551200: ENGLISH FOR COMMUNICATION
2012 –2013 Semester II
N. Iwamoto © 2012
LECTURE 5: U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Thursday, 1 November 2012
INDIRECT VOTE
The election of the President and Vice President of the United States is an indirect vote.
Citizens cast ballot for a slate of members of the U.S. Electoral College.
The electors directly elect the President and Vice President.
ELECTION CALENDAR
The entire presidential campaign and election process usually takes almost two years. The typical
periods of this process are as follows:

Spring of the previous calendar year – Candidates announce their intentions to run

Summer to December of the previous calendar year – Primary and caucus debates

January to June – Primaries and caucuses

July to early September – Nominating conventions (including those of the minor third parties)

Late September and October – Presidential election debates

Early November – Election Day

December – Electors cast their electoral votes

Early January of the following calendar year – Congress counts the electoral votes

January 20 of the following calendar year – Inauguration Day
To cast ballot
To elect
Vote
Voter
Voter turnout
Presidentila Nomination
Presidential Nominee
The Primary Elections
The Nominating Conventions
delegates
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2012 Republican primaries and caucuses calendar
January 2012 (4)
February 2012 (7)
March 2012 (23)
April 2012 (9)
May 2012 (7)
June 2012 (6)
Quadrennially on Election Day
The popular vote on Election Day
Election Day: the Tuesday between November 2 and 8 (the first Tuesday after the first Monday in
November) Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Voters
Voter’s registration
Who can vote? U.S. citizens of 18 years or older in age who have registered as voters
Who can be a presidential candidate? U.S. citizens who were born in the U.S. , 35 years or order in
age and have been living in the U.S. for 14 years or more. (Including those who were born outside the
U.S. if parents are U.S. citizens)
The U.S. Electoral College
A winner-take-all system
Electoral College map showing the results of the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Democratic
candidate Barack Obama won the popular vote in 28 states and Washington, D.C. (denoted in blue) to
capture 365 electoral votes. Republican candidate John McCain won the popular vote in 22 states
(denoted in red) to capture 173 electoral votes. Nebraska split its electoral vote when Obama won the
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electoral vote from Nebraska's 2nd congressional district; the state's other four electoral votes went to
McCain.
Swing Staets
2008 swing states, where the margin of victory was less than 6 percentage points, are colored blue if
Democrat Barack Obama won and red if Republican John McCain won
Inauguration Day: January 20 -> Monday, January 21, 2013
Problems
(1) The staggered nature of the primary season
(2) A winner-take-all system: the swing states have disproportionate influence
(3) A candidate can win the electoral vote without securing the greatest amount of the popular vote.
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