The aim of this essay is to explain the electoral process in the USA and to examine voting behaviour within the USA. When examining the electoral system in the USA it is necessary to remember that the framers of the constitution set out to prevent the rise of tyranny through the systems of checks and balances and the separation of the powers. When the founding fathers were devising a system for electing politicians they were equally aware that in order to avoid tyranny the electoral process would have to contain its own preventative measures. The founding fathers decided that the best method of doing this was to devise a system in which the separate institutions of power were elected by separate constituencies, involving separate electoral procedures (source: McKeever, Zvesper & Maidment, (1999), First Edition, p183).
This means that different people choose the representatives of different institutions at different times and using different methods. An election is the primary means a Modern democratic society has of determining who governs that society; there are different methods of electing a Government, e.g. proportional representation, and first past the post. The purpose of an election is to allow eligible voters within that society to select a candidate or party that he/she feels best represents their interests. Furthermore elections enable the political parties to evaluate public opinion concerning major issues and facilitate popular influence. Elections also promote accountability, a party or leader who does not do well by the electorate is unlikely to be returned to office and Americans are taught to equate participation in elections with citizenship.

The first system we will examine is the election of members to the House of Representatives. These elections are held every two years and are direct elections, i.e. those eligible to vote directly for the candidate they wish to hold office. The electorate are divided into small constituencies for the purposes of these elections, according to population, the idea being that each constituency or district holds roughly the same amount of voters, approximately 570,000 people per district (source for Figures: McKeever, Zvesper & Maidment, (1999), First Edition, p184).
However this method means that states with a high population appear to be over represented, while states with a small population appear to be under represented. California has a population of circa 29,760,000 and therefore has 52 representatives while Wyoming has a population of 454,000 and has only 1 representative, (Source for figures: McKeever, Zvesper & Maidment, (1999), First Edition, p841). The fact that the elections are held every two years ensures that the representatives keep in close touch with their districts, because if they lose touch with the district and the voters they would be unlikely to succeed should they choose to stand for re-election.
The idea of two year terms can be criticised because the representatives are likely to spend a lot of time electioneering compared to the time spent fulfilling the duties of their office, in addition to which it would be unsurprising if the electorate themselves did not suffer from voting fatigue at being asked to elect representatives on a two yearly basis. There have been calls within the USA for the terms to be extended to four years. The house of representatives appears to be subject to the whim and will of the general public than the other branches of Government within the USA therefore the founding fathers probably achieved their aims regarding the prevention of tyranny in this instance.

The next electoral process we will examine is that of the election of Senators to the Senate. The primary objective of the Senate is to represent the states rather than the electorate, therefore regardless of geographical size or population count each State is represented by two Senators. Each state votes as a whole entity and not in smaller constituencies. The Senate was not formed to represent the popular choice but to keep the popular choice in check, therefore it is necessary for Senators to distance themselves from the whim and will of the public, the founding fathers assisted this distancing by allowing senators a six year term in office. Originally there were no direct elections to the Senate, each state senator was appointed by the legislature, this was ratified by the 17th amendment in 1913 and as a result Senators are now directly elected. Elections to the senate are staggered, one third of Senators face elections every two yrs, this appears to be a fail safe introduced to ensure that even if the public is extremely discontented with the Senate, the effects this will have on the voting behaviour of the electorate will only affect one third of the Senate. However yet again frequent trips to polling stations could be a contributory factory to voter weariness within the USA today.

The final electoral process this essay will examine is that of the Presidential elections.
The process of electing the President differs from the process of electing members to the Senate and the House of Representatives; the President is elected to represent the Nation as a whole and not the interests of individual states or districts. It is for this reason that a National constituency elects the President i.e. a President is indirectly elected by the electoral colleges. The Presidential term in office is four years and each President is restricted to no more than two terms in office by the 22nd amendment to the US Constitution (1951). This is inline with the wishes of the founding fathers and their policy of the avoidance of tyranny and prevents a populist President from having a long term hold over all the institutions of power.
The Electoral College system prevents the states with small populations from continuously having a President imposed upon them by the states with high populations. The electoral College consists of electors chosen by different methods in different states, each elector is supposed to choose a candidate based on their own opinion of the various Presidential Candidates, however this system has emerged into one whereby the electoral college vote usually mirrors the popular vote in each state. The number of electors within each Electoral College is decided by adding the number of Senators from each state to the Number of representatives from each state therefore in California, which has two Senators and Fifty Two representatives the Electoral College consists of fifty-four electors. There is an exception to this rule the District of Columbia has 3 members of it’s electoral college. To secure the Presidency a candidate must win over half of the Electoral College votes, a minimum of Two Hundred and Seventy. A Presidential candidate does not need to win over half of the popular vote in order to secure a victory as can be seen from the elections in November 2000 and the election of President Clinton in 1992 when in spite of only securing 43% of the popular vote he secured 69% of the electoral college votes and was therefore elected into office, (Source for figures: McKeever, Zvesper & Maidment, (1999), First Edition, p188, Box 9.3). Presidential candidates therefore tend to concentrate on winning the state votes from those states with the largest concentration of population, thus securing the largest amount of Electoral College votes. The Electoral College uses a first past the post system, which favours a two party system of Politics therefore this puts any third party candidates at a disadvantage as can be illustrated by the 1992 elections, Ross Perot of the Reform Party secured 19% of the popular vote but failed to secure any one state and therefore no electoral college votes. In theory a third party candidate with some state votes could hold the balance of power providing that the other two candidates had an almost equal number of votes, the founding fathers ensured that if this were the case the House of representatives would then decide upon who becomes President, each state would hold just one vote in such circumstances regardless of the number of representatives from that state.

Presidential candidates are chosen at a nominating convention, which is held in the summer before the elections. The delegates to the nominating convention are chosen during the Primary and caucus elections. In a primary election each voter places their vote for the candidate they choose to be their Presidential candidate. At a caucus a meeting is held and the merits of each candidate are deliberated and discussed and the caucus decides as a single body whom to choose as their Presidential candidate. These methods can be either open – everybody registered may vote for any candidate from any party, or closed – only registered party members are eligible to vote for their party candidate. Yet again in the case of primaries and caucuses the larger the population of the state the more representatives there are attending. Each Presidential campaign lasts for a two-month period.

At the heart of every democracy lies the voting franchise; this has been fought for by different classes, races and women in democracies across the world. For many the right to vote is a treasured right, however within the USA some people have been disenfranchised, excluded from participating in democracy because of their race, sex, standard of literacy, criminal convictions etc. In today’s USA everyone over the age of 18 is eligible to vote with the exception of the insane and the criminal. Voting is not compulsory, the decision to vote or not rests with the individual and in recent elections the actual turn out has been less than 50% of those eligible to vote. Therefore less than 50% of Americans choose to use their only voice in the Government of their country, Hadley (1978) dubbed those who do not participate as ‘Boobus Americanus’, He was referring to a stereotype, poor, ill educated, disproportionately southern, female and black, (McKeever, Zvesper & Maidment, (1999), First Edition, p206). Teixeira (1987) argues that this stereotype accounts for only a small percentage of non- voters in today’s USA and therefore there must be other reasons for the decline of voter participation. In an attempt to encourage people to vote and to make the process of registering to vote simpler ‘The National Voter Registration Act 1993 was introduced, this meant that anytime a person applied for a change of address on their driving licence they could register to vote in addition to this disabled people and those receiving public assistance could register to vote at the agencies that deal with them, registration by mail was also permitted. Verification of the accuracy of the voter registrations takes place every four years. This act took care of the practicalities of registering to vote but did not halt the decline in participation. Research indicates that voter apathy is due more to the feeling that a vote doesn’t count in the American political system or that it doesn’t matter which party is in power because there is very little difference between the parties. It appears that American voters choose not to vote because they have lost faith in the political process due to many factors such as the Vietnam War and Watergate.
Of those that do vote their voting behaviour is not as bound by socio-economic factors as it is in the UK for example, traditional class votes. This is because Americans are not historically class conscious, however income and social status do play a part in how an American chooses to vote, the higher the income the more likely the person is to vote Republican, a similar picture emerges with regard to the standard of education an individual has achieved those who hold higher qualifications are likely to vote Republican. There are exceptions with regard to education with a significant number of those holding post-graduate qualifications voting Democrat (source: Mckeever, Zvesper & Maidment, (1999), First Edition, p213). Personal ideology is also a factor in deciding which way to vote just as it is in any other westernised democracy, those who feel themselves to be Liberal will vote for the Democrats, while those who perceive themselves to be Conservative will vote Republican. The Democratic Party also finds its supporters among social workers, blue-collar workers, union members, ethnic minorities and women (post 1960). The Republican Party supporters tend to be married people and men, people who favour low taxes and free enterprise and family values concerning morality. According to McKeever et al, a wealthy, Protestant, married, southern, white, male with a college degree is likely to vote Republican and an unmarried, black, female, union member of modest financial means who does not have a high school diploma is likely to vote Democrat (McKeever, Zvesper & Maidment, (1999), First Edition, p214).

As we can see the American electoral procedure is complicated and requires voters to go to the polling stations frequently compared to other Westernised Democracies, however people within the USA are less likely to vote than enfranchised people in other democratic nations. The reasons for this are many and varied and the USA is not alone is seeing a decline in active participation in elections by the electorate, this turn of events could be significant for many democracies as signalling a failure in trust in the system and the political parties and ideologies available. We can also see that although some stereotypes do emerge in relation to voting behaviour in the USA they are not as clear cut as they appear to be in the UK for example, possibly because the ideologies of the political parties blend together and are not polarised as they are in other nations. S.McGonigal (2002)