824), Lewis Cass (1848), Stephen Douglas (1860), Barry Goldwater (1964), George McGovern (1972), Walter Mondale (1984), Bob Dole (1996), and John Kerry (2004) all lost their elections.

[edit] Results

Election year	Winner	Other Major Candidates^[1]
1789	George Washington	John Adams (none) John Jay (none) Robert H. Harrison (none) John Rutledge (none)
1792	George Washington	John Adams (Federalist) George Clinton (Democratic-Republican)
1796	John Adams (Federalist)	Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) Thomas Pinckney (Federalist) Aaron Burr (Democratic-Republican) Samuel Adams (Democratic-Republican) Oliver Ellsworth (Federalist) George Clinton (Democratic-Republican)
1800	Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)	Aaron Burr (Democratic-Republican) John Adams (Federalist) Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (Federalist)
1804	Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)	Charles C. Pinckney (Federalist)
1808	James Madison (Democratic-Republican)	Charles C. Pinckney (Federalist)
1812	James Madison (Democratic-Republican)	DeWitt Clinton (Federalist/Peace)
1816	James Monroe (Democratic-Republican)	Rufus King (Federalist)
1820	James Monroe (Democratic-Republican)	(not opposed)
1824	John Quincy Adams‡ (Democratic-Republican)	Andrew Jackson‡ (Democratic-Republican) William H. Crawford (Democratic-Republican) Henry Clay (Democratic-Republican)
1828	Andrew Jackson (Democrat)	John Quincy Adams (National Republican)
1832	Andrew Jackson (Democrat)	Henry Clay (National Republican) William Wirt (Anti-Masonic) John Floyd (Nullifiers)
1836	Martin Van Buren (Democrat)	William Henry Harrison (Whig) Hugh Lawson White (Whig) Daniel Webster (Whig) Willie P. Mangum (A Whig, but votes received from Nullifiers)
1840	William Henry Harrison (Whig)	Martin Van Buren (Democrat)
1844	James Polk† (Democrat)	Henry Clay (Whig) James G. Birney (Liberty Party)
1848	Zachary Taylor (Whig)	Lewis Cass (Democrat) Martin Van Buren (Free Soil Party)
1852	Franklin Pierce (Democratic)	Winfield Scott (Whig) John P. Hale (Free Soil Party)
1856	James Buchanan† (Democratic)	John C. Fremont (Republican) Millard Fillmore (American Party/Whig)
1860	Abraham Lincoln† (Republican)	Stephen Douglas (Democrat (northern)) John C. Breckinridge (Democrat (southern)) John Bell (Constitutional Union (Whig))
1864	Abraham Lincoln (Republican)	George McClellan (Democrat)
1868	Ulysses Grant (Republican)	Horatio Seymour (Democrat)
1872	Ulysses Grant (Republican)	Horace Greeley (Democrat/Liberal Republican)
1876**	Rutherford Hayes‡ (Republican)	Samuel Tilden‡ (Democrat)
1880	James Garfield† (Republican)	Winfield S. Hancock (Democrat) James B. Weaver (Greenback)
1884	Grover Cleveland† (Democrat)	James Blaine (Republican) Benjamin Franklin Butler (politician) (Greenback/Anti-Monopolist) John Pierce St. John (Prohibition)
1888	Benjamin Harrison‡ (Republican)	Grover Cleveland‡ (Democrat) Clinton B. Fisk (Prohibition) Alson J. Streeter (Union Labor)
1892	Grover Cleveland† (Democrat)	Benjamin Harrison (Republican) James B. Weaver (Populist Party) James Bidwell (Prohibition)
1896	William McKinley (Republican)	William Jennings Bryan (Democrat/Populist Party)
1900	William McKinley (Republican)	William Jennings Bryan (Democrat) John G. Woolley (Prohibition)
1904	Theodore Roosevelt (Republican)	Alton B. Parker (Democrat) Eugene Debs (Socialist) Silas C. Swallow (Prohibition)
1908	William Howard Taft (Republican)	William Jennings Bryan (Democrat) Eugene Debs (Socialist) Eugene W. Chafin (Prohibition)
1912	Woodrow Wilson† (Democrat)	Theodore Roosevelt (Progressive) William Howard Taft (Republican) Eugene Debs (Socialist) Eugene W. Chafin (Prohibition)
1916	Woodrow Wilson† (Democrat)	Charles Evans Hughes (Republican) Allan L. Benson (Socialist) Frank Hanly (Prohibition)
1920	Warren Harding (Republican)	James M. Cox (Democrat) Eugene Debs (Socialist) Parley P. Christensen (Farmer-Labor)
1924	Calvin Coolidge (Republican)	John W. Davis (Democrat) Robert M. La Follette, Sr. (Progressive/Socialist)
1928	Herbert Hoover (Republican)	Alfred E. Smith (Democrat)
1932	Franklin Roosevelt (Democrat)	Herbert Hoover (Republican) Norman Thomas (Socialist)
1936	Franklin Roosevelt (Democrat)	Alfred Landon (Republican) William Lemke (Union)
1940	Franklin Roosevelt (Democrat)	Wendell Willkie (Republican)
1944	Franklin Roosevelt (Democrat)	Thomas Dewey (Republican)
1948	Harry Truman† (Democrat)	Thomas Dewey (Republican) Strom Thurmond (States' Rights Democratic) Henry Wallace (Progressive)
1952	Dwight Eisenhower (Republican)	Adlai Stevenson (Democrat)
1956	Dwight Eisenhower (Republican)	Adlai Stevenson (Democrat)
1960	John Kennedy† (Democrat)	Richard Nixon (Republican)
1964	Lyndon Johnson (Democrat)	Barry Goldwater (Republican)
1968	Richard Nixon† (Republican)	Hubert Humphrey (Democrat) George Wallace (American Independent)
1972	Richard Nixon (Republican)	George McGovern (Democrat) John G. Schmitz (American)
1976	Jimmy Carter (Democrat)	Gerald Ford (Republican)
1980	Ronald Reagan (Republican)	Jimmy Carter (Democrat) John Anderson (Independent) Ed Clark (Libertarian)
1984	Ronald Reagan (Republican)	Walter Mondale (Democrat)
1988	George H. W. Bush (Republican)	Michael Dukakis (Democrat)
1992	Bill Clinton† (Democrat)	George H. W. Bush (Republican) H. Ross Perot (Independent)
1996	Bill Clinton† (Democrat)	Bob Dole (Republican) H. Ross Perot (Reform)
2000‡	George W. Bush‡ (Republican)	Al Gore‡ (Democrat) Ralph Nader (Green)
2004	George W. Bush (Republican)	John Kerry (Democrat)

† Winner received less than a majority of all popular vote.

‡ Losing candidate received a plurality of the popular vote.

** Losing candidate received an absolute majority of the popular vote.

Notes

^ Here a “major candidate” is defined as a candidate receiving greater than 1% of the total popular vote for elections including and after 1824, or greater than 5 electoral votes for elections including and before 1820. (This column may not be complete).

Presidents John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur and Gerald Ford served as president but never won an election for president.

Ford was never elected vice-president.

Tyler and A. Johnson were never major candidates, not even as incumbent presidents.

Fillmore was a major candidate, but not as an incumbent.

[edit] Voter turnout

Voter turnout in presidential elections has been on the decline in recent years, although it bounced back sharply during the 2004 election from the 1996 and 2000 lows. While turnout has been decreasing, registration has been increasing. Registration rates varied from 65% to 70% of the voting age population from the 1960s to the 1980s, and due in part to greater government outreach programs, registration swelled to 75% in 1996 and 2000. Despite greater registration, however, turnout in general has not greatly improved, save the sharp bounce back in 2004.

Election	Voting Age Population ¹	Turnout	% Turnout of VAP
2004	215,694,000	122,295,345	56.69%
2000	205,815,000	105,586,274	51.31%
1996	196,511,000	96,456,345	49.08%
1992	189,529,000	104,405,155	55.09%
1988	182,778,000	91,594,693	50.11%
1984	174,466,000	92,652,680	53.11%
1980	164,597,000	86,515,221	52.56%
1976	152,309,190	81,555,789	53.55%
1972	140,776,000	77,718,554	55.21%
1968	120,328,186	73,199,998	60.83%
1964	114,090,000	70,644,592	60.92%
1960	109,159,000	68,838,204	63.06%

Sources: Federal Election Commission, Office of the Clerk, U.S. Census Bureau

¹ It should be noted that the voting age population includes all persons age 18 and over as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, which necessarily includes a significant number of persons ineligible to vote, such as non-citizens or felons. The actual number of eligible voters is somewhat lower, and the number of registered voters is lower still. The number of non-citizens in 1994 was approximately 13 million, and in 1996, felons numbered around 1.3 million, so it can be estimated that around 7-10% of the voting age population is ineligible to vote.

Note that the large drop in turnout between 1968 and 1972 can be attributed (at least in part) to the expansion of the franchise to 18 year olds (previously restricted to those 21 and older). The total number of voters grew, but so did the pool of eligible voters- so total percentage fell.