Off to Electoral College: how Americans choose a new president
Pat Hewitt , THE CANADIAN PRESS 2008-11-02 11:46:00
TORONTO - Presidential elections always get some degree of Canadian scrutiny, but none in recent history will be as closely watched north of the border as Tuesday's tilt between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican rival John McCain.
As a result, Canadians unfamiliar with the U.S. political system who tune in to election-night coverage are likely to find themselves scratching their heads.
That's understandable, said Roger King, a dual citizen and spokesman for the Canadian wing of Democrats Abroad, an official branch of the party that represents the interests of an estimated six million expatriate Americans around the world.
"Instead of thinking of it as one election, Canadians should probably think of it as 51 elections - the 50 states plus Washington, D.C.," King said.
"It's like each state is voting on the president."
In Canada's parliamentary system, voters cast ballots not for federal leaders, but for local candidates vying to become members of Parliament. The party with the most MPs forms a government, with its leader becoming prime minister.
In the U.S., while the names of presidential hopefuls appear on the ballot, those ballots determine the makeup of the Electoral College - a group of Americans in each state designated as "electors" who choose a president and vice-president.
Even though it's ultimately the Electoral College that elects a winner, the fact that voters mark an X next to a presidential candidate's name represents an important distinction in the U.S. democratic process, King said.
"The Americans vote directly for the president, which makes the whole race just bigger and bolder - kind of like America's reputation," he said.
"I think Canada's a little more quiet - (we're) not really voting for the leader directly, so we don't seem to concentrate as much on the personalities here in Canada of the leaders.
"Rarely do you get a president in the U.S. who's kind of bland and uninteresting. I think some pretty colourful people have served in that office."
The idea behind the Electoral College system was to ensure, as mandated in the U.S. Constitution, that it fell to the states themselves to choose the head of the executive branch of the federal government.
Of the 51 states, all but two have a winner-take-all system in which the candidate with the most votes gets all of the state's electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska allow a split in their electoral votes, but it's never happened.
A state has as many electoral votes as it has members of Congress, which is why larger states have more electoral votes - California, for instance, has 55 - than smaller states such as Alaska, with three.
To win the presidency, a candidate must get 270 of the 538 Electoral College votes.
Electors for each state gather Dec. 15 to make their choice, but there's a twist: only 29 states require their electors to vote as they have pledged.
It's exceedingly rare for electors to deviate from their state's popular vote, said King, although the system does mean winning the popular vote does not guarantee a candidate will become president.
Witness the 2000 election, in which Texas Gov. George W. Bush's narrow and contentious Electoral College win gave him the keys to the Oval Office despite Democrat rival Al Gore winning a larger share of the popular vote.
In 2004, Democratic nominee John Kerry only won 252 Electoral College votes - short of the 270 needed to become president.
Front-runner Obama has comfortable leads in all the Kerry states of 2004, such as California, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, and a comfortable lead in Iowa - narrowly won by the Republicans in 2004.
That should give Obama 259 electoral votes, according to King's group.
By contrast, McCain can count on sure wins in the so-called "red states" - such as Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Louisiana and Tennessee - for 152 electoral votes.
States King said are considered tight include Florida, Colorado, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.
King said he expects a higher voter turnout than in 2004 because Obama has "motivated a lot of new voters - young voters - and, of course, they're expecting the African-American vote to be much higher than previous elections."
The votes will be counted before a joint session of Congress Jan. 6 and if there are no objections, the results will be made official.
If neither candidate gets a majority, the U.S. House of Representatives would decide the next president, choosing from among the top three candidates. The U.S. Senate would chose a new vice-president from the top two candidates should neither one get a majority of votes in the Electoral College.
Inauguration Day is Jan. 20.
As a result, Canadians unfamiliar with the U.S. political system who tune in to election-night coverage are likely to find themselves scratching their heads.
That's understandable, said Roger King, a dual citizen and spokesman for the Canadian wing of Democrats Abroad, an official branch of the party that represents the interests of an estimated six million expatriate Americans around the world.
"Instead of thinking of it as one election, Canadians should probably think of it as 51 elections - the 50 states plus Washington, D.C.," King said.
"It's like each state is voting on the president."
In Canada's parliamentary system, voters cast ballots not for federal leaders, but for local candidates vying to become members of Parliament. The party with the most MPs forms a government, with its leader becoming prime minister.
In the U.S., while the names of presidential hopefuls appear on the ballot, those ballots determine the makeup of the Electoral College - a group of Americans in each state designated as "electors" who choose a president and vice-president.
Even though it's ultimately the Electoral College that elects a winner, the fact that voters mark an X next to a presidential candidate's name represents an important distinction in the U.S. democratic process, King said.
"The Americans vote directly for the president, which makes the whole race just bigger and bolder - kind of like America's reputation," he said.
"I think Canada's a little more quiet - (we're) not really voting for the leader directly, so we don't seem to concentrate as much on the personalities here in Canada of the leaders.
"Rarely do you get a president in the U.S. who's kind of bland and uninteresting. I think some pretty colourful people have served in that office."
The idea behind the Electoral College system was to ensure, as mandated in the U.S. Constitution, that it fell to the states themselves to choose the head of the executive branch of the federal government.
Of the 51 states, all but two have a winner-take-all system in which the candidate with the most votes gets all of the state's electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska allow a split in their electoral votes, but it's never happened.
A state has as many electoral votes as it has members of Congress, which is why larger states have more electoral votes - California, for instance, has 55 - than smaller states such as Alaska, with three.
To win the presidency, a candidate must get 270 of the 538 Electoral College votes.
Electors for each state gather Dec. 15 to make their choice, but there's a twist: only 29 states require their electors to vote as they have pledged.
It's exceedingly rare for electors to deviate from their state's popular vote, said King, although the system does mean winning the popular vote does not guarantee a candidate will become president.
Witness the 2000 election, in which Texas Gov. George W. Bush's narrow and contentious Electoral College win gave him the keys to the Oval Office despite Democrat rival Al Gore winning a larger share of the popular vote.
In 2004, Democratic nominee John Kerry only won 252 Electoral College votes - short of the 270 needed to become president.
Front-runner Obama has comfortable leads in all the Kerry states of 2004, such as California, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, and a comfortable lead in Iowa - narrowly won by the Republicans in 2004.
That should give Obama 259 electoral votes, according to King's group.
By contrast, McCain can count on sure wins in the so-called "red states" - such as Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Louisiana and Tennessee - for 152 electoral votes.
States King said are considered tight include Florida, Colorado, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.
King said he expects a higher voter turnout than in 2004 because Obama has "motivated a lot of new voters - young voters - and, of course, they're expecting the African-American vote to be much higher than previous elections."
The votes will be counted before a joint session of Congress Jan. 6 and if there are no objections, the results will be made official.
If neither candidate gets a majority, the U.S. House of Representatives would decide the next president, choosing from among the top three candidates. The U.S. Senate would chose a new vice-president from the top two candidates should neither one get a majority of votes in the Electoral College.
Inauguration Day is Jan. 20.
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