Presidential election in the United States

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The United States presidential election determines who serves as President of the United States and who serves as Vice President of the United States for a four-year term . It's an indirect choice ; In the presidential election, an Electoral College is determined, which later elects the President and Vice-President. The candidates have been determined beforehand through internal party primaries .

The election has been held every four years since 1788. Since 1845, the election day has been fixed on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, which means that the election always falls between November 2nd and November 8th. At the same time, a third of the US Senate and the House of Representatives are also elected. Often, on the same election date, elections at the state, district and local level, as well as regional referendums and referendums, take place, for which a long ballot paper is used in most cases.

The election result will be determined at the beginning of January by the Congress after its first meeting. The term of office of the President begins on the day of his inauguration , which since 1937 falls on January 20 following the election date. The transition of the presidency takes place between the presidential election and the inauguration .

The last election took place on November 8, 2016 . The next one is scheduled for November 3, 2020 .

participation

Active voting rights

Any United States citizen over the age of 18 and residing in one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia is eligible to vote . Is prison inmates the right to vote in almost every state revoked (in some states even after expiation of the sentence), of which more than 6 million citizens are affected. The residents of the outer areas ( Guam , Puerto Rico etc.) are also not allowed to vote . Citizens who are over the age of 18 and reside outside the United States are eligible to vote in the state where they last lived in the United States.

Each eligible citizen may vote in only one state. In the absence of an obligation to register and a centralized register of residents , it is the responsibility of the voters to register at just one voting location and to have them removed from the electoral roll when moving. Multiple voting is a Class C Felony offense and carries a penalty of up to five years' imprisonment and / or a US $ 10,000 fine. Since many states have a joint, de facto centralized electoral register according to 42 USC § 15483, these states recommend their citizens to register again as voters for each election, even if their living conditions remain unchanged; they will then be automatically deregistered from any previous "dialing addresses" that may exist.

Many states bind voting rights to the specification of the Social Security Number , although this number should not actually be used as a card index. This bond is often anchored in the state constitution, for example in Hawaii.

Rules on personal documents

  • Proof of citizenship
  • State-issued proof of identity (ID) with photo
  • Proof of identity (ID) with photo
  • Proof of identity without photo
  • No proof of identity required
  • Colorado , Oregon, and Washington only allow postal votes
  • As of March 2012, the 50 states in the United States have different requirements for proof of eligibility to vote. These can be roughly divided into the following four categories:

    Photo ID: Georgia , Indiana , Kansas , Mississippi , Pennsylvania , ( South Carolina ), Tennessee , ( Texas ), and Wisconsin . Until an expected verdict by the highest court, identity documents without a photo are permitted in the countries in brackets.

    ID with photo or alternative: Alabama , Florida , Hawaii , Idaho , Louisiana , Michigan and South Dakota . Alternatives include answering personal questions, an affidavit or special voting cards (see picture).

    City of Troy , Oakland County , Michigan Voter Identification Card

    Photo ID: Alaska , Arizona , Arkansas , Colorado , Connecticut , Delaware , Kentucky , Missouri , Montana , North Dakota , Ohio , Oklahoma , Rhode Island , ( South Carolina ), ( Texas ), Utah , Virginia and Washington . What is permitted as a corresponding ID document differs in the individual states, sometimes in the individual counties. In the countries in brackets, this form of evidence is permissible until an expected judgment by the highest court; Identification documents with a photo are required by law.

    No ID: the remaining 18 states.

    The compulsory identification for voting is repeatedly criticized because it is supposed to keep certain social groups away from voting. Defenders of strict identity checks point to the necessary protection against electoral fraud.

    Passive voting rights

    Any native US citizen who is at least 35 years old and has been resident in the USA for 14 years at a time is eligible.

    The constitution of 1787 provides that only those persons can be elected for president who are “natural born citizens” of the United States or who were already citizens at the time the constitution was passed. The exact interpretation of the choice of words “natural born” has been discussed again and again and has not been conclusively clarified, as this was never specified by a constitutional amendment or a judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States . According to today's understanding, the criterion often mentioned is that everyone who becomes a US citizen by birth, i.e. by descent from a US citizen or through a place of birth in the territory of the United States, is regarded as a “natural born citizen”.

    Furthermore, two constitutional amendments restrict the right to stand as a candidate.

    The 14th Amendment , ratified in 1868, excludes former officers, officials or elected officials from public office when they reach a rebellion were involved against the United States or its enemies had supported. Congress has the right to admit such applicants anyway with a two-thirds majority. In 1898, all persons who had previously been affected by the exclusion rule of the 14th additional article were admitted again.

    The 22nd Amendment since 1951 stipulates that no one may be elected president more than twice, regardless of whether the terms of office are consecutive or not. A vice-president who advances to this office due to the premature resignation of the president may only stand for election twice if there are no more than two years left of the term of office of the original official.

    Harry S. Truman was exempt from this rule as President-in-Office at the Effective Date. He made an attempt to obtain a third term, but withdrew from the election campaign early on. Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-69) could have run again in 1968, since he took over the office of John F. Kennedy after his assassination and only one year and three months (November 22, 1963-20 January 1965) this Term of office remaining.

    procedure

    Front of the voting slip for the Troy, Michigan 2012 presidential election (Precinct 19)
    Back of the voting slip for the Troy, Michigan 2012 presidential election (Precinct 19)

    Legally, the conduct of the Presidential election by the second article and is 12 , 22 and 23, Amendment of the Constitution of the United States regulated. The election takes place in three phases:

    Choice of Electoral College

    On election day , the voting citizens cast their votes. In doing so, they do not directly elect candidates for the two offices, but instead cast their votes for the members of the Electoral College , called "electors" , which consists of 538 members. Each state is entitled to a number of electors equal to its number of representatives in the United States House of Representatives, increased by two (variable depending on the size of the population, but at least one). The additional two electors granted to each state are equal to the number of its senators (members of the United States Senate ). This gives each state at least three electors. Since the House of Representatives always has 435 MPs and the Senate currently has 100 Senators, this results in 535 electors from the states. In addition, the federal capital Washington, DC , which is otherwise not considered in federal elections , receives three electors. This is determined under the 23rd Amendment, which states that the federal district will have as many electors as it would have if it were a state, but no more than the least populous state. Thus the minimum number of three electors applies. Even without this restriction, the result would be three electors, because Washington, DC has roughly the same number of inhabitants as any of the most populous states.

    Most states and the District of Columbia have a “winner-takes-all” principle. Thereafter, the electors are made by the party whose presidential candidate receives the relative majority of the votes. With regard to the presidential candidates standing for election, the electoral ratio almost every time in the 50 different sized states won by majority voting thus deviates from the ratio of votes of all US citizens combined. If there are roughly the same number of votes for two candidates, the candidate with the largest number of votes nationwide can be defeated by the candidate with fewer votes, which happened in 1876 , 1888 , 2000 and 2016 .

    Exceptions to the "winner-takes-all" principle are made in the states of Maine and Nebraska . Here, two electoral votes are given to the candidate who receives the relative majority in the entire state, and the other votes are given as in the House of Representatives elections . The latter means that in each constituency one voter is elected with a relative majority.

    The “winner-takes-all” principle favors the two-party system . Candidates who do not run for either of the major parties have poor prospects, even if they win a significant portion of the vote. Most recently this was the case with Ross Perot , who received 18.9% of the vote in the 1992 election but was not awarded any electors. It is extremely rare to win a significant number of electors. This last happened in 1968 when George Wallace's electorate made up 8.4% of the 538 electorate. Such candidates often act as “spoilers”, drawing decisive votes that would otherwise be cast for one of the main candidates.

    There are attempts to reform this electoral system. Since a constitutional amendment at the federal level has little prospect of success, an attempt has been made to oblige the states through binding agreements between themselves to determine the winner of the Popular Vote regardless of the outcome of the election as the winner (see National Popular Vote Interstate Compact ).

    Meeting of the Electoral College

    Electors will meet in their state capital (or Washington DC for the federal district ) 41 days after the election . At this point, they vote separately on the future President and Vice-President. The ballot papers for this election will be sealed and given to the incumbent Vice President in his capacity as President of the Senate.

    According to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution , which has been in force since 1804, an elector may only vote for a candidate from his own state in one of the two elections (President and Vice-President). It therefore does not make sense for a party to nominate two candidates from one state, otherwise it would lose votes in one of the two elections. In the event of a tight election, the absolute majority could be missed and the election could be delegated to Congress, which could elect a candidate from the opposing party if there were other political majorities. It has not happened since 1804 that two candidates from the same party from the same state ran for both elections. In today's practice, such a constellation is prevented by the fact that the parties first elect a presidential candidate who then nominates a vice-presidential candidate for his election ticket. Strategic considerations can play a role here, so that no candidate will be nominated who already has constitutionally reduced chances of being elected.

    Counting the votes

    On the first day of the Congress, which, in accordance with the 20th Amendment to the Constitution , meets at noon on January 3rd after election day, the votes are counted in a joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The vice-president, who presides over the meeting in his capacity as President of the Senate , opens the sealed votes of the electors and counts them publicly.

    A candidate is considered elected when he has obtained an absolute majority of the elected electors.

    If none of the candidates do so, the House of Representatives elects the president from among the three candidates who have received the most votes in the electoral college. The District of Columbia no longer has the right to vote here because it is not represented in the House of Representatives. The electoral procedure is that each state has one vote. The representatives of each state first elect a candidate and then cast this vote as a vote for the state. The election is only valid if two thirds of the states participate. If no president is elected by January 20th, the elected vice-president will be appointed as executive president in accordance with the 20th amendment to the constitution , until a president is properly elected. If there is also no vice-president available, the Congress can legally appoint an executive president.

    The procedure for electing the Vice President is similar. He too must achieve an absolute majority among the elected electors. If he does not achieve this, the Senate elects the Vice President, whereby an absolute majority among the Senators must be achieved and at least two thirds of the Senators must take part in the vote.

    In the political reality of the United States, the presidential election winner is usually determined after the original election day, since the electors of a particular party or candidate have been elected. Few electors change their position between ballots and such changes have never affected the election result. In addition, many states have laws that penalize electors who vote against their mandate (so-called “faithless electors”), or that cancel their votes and replace the electors concerned with others.

    The current procedure has essentially been in use since the 12th amendment was passed in 1804. Previously, according to Article 2 of the Constitution , which provided that the second-placed candidate in the electoral college would be elected as Vice-President, was elected. In 1933, in the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, new dates were set for the beginning of the session of the Congress and for the swearing-in of the President, as well as a detailed succession plan in the event that a President could not be properly elected.

    Ballot

    The ballot papers for the presidential election usually summarize various elections, referendums and opinions. In this way, the voters should be allowed as many elections as possible in one ballot. The ballot paper shown allows voters not only to elect the president (front, left column, second from top), but also to vote for Congress and Senate, as well as, for example, the election of some judges and the sheriff, but also to take part in referendums, for example for the introduction new taxes.

    election day

    Initially, the election took place over a longer period in the autumn of the election year (around the end of October to the beginning of December). Since 1845, when the US Congress set a uniform date for the entire area of ​​the then 28 states, elections have always been held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of the respective election year. The earliest possible date is November 2nd and November 8th at the latest. The month of November was chosen for the election to accommodate the farmers: the harvest had already been collected and the mild climate favored longer trips to the polling stations. In order not to disturb traditional church attendance, Sunday was canceled as the election date. Monday was also excluded because of the sometimes great distances to enable an arrival. Saturday was market day in many places, for which Friday was used as a preparation day.

    According to the constitution, elections must take place on the same day. However, there is no nationwide timing of the opening times of the polling stations, so this is regulated at the state level or locally. The towns of Dixville Notch and Hart's Location in the state of New Hampshire traditionally open their polling stations at midnight on election day, since this allowed a change in regulations in 1960. Because the United States spans multiple time zones, polling stations in the western states don't close for hours after those on the east coast. By the time the last polling stations in the west are closed, the winner is often already known, since most states there are firmly in the hands of one party and are therefore not considered to be decisive for the election.

    In most states, voters are also offered the option of early voting , which means that they can vote before the actual election day. The early voting period is inconsistent in the states that allow it. Some polling stations, often only the central polling station in the town hall, are designated as early voting places and allow personal voting in advance of the actual election. Early voting stations issue voting documents from several electoral districts and then allow the voters to vote, which means that an early voting place does not have to be set up in each electoral district. The voting process for early voting corresponds to that on election day, which means in particular that voters can vote anonymously and secretly (voting booths) as well as equally weighted and not multiple times (one ballot per voter). Proof of identity and the election notification card on which the individual electoral districts (Representative District, Precinct, Senatorial District, Council District and Congressional District) are noted are usually required for early voting.

    Preselection and postal voting

    Pre-selection options
  • In person and by post
  • Only personally
  • Only by post
  • No early voting possible
  • Participation by preselection , d. H. voting in person before election day is currently (as of 2012) in 40 states and the District of Columbia. The exact regulations and deadlines differ from state to state. Some states, such as Alabama, require reasonable reasons. In some states you can vote more than a month in advance, in others less than two weeks before the election. Oregon is a special case . There is no personal preselection, as the entire election is carried out by postal voting.

    Postal voting is generally possible, even if the deadlines, registration procedures, etc. differ from state to state. Soldiers who are stationed abroad and Americans who live abroad can also vote here.

    Election trends

    The two-party system of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party also dominates the presidential elections in the USA. The last other party candidate to win the presidential election was Zachary Taylor of the Whig Party in the 1848 election . However, at the time the Republican Party had not yet been established, the Whig Party was one of the two major parties. Even before that, there were never more than two parties that could get a significant number of electoral votes.

    Candidates from other parties are generally considered to have no chance. However, it can happen that they receive votes that otherwise would very likely have gone to a candidate from the major parties. In this way, candidates from major parties can lose support if a politically related competitor runs for election. Such constellations existed in the elections in 1968 , 1992 and 2000 . However, whether the elections were decided by this is controversial.

    Since 1932, at least one of the major parties has usually sent an incumbent president or vice-president into the race. Since then, this has only been the case in the 1952 , 2008 and 2016 elections . In 1952 the incumbent President Harry S. Truman gave up his efforts for a third term in office that was constitutionally possible for him, and his Vice-President Alben W. Barkley also waived, u. a. because of his advanced age. In 2008, George W. Bush was no longer eligible to run after two terms, and Vice President Dick Cheney declined to run. The same scenario emerged in 2016 after President Barack Obama's two terms in office , whose Vice-President Joe Biden did not run. Before 1932 there were numerous elections in which neither the president nor the vice president ran for office.

    In addition to incumbent presidents and vice-presidents, most of the candidates for the two major parties came from either state governors or the Senate. Acting senators, however, have rarely been successful. Only Warren G. Harding ( election 1920 ), John F. Kennedy ( election 1960 ) and Barack Obama ( election 2008 ) succeeded in being elected president as incumbent senators. This is even more pronounced in the House of Representatives: numerous presidents had previously also been members of the House of Representatives, but only James A. Garfield ( elected in 1880 ) moved directly from this office to the White House. The last candidate who had not previously held political office was Dwight D. Eisenhower , who was Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II. He won the Republican candidacy and finally the 1952 election.

    The last elections favored governors. Of the last five presidents before Barack Obama ( Jimmy Carter , Ronald Reagan , George Bush , Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush ), only George Bush was never governor. Geographically, these five presidents came from either very large states ( California , Texas ) or states south of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of Texas ( Georgia , Arkansas ). The last president before Obama from a northern state and acting senator was John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts in 1960 .

    Election results

    Election year winner Other significant candidates
    1789 George Washington (independent) John Adams (independent)
    John Jay (independent)
    Robert H. Harrison (independent)
    John Rutledge (independent)
    1792 George Washington (independent) John Adams ( Federalist )
    George Clinton ( Democratic Republican Party )
    1796 John Adams (federalist) Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican Party)
    Thomas Pinckney (Federalist)
    Aaron Burr (Democratic-Republican Party)
    Samuel Adams (Democratic-Republican Party)
    Oliver Ellsworth (Federalist)
    George Clinton (Democratic-Republican Party)
    1800 Thomas Jefferson (Democratic Republican Party) Aaron Burr (Democratic Republican Party)
    John Adams (Federalist)
    Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (Federalist)
    1804 Thomas Jefferson (Democratic Republican Party) Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (Federalist)
    1808 James Madison (Democratic Republican Party) Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (Federalist)
    1812 James Madison (Democratic Republican Party) DeWitt Clinton (Federalist / Peace Party)
    1816 James Monroe (Democratic Republican Party) Rufus King (Federalist)
    1820 James Monroe (Democratic Republican Party) (no opposing candidate)
    1824 John Quincy Adams (Democratic Republican Party) Andrew Jackson 2 (Democratic Republican Party)
    William H. Crawford (Democratic Republican Party)
    Henry Clay (Democratic Republican Party)
    1828 Andrew Jackson ( Democratic Party ) John Quincy Adams ( National Republican Party )
    1832 Andrew Jackson (Democratic Party) Henry Clay (National Republican Party)
    William Wirt ( Anti-Masonic Party )
    John Floyd ( Nullifiers )
    1836 Martin Van Buren (Democratic Party) William Henry Harrison ( Whig )
    Hugh Lawson White (Whig)
    Daniel Webster (Whig)
    Willie P. Mangum (Whig with voices from Nullifiers )
    1840 William Henry Harrison (Whig) Martin Van Buren (Democratic Party)
    1844 James K. Polk 1 (Democratic Party) Henry Clay (Whig)
    James G. Birney ( Liberty Party )
    1848 Zachary Taylor (Whig) Lewis Cass (Democratic Party)
    Martin Van Buren ( Free Soil Party )
    1852 Franklin Pierce (Democratic Party) Winfield Scott (Whig)
    John P. Hale (Free Soil Party)
    1856 James Buchanan 1 (Democratic Party) John C. Frémont ( Republican Party )
    Millard Fillmore ( American Party / Whig)
    1860 Abraham Lincoln 1 (Republican Party) Stephen A. Douglas (Northern Democratic Party)
    John C. Breckinridge (Southern Democratic Party)
    John Bell ( Constitutional Union Party )
    1864 Abraham Lincoln (Republican Party) George B. McClellan (Democratic Party)
    1868 Ulysses S. Grant (Republican Party) Horatio Seymour (Democratic Party)
    1872 Ulysses S. Grant (Republican Party) Horace Greeley (Democratic Party / Liberal Republican )
    1876 Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican Party) Samuel J. Tilden 3 (Democratic Party)
    1880 James A. Garfield 1 (Republican Party) Winfield Scott Hancock (Democratic Party)
    James B. Weaver ( Greenback Party )
    1884 Grover Cleveland 1 (Democratic Party) James G. Blaine (Republican Party)
    Benjamin Franklin Butler (Greenback Party / Anti-Monopoly )
    John St. John ( Prohibition Party )
    1888 Benjamin Harrison (Republican Party) Grover Cleveland 2 (Democratic Party)
    Clinton B. Fisk (Prohibition Party)
    Alson Streeter ( Union Labor Party )
    1892 Grover Cleveland 1 (Democratic Party) Benjamin Harrison (Republican Party)
    James B. Weaver ( Populist Party )
    John Bidwell (Prohibition Party)
    1896 William McKinley (Republican Party) William Jennings Bryan (Democratic Party / Populist Party)
    1900 William McKinley (Republican Party) William Jennings Bryan (Democratic Party)
    John G. Woolley (Prohibition Party)
    1904 Theodore Roosevelt (Republican Party) Alton B. Parker (Democratic Party)
    Eugene V. Debs ( Socialist Party )
    Silas C. Swallow (Prohibition Party)
    1908 William Howard Taft (Republican Party) William Jennings Bryan (Democratic Party)
    Eugene V. Debs (Socialist Party)
    Eugene W. Chafin (Prohibition Party)
    1912 Woodrow Wilson 1 (Democratic Party) Theodore Roosevelt ( Progressive Party )
    William Howard Taft (Republican Party)
    Eugene V. Debs ( Socialist Party )
    Eugene W. Chafin (Prohibition Party)
    1916 Woodrow Wilson 1 (Democratic Party) Charles Evans Hughes (Republican Party)
    Allan Louis Benson (Socialist Party)
    Frank Hanly (Prohibition Party)
    1920 Warren G. Harding (Republican Party) James M. Cox (Democratic Party)
    Eugene V. Debs (Socialist Party)
    Parley P. Christensen ( Farmer-Labor Party )
    1924 Calvin Coolidge (Republican Party) John W. Davis (Democratic Party)
    Robert M. La Follette ( Progressive Party / Socialist Party)
    1928 Herbert Hoover (Republican Party) Al Smith (Democratic Party)
    1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic Party) Herbert Hoover (Republican Party)
    Norman Thomas (Socialist Party)
    1936 Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic Party) Alf Landon (Republican Party)
    William Lemke ( Union Party )
    1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic Party) Wendell Willkie (Republican Party)
    1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic Party) Thomas E. Dewey (Republican Party)
    1948 Harry S. Truman 1 (Democratic Party) Thomas E. Dewey (Republican Party)
    Strom Thurmond ( Dixiecrats )
    Henry A. Wallace ( Progressive Party )
    1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican Party) Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (Democratic Party)
    1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican Party) Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (Democratic Party)
    1960 John F. Kennedy 1 (Democratic Party) Richard Nixon (Republican Party)
    1964 Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic Party) Barry Goldwater (Republican Party)
    1968 Richard Nixon 1 (Republican Party) Hubert H. Humphrey (Democratic Party)
    George Wallace ( American Independent Party )
    1972 Richard Nixon (Republican Party) George McGovern (Democratic Party)
    John G. Schmitz (American Independent Party)
    1976 Jimmy Carter (Democratic Party) Gerald Ford (Republican Party)
    1980 Ronald Reagan (Republican Party) Jimmy Carter (Democratic Party)
    John B. Anderson (Independent)
    Ed Clark ( Libertarian Party )
    1984 Ronald Reagan (Republican Party) Walter Mondale (Democratic Party)
    1988 George Bush (Republican Party) Michael Dukakis (Democratic Party)
    1992 Bill Clinton 1 (Democratic Party) George Bush (Republican Party)
    Ross Perot (Independent)
    1996 Bill Clinton 1 (Democratic Party) Bob Dole (Republican Party)
    Ross Perot ( Reform Party )
    2000 George W. Bush (Republican Party) Al Gore 2 (Democratic Party)
    Ralph Nader ( Green Party )
    2004 George W. Bush (Republican Party) John Kerry (Democratic Party)
    2008 Barack Obama (Democratic Party) John McCain (Republican Party)
    2012 Barack Obama (Democratic Party) Mitt Romney (Republican Party)
    2016 Donald Trump (Republican Party) Hillary Clinton 2 (Democratic Party)
    1 winner received less than 50% of all votes on election day, but a relative majority of the votes (in 13 of 57 elections, most recently in 1992 and 1996 ).
    2 losers achieved a relative majority of all votes on election day (previously four times: 1824 , 1888 , 2000 and 2016 ).
    3 losers achieved an absolute majority of all votes on election day (previously only once: 1876 ).

    Remarks

    • John Tyler , Millard Fillmore , Andrew Johnson, and Chester A. Arthur served as president without winning the presidential election as a lead candidate. They were elected Vice President and rose to office on the death of their President, but were not nominated by their respective parties in the subsequent election. Theodore Roosevelt , Calvin Coolidge , Harry S. Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson also advanced to president, but were themselves elected to the presidency at the end of their term of office, which they had to end.
    • Gerald Ford was not elected either as President or Vice President, as he was nominated as Vice President for the resigned Spiro Agnew and was therefore only confirmed by Congress. In 1976 he was a candidate for his party, but narrowly lost the election.
    • Millard Fillmore was a significant candidate, but not as incumbent president, but four years after his term ended.

    See also:

    voter turnout

    The turnout has been from a low in the 1980s and 1990s recovered years.

    Election year Eligible population ¹ voter turnout Voter turnout (%)
    2016 230.931.921 138,846,571 60.10%
    2012 222.474.111 130.292.355 58.60%
    2008 231.229.580 131.259.500 56.80%
    2004 215,694,000 122.295.345 56.70%
    2000 205,815,000 105.586.274 51.30%
    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 73.211.875 60.84%
    1964 114,090,000 70,644,592 61.92%
    1960 109,159,000 68.838.204 63.06%

    Evidence: Federal Election Commission, Office of the Clerk, Census Bureau, United States Election Project.

    ¹ "Eligible People" means all residents over the age of 18, as reported by the United States Census Bureau , and includes a large number of people who are not eligible to vote under applicable law, such as non-US citizens (who were 13 years old in 1994) Million) and those convicted of criminal offenses with denied voting rights (1.3 million in 1994). The number of people actually entitled to vote is seven to ten percent lower, the number of all registered people even lower.

    Election donations

    Every American citizen is allowed to donate a maximum of US $ 4,600 to each candidate during a presidential campaign, and US $ 2300 each in the primary and main election campaign.

    Movies

    • Duel for the White House: Major election campaigns. 89-minute documentary film by Ingo Helm (Germany 2016).

    literature

    • Arthur M. Schlesinger et al. (Ed.): History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-1968. 4 volumes. Chelsea House, New York 1971.
    • Theodore H. White: America in Search of Itself: The Making of the President 1956-1980. Harper & Row, New York 1982.
    • Yanek Mieczkowski: The Routledge Historical Atlas of Presidential Elections. Routledge, New York 2001, ISBN 0-415-92133-3 .
    • Paul F. Boller: Presidential Campaigns: From George Washington to George W. Bush. 2nd, improved edition. Oxford University Press, New York 2004, ISBN 978-0-19-516716-0 .
    • Robert S. Erikson, Christopher Wlezien: The Timeline of Presidential Elections: How Campaigns Do (and Do Not) Matter. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2012, ISBN 978-0-226-92215-7 .

    Individual evidence

    1. Berliner Morgenpost : Right to vote: 6 million Americans excluded from voting. In: Morgenpost.de , November 2, 2016.
    2. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/15483 accessed on December 10, 2013
    3. Voter Registration. In: Hawaii.gov (English).
    4. Alex Magnin: Here Are Registration + Voting Instructions For All 50 States. In: Thought Catalog , September 19, 2012. For an updated review, see Wendy Underhill: Voter Identification Requirements. In: National Conference of State Legislatures , May 15, 2018.
    5. http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/ausland/ Amerika/ Laengst-nicht-jeder-Waehler-ist-willkommen / story / 12007203 accessed on March 14, 2016
    6. caselaw.lp.findlaw.com on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, accessed on July 2, 2012
    7. ^ Nürnberger Nachrichten , November 3, 2008.
    8. Obama and McCain fight until the last minute. In: Spiegel Online , November 4, 2008.
    9. Alabama Absentee Ballot Guide
    10. http://www.longdistancevoter.org/early_voting_rules#.UIsAv6pFvFM
    11. http://www.oregonvotes.org/
    12. Any candidate who received at least 1% of the votes on election day for elections since 1824 or the at least five electoral votes for elections up to and including 1820 is counted as a “significant candidate”. (This column may not be complete.) It should be noted that the electoral votes up to the 1800 election in the same pot also included the votes for the Vice President. For example, As Washington's "opponents" all but be elected president and only for the vice presidency, would have to .
    13. ^ National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections ( English ) fec.gov. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
    14. Election Statistics, 1920 to Present ( English ) fec.gov. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
    15. Voting and Registration Tables ( English ) census.gov. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
    16. ^ Voter Turnout ( English ) United States Election Project. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
    17. Deutschlandradio, February 4, 2008 and stern.de, January 31, 2008