Fun Facts about US Presidential Election Process

By Ananya Singh

It may happen that a candidate wins in more than 50% of the states, by targeting only the small ones but doesn’t win 270 of the 538 votes. (Why 538 you ask? Check out below). In such a case his opposition, who does gain 270 votes, even though with a smaller popularity percentage, will become the president. This is what happened in the 2000 elections of USA.

The number of 538 Electors comes from the number of 435 Representatives (who each represent their district), 3 people from Washington D.C (which is NOT considered a state) and 100 Senate Constituencies.

It is possible that a candidate doesn’t get even one vote from 39 states or the District of Columbia, yet ends up being President by winning in just 11 of the total 12 most populous states, which include, California, New York, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia.

Over 2.5 million American citizens don’t have the chance to make their vote counted if:

a) They have migrated within the country,
b) They live in Union Territories,

Even though American Citizens living abroad (they send their vote by post to the state they previously lived in) and even in space do!

This ‘Elector’ system seems very weird and unneeded in today’s world, however, it was begun in 1700, where the Electors were actually people meeting in D.C on the specified date and had the latest news, according to which they made decisions for the candidate they wish to vote for and thought was best for their state. Today, however, the same information takes just 0.12 seconds whereas it took 7 days in the 1700.

In 1845, The Congress decided that voting day would be the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November because the weather became harsh after that.

The first woman to run for U.S. President was Victoria Woodhull in 1872, nearly 50 years before the 19th Amendment allowed women to vote in presidential elections. Her running mate, Frederick Douglass, was the first African-American ever nominated for Vice President.

The first election held using voting machines was in 1892, even though it was invented earlier. This is because the candidates didn’t want to give up the facility of dealing the votes over the phone.

There are only three requirements to be the candidate or president, according to Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution:
a) She/he must be at least 35 years old,
b) She/he must have lived in the United States at least 14 years and
c) She/he must be a natural-born citizen.

Hope you enjoyed this writeup!