Elected Federal Offices

Presidential

Term of office

4 years - term limited to 10 years total

  • vice pres can get the extra 2 years if the pres dies in the middle of their term

Qualifications

  • 35 years old

  • natural born citizen

  • 14 year resident of the US

Electing

  • states elect the pres through the Electoral College

  • citizen votes instruct the state’s electors on who to choose

  • states receive electors based on their delegation in congress

  • you must win 270 of the 538 electoral votes

Congressional

less power

Terms of office

2 years

Qualifications

  • 25 years old

    • lowest age limit in fed gov

  • resident of your district

  • citizen for 7 years

Electing

Elected from 435 districts

  • the number of districts is based on population

  • districts are approx equal in population

  • a congressperson is elected by the people living in that district

  • subject to gerrymandering

    • drawing congressional districts to benefit the party in power

Senatorial

Terms of Office

6 years

  • longest term

Qualifications

  • 30 years old

  • Resident of your state

  • Citizen for 14 years

Electing

  • 2 senators are elected from each of the 50 states

    • 17th amendment

      • Direct Statewide Election

    • States stagger their elections to elect only 1 senator at a time

    • Only 1/3rd of seats are ever up at the same time

Election Cycle

Race to Election Day

Primaries and Caucuses

January - June

Elections and events where the party picks its candidates for the Fall.

Primary Election - vote on the party’s candidate

  • Open Primary - can vote on whichever party ballot you want, whether that is your affiliated party or not

  • Closed Primary - have to be registered with that party to vote

Caucus - outdated - everyone would meet together to talk about the candidates, then everyone would go to a corner to show their support for that candidate, then the corner with the least people would be eliminated so everyone in that corner would have to go to a different corner and these eliminations continue until everyone agrees with one candidate.

Party Convention

August

Delegates go to a national convention and nominate their candidates.

  • Delegates collected throughout the primary are sent to a national convention.

  • Delegates vote as states to select the party nominees.

  • Delegates also form committees and write the party platform.

  • At the end of the convention the Presidential nominee is selected and the general election begins.

The General Election

September - October

The Parties face off in debates nad campaign rallies to turn out voters.

Congressional and Senatorial Candidates are elected by popular vote in their state or district.

Presidents are elected by Electoral College votes so they must target “swing states” in order to reach 270.

Swing states are states where both parties are competitive for undecided voters.

Change from election to election because of demographic shifts in the states.

Election Day

The first tuesday after the first Monday in November

Voters cast ballots for the candidate that they would like to see win the election