Which of the following is a method used by parties to select presidential nominees

The Basics

Caucus: Organized by political parties, a caucus is a meeting of supporters of a specific political party who gather to elect delegates to choose whom they believe should be the candidate in a given election.

Primary: A primary is a method of selecting a candidate similar to that of a general election. It is an organized statewide event put on by the state government where voters cast a secret ballot for the candidate of their choosing. Whomever receives a majority of the votes is the winner.

Digging Deeper

The election cycle in the United States is long. Years before the date of the election, possible presidential candidates begin speaking and touring, trying to get a sense of how much public support for their candidacy exists. The majority of candidates belong to one of two major parties in the United States, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. Both parties select their candidates in nominating conventions which occur in the months before the national election in November of the election year. Who the parties select is dependent upon which candidate possess the majority of delegates at the nominating convention. It is these delegates that voters are truly making the selection of the candidate, not your vote!

There are two main methods by which these candidates are selected. These methods are a primary and a caucus. A primary is a method of selecting a candidate similar to that of a general election. It is an organized statewide event put on by the state government where voters cast a secret ballot for the candidate of their choosing. Whomever receives a majority of the votes is the winner. In state and local elections, this candidate goes on to run for the office. In a presidential primary, however, the winner is given a majority number of the state’s delegates to the nominating convention. Most states only allow voters to participate in the party’s primary in which they identify as a member.

A caucus is a very different process. Organized by the political parties themselves, caucuses are a “meeting of neighbors”. Groups of citizens come together in local assemblies to discuss who they think will be the best candidate. At the end of the meeting, an election is held where by delegates to a county or state convention who pledge to support the majority candidate are selected. These delegates go on to select the delegates to the national convention, who will eventually choose which candidate from that party will run for office.

So how did this complex system come about? And why do the political parties have so much control? Well stay tuned to Think the Vote to find out!

The Electoral College is a method of indirect popular election of the President of the United States. Instead of voting for a specific candidate, voters in an indirect popular election select a panel of individuals pledged to vote for a specific candidate. This is in contrast to a popular election where votes are cast for an individual candidate. For example, in a general presidential election, voters select electors to represent their vote in the Electoral College, and not for an individual presidential candidate.

The authors of the Constitution put this system in place so that careful and calm deliberation would lead to the selection of the best-qualified candidate. Voters in each state actually cast a vote for a block of electors who are pledged to vote for a particular candidate. These electors, in turn, vote for the presidential candidate. The number of electors for each state equals its Congressional representation.

After Election Day, on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, these electors assemble in their state capitals, cast their ballots, and officially select the next President of the United States. Legally, the electors may vote for someone other than the candidate for whom they were pledged to vote. This phenomenon is known as the "unfaithful" or "faithless" elector. Generally, this does not happen. The candidate who receives the most votes in a state at the general election will be the candidate for whom the electors later cast their votes. The candidate who wins in a state is awarded all of that state’s Electoral College votes. Maine and Nebraska are exceptions to this winner-take-all rule.

The votes of the electors are then sent to Congress where the President of the Senate opens the certificates and counts the votes. This takes place on January 6, unless that date falls on a Sunday. In that case, the votes are counted on the next day. An absolute majority is necessary to prevail in the presidential and the vice presidential elections, that is, half the total plus one electoral votes are required. With 538 Electors, a candidate must receive at least 270 votes to be elected to the office of President or Vice President.

Should no presidential candidate receive an absolute majority, the House of Representatives determines who the next President will be. Each state may cast one vote and an absolute majority is needed to win. Similarly, the Senate decides who the next Vice President will be if there is no absolute majority after the Electoral College vote. Elections have been decided by Congress in the past. The House of Representatives elected Thomas Jefferson President in the election of 1800 when the Electoral College vote resulted in a tie. When the Electoral College vote was so split that none of the candidates received an absolute majority in the election of 1824, the House elected John Quincy Adams President. Richard Johnson was elected Vice President by the Senate when he failed to receive an absolute majority of electoral votes in the election of 1836.

The President-elect and Vice President-elect take the oath of office and are inaugurated two weeks later, on January 20th.

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