Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 26, 2008 Letters
DEAR EDITOR,
Guyanese have been following the U.S Presidential election which polls show Democratic Barack Obama leading Republican John McCain by huge numbers in popular support.
But Guyanese should be informed that the President is not elected by popular votes as in Guyana. The American President is elected by the Electoral College which is chosen by the voters in the various states.
It is possible for a U.S Presidential candidate to win a majority (or a plurality) of the electoral votes and still not chosen President as happened to Al Gore in 2000.
So unlike Guyana, where there is a national election to choose a President, in the U.S there are 51 individual contests to win electoral votes.
The Electoral College comprises 538 electors which came about because there are 435 House members and 100 Senators for a total of 535 electors.
Washington DC, which is not a state, has been awarded three votes taking the total to 538 EVs. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the Presidency.
The EVs won by a candidate in each state are added to get to the magic number. The number of EVs for each state equals its Congressional representation.
New York, for example, has 31 (29 House plus two senate) EVs; members of Congress are not members of the Electoral College.
When Americans go to the polling booth on November 4, they will cast ballots for a candidate for the White House. In reality, they will vote for district representatives on the ballot in each state and Washington DC called electors who will vote for the President a month later.
Voters choose the candidate or party that will get the state’s electoral votes (EVs); two states apportion their EVs based on PR and the other states award them winner take all.
Whichever candidate wins a plurality or majority of votes in a state, he wins all the Electoral College votes of that state. This is because the electorate votes for a slate of electors who are committed to a particular candidate (Republican or Democrat).
Thus, even if the candidate wins 35% of the votes, if it is more than what any other party receives, he/she gets all of the Electoral College votes of the state. Whichever candidate accumulates a minimum of 270 EVs wins the Presidency.
I should note that in the U.S, a voter may cast a separate vote for other offices at the same time – Presidency, Senate, U.S House, state offices, etc. The vote for each office does not necessarily have to be for the same party (called straight ticket voting).
Americans engage in a lot of split ticket voting – Republican for one office, say the Presidency, and Democratic for another office, say the Senate. My analysis of the election shows a lot of split ticket voting.
Obama, for example, is heading for a resounding victory but he still trails several candidates of his party in support in key constituencies and in other constituencies he leads his party candidates. To summarize, the U.S President is not elected by popular vote as in Guyana.
Thus, polls showing Obama with a huge margin in popular support nationally could be misleading. Nevertheless, Obama is heading for a comfortable victory as polls in individual states show.
Vishnu Bisram
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