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Draft:2032 United States presidential election

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2032 United States presidential election

← 2028 November 2, 2032 2036 →

538 members of the Electoral College
270 electoral votes needed to win

Incumbent President

[to be determined]



The 2032 United States presidential election will be the 62nd quadrennial presidential election, scheduled for Tuesday, November 2, 2032. The winner of this election will be inaugurated on January 20, 2033. Voters in each state and the District of Columbia will choose electors to the Electoral College, who will then elect a president and vice president for a term of four years.

Background

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Procedure

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Article Two of the United States Constitution states that for a person to serve as president, the individual must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, be at least 35 years old, and have been a United States resident for at least 14 years. The Twenty-second Amendment forbids any person from being elected president more than twice. Major party candidates seek the nomination through a series of primary elections that select the delegates who choose the candidate at the party's national convention. The national convention chooses a vice presidential running mate to form that party's ticket. The nominee for president usually picks the running mate, who is then ratified by the delegates at the party's convention.

The U.S. Constitution also has two provisions that apply to all federal officers appointed by the president, and debatably also to the presidency. When Senator Barack Obama was elected president a legal debate concluded that the president was not an "office under the United States"[1] for many reasons, but most significantly because Article I, Section 3, Clause 7 would violate the legal principle of surplusage if the president were also a civil officer. There exists no case law to resolve the debate however public opinion seems to favor that the presidency is also bound by the following qualifications:

Upon conviction at impeachment, the Senate may vote to disqualify that person from holding any "public office... under the United States" in the future. Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the election to any federal office of any person who engaged in insurrection after having held any federal or state office, rebellion or treason; this disqualification can be waived if such an individual gains the consent of two-thirds of both houses of Congress.

In addition, the Twelfth Amendment establishes that the vice-president must meet all the qualifications of being a president.

Although not a mandatory requirement, Federal campaign finance laws including the Federal Election Campaign Act state that a candidate who intends to receive contributions aggregating in excess of $5,000 or make expenditures aggregating in excess of $5,000, among others, must first file a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission.[2] This has led presidential candidates, especially members from the two major political parties, to officially announce their intentions to run as early as the spring of the previous calendar year so they can start raising or spending the money needed for their nationwide campaign.[3] Potential candidates usually form exploratory committees even earlier to determine the feasibility of them actually running.

The general election in November is an indirect election, in which voters cast ballots for a slate of members of the Electoral College; these electors then directly elect the president and vice president.

Decentralized election system and voter eligibility

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The U.S. presidential election process, like all other elections in the United States, is a highly decentralized system.[4] While the U.S. Constitution does set parameters for the election of the president and other federal officials, state law, not federal, regulates most aspects of elections in the U.S., including the primaries, the eligibility of voters (beyond the basic constitutional definition), and the specific details of running each state's electoral college meeting. All elections, including federal, are administered by the individual states.[5]

Thus, the presidential election is really an amalgamation of separate state elections instead of a single national election run by the federal government. Candidates must submit separate filings in each of the 50 states if they want to qualify on each state's ballot, and the requirements for filing vary by state.[6]

The eligibility of an individual for voting is set out in the Constitution and regulated at state level. The 15th, 19th and 26th Amendments to the Constitution state that suffrage cannot be denied on grounds of race or color, sex, or age for citizens eighteen years or older, respectively. Beyond these basic qualifications, it is the responsibility of state legislatures to regulate voter eligibility and registration.[5] And the specific requirements for voter eligibility and registration also vary by state, e.g. some states ban convicted felons from voting.[7]

Nominating process

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A 2008 Democratic caucus meeting in Iowa City, Iowa. The Iowa caucuses are traditionally the first major electoral event of presidential primaries and caucuses.
Madison Square Garden in New York City, the site of the 1976, 1980, and 1992 Democratic National Conventions; and the 2004 Republican National Convention
The floor of the 2008 Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota

The modern nominating process of U.S. presidential elections consists of two major parts: a series of presidential primary elections and caucuses held in each state, and the presidential nominating conventions held by each political party. This process was never included in the Constitution, and thus evolved over time by the political parties to clear the field of candidates.

The primary elections are run by state and local governments, while the caucuses are organized directly by the political parties. Some states hold only primary elections, some hold only caucuses, and others use a combination of both. These primaries and caucuses are staggered generally between January and June before the federal election, with Iowa and New Hampshire traditionally holding the first presidential state caucus and primary, respectively.

Like the general election, presidential caucuses or primaries are indirect elections. The major political parties officially vote for their presidential candidate at their respective nominating conventions, usually all held in the summer before the federal election. Depending on each state's law and state's political party rules, when voters cast ballots for a candidate in a presidential caucus or primary, they may be voting to award delegates "bound" to vote for a candidate at the presidential nominating conventions, or they may simply be expressing an opinion that the state party is not bound to follow in selecting delegates to their respective national convention.

Unlike the general election, voters in the U.S. territories can also elect delegates to the national conventions. Furthermore, each political party can determine how many delegates to allocate to each state and territory. In 2012 for example, the Democratic and Republican party conventions each used two different formulas to allocate delegates. The Democrats-based theirs on two main factors: the proportion of votes each state gave to the Democratic candidate in the previous three presidential elections, and the number of electoral votes each state had in the Electoral College.[8] In contrast, the Republicans assigned to each state 10 delegates, plus three delegates per congressional district.[9] Both parties then gave a fixed number of delegates to each territory, and finally bonus delegates to states and territories that passed certain criteria.[8][9]

Along with delegates chosen during primaries and caucuses, state and U.S. territory delegations to both the Democratic and Republican party conventions also include "unpledged" delegates who have a vote. For Republicans, they consist of the three top party officials from each state and territory. Democrats have a more expansive group of unpledged delegates called "superdelegates", who are party leaders and elected officials.

Each party's presidential candidate also chooses a vice presidential nominee to run with him or her on the same ticket, and this choice is rubber-stamped by the convention.

If no single candidate has secured a majority of delegates (including both pledged and unpledged), then a "brokered convention" results. All pledged delegates are then "released" and can switch their allegiance to a different candidate. Thereafter, the nomination is decided through a process of alternating political horse trading, and additional rounds of re-votes.[10][11][12][13]

The conventions have historically been held inside convention centers, but since the late 20th century both the Democratic and Republican parties have favored sports arenas and domed stadiums to accommodate the increasing attendance.

References

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  1. ^ Seth B. Tillman; Steven G. Calabresi (Jan 2008). "The Great Divorce: The Current Understanding of Separation of Powers and the Original Meaning of the Incompatibility Clause" (PDF). University of Pennsylvania Law Review Online. 157 (1): 1. ISSN 1942-8537. Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2024. the Presidency is not "an Office under the United States.
  2. ^ "2016 Presidential Form 2 Filers" (Press release). Federal Election Commission. Archived from the original on April 8, 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  3. ^ Jose A. DelReal (April 3, 2015). "Why Hillary Clinton might have just two more weeks or so to announce she's running for president". Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 10, 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Election Administration at State and Local Levels". National Conference of State Legislatures. Archived from the original on October 25, 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Elections & Voting". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 28 September 2024 – via National Archives.
  6. ^ "Time running short for new 2020 Democrats to jump in as filing deadlines approach". Washington Examiner. October 25, 2019. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  7. ^ Gonchar, Michael (February 18, 2014). "Should Felons Be Allowed to Vote After They Have Served Their Time?". The Learning Network - The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 28, 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Democratic Detailed Delegate Allocation – 2012". The Green Papers. Archived from the original on November 9, 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Republican Detailed Delegate Allocation – 2012". The Green Papers. Archived from the original on November 9, 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  10. ^ Paul, Katie (2008-02-07). "Convention Wisdom". Newsweek. Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  11. ^ Eun Kyung Kim (2008-02-10). "Convention Q & A". Gannett News Service. Detroit Free Press.[dead link]
  12. ^ Clift, Eleanor (2008-02-06). "A Ticking Clock". Newsweek. Archived from the original on March 4, 2008. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  13. ^ Gold, Jeffrey (2008-02-09). "Post-primary questions answered". Courier-Post. Associated Press.[dead link]