Misplaced Pages

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88-523: The 45th Congress remained politically divided between a Democratic House and Republican Senate. President Hayes vetoed an Army appropriations bill from the House which would have ended Reconstruction and prohibited the use of federal troops to protect polling stations in the former Confederacy. Striking back, Congress overrode another of Hayes’s vetoes and enacted the Bland-Allison Act that required

176-402: A 51st state is admitted, it will receive senators in classes 1   and 2, at which point all three classes would have 34 senators. Because each state is represented by 2 senators, regardless of population, each class varies in electorate and populace. Since the early 19th century, it so happens class   2 senators cumulatively co-represent 50–60% of the population; senators from each of

264-517: A Democratic National Committee -commissioned panel led by Senator George McGovern – the McGovern–Fraser Commission – recommended that states adopt new rules to assure wider participation. A large number of states, faced with the need to conform to more detailed rules for the selection of national delegates in 1972, chose a presidential primary as an easier way to come into compliance with the new national Democratic Party rules. The result

352-512: A Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission . 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. Potential candidates usually form exploratory committees even earlier to determine

440-477: A class 2 senator: Alabama , Alaska , Arkansas , Colorado , Delaware , Georgia , Idaho , Illinois , Iowa , Kansas , Kentucky , Louisiana , Maine , Massachusetts , Michigan , Minnesota , Mississippi , Montana , Nebraska , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New Mexico , North Carolina , Oklahoma , Oregon , Rhode Island , South Carolina , South Dakota , Tennessee , Texas , Virginia , West Virginia , and Wyoming . Class 3 consists of: States with

528-451: A class 3 senator: Alabama , Alaska , Arizona , Arkansas , California , Colorado , Connecticut , Florida , Georgia , Hawaii , Idaho , Illinois , Indiana , Iowa , Kansas , Kentucky , Louisiana , Maryland , Missouri , Nevada , New Hampshire , New York , North Carolina , North Dakota , Ohio , Oklahoma , Oregon , Pennsylvania , South Carolina , South Dakota , Utah , Vermont , Washington , and Wisconsin . This table

616-475: 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

704-450: A federal office must file a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission before they can receive contributions aggregating in excess of $ 5,000 or make expenditures aggregating in excess of $ 5,000. Thus, this began a trend of presidential candidates declaring their intentions to run as early as the spring of the preceding calendar year so they can start raising and spending the money needed for their nationwide campaign. There

792-571: A long time to count and report ballots, and because of the winner's logistical issues in moving to the capital. With improvements in transportation and the passage of the Twentieth Amendment , presidential inaugurations were moved forward to noon on January 20, thereby allowing presidents to start their duties sooner. The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 was enacted to increase disclosure of contributions for federal campaigns . Subsequent amendments to law require that candidates to

880-452: A majority of votes, having been on the ticket for both Jackson and Adams, there was no need for the Senate to vote for a vice president. Since 1824, aside from the occasional "faithless elector", the popular vote indirectly determines the winner of a presidential election by determining the electoral vote, as each state or district's popular vote determines its electoral college vote. Although

968-508: A majority vote in the Electoral College. In the presidential election of 1824 , Andrew Jackson received a plurality , but not a majority, of electoral votes cast. The election was thrown to the House, and John Quincy Adams was elected president. A deep rivalry resulted between Andrew Jackson and House Speaker Henry Clay , who had also been a candidate in the election. Since the vice presidential candidate John Calhoun received

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1056-465: A moot issue later in the 19th century when it became the norm for popular elections to determine a state's Electoral College delegation. Electors chosen this way are pledged to vote for a particular presidential and vice presidential candidate (offered by the same political party). Although the president and vice president are legally elected separately, in practice they are chosen together. The Twelfth Amendment also established rules when no candidate wins

1144-867: A new state joins the union (as mentioned above), or when there is a special election to fill a vacant seat. Special elections have no bearing on when the term for that seat ends, and a senator elected in a special election will serve the remainder of the term, until the next regularly scheduled election, not affecting which class that seat falls within. Class 1 consists of: States with a class 1 senator: Arizona , California , Connecticut , Delaware , Florida , Hawaii , Indiana , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Michigan , Minnesota , Mississippi , Missouri , Montana , Nebraska , Nevada , New Jersey , New Mexico , New York , North Dakota , Ohio , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , Tennessee , Texas , Utah , Vermont , Virginia , Washington , West Virginia , Wisconsin , and Wyoming . Class 2 consists of: States with

1232-424: A part of the state, to elect their electors.) This movement toward greater democratization coincided with a gradual decrease in property restrictions for the franchise . By 1840 , only one of the 26 states ( South Carolina ) still selected electors by the state legislature. Every other state was electing its electors by general ticket plurality voting state-wide. By 1872 no states elected their electors using

1320-447: A part of their electors by use of district votes within the respective state. Eighteen states also have specific laws that punish electors who vote in opposition to the plurality, known as " faithless " or " unpledged " electors. In modern times, faithless and unpledged electors have not affected the ultimate outcome of an election, so the results can generally be determined based on the state-by-state popular vote. In addition, most of

1408-432: A third (independent) candidate achieved significant success (although still finishing in third place) was Ross Perot in 1992 , and the last time a third-party candidate received any electoral votes not from faithless electors was George Wallace in 1968 . In the first two presidential elections, the Electoral College handled both the nominations and elections in 1789 and 1792 that selected Washington. Starting with

1496-745: A time. With senators being elected to fixed terms of six years, the classes allow about a third of the seats to be up for election in any presidential or midterm election year instead of having all 100 be up for election at the same time every six years. The seats are also divided in such a way that any given state 's two senators are in different classes so that each seat's term ends in different years. Class 1   and class 2 consist of 33 seats each, while class   3 consists of 34 seats. Elections for class   1 seats took place in 2024, and elections for classes   2 and 3 will take place in 2026 and 2028, respectively. The three classes were established by Article   I , Section 3, Clause   2 of

1584-403: A vacancy, usually either due to the incumbent resigning or dying while in office, may happen in any given year regardless of the seat's class. A senator's description as junior or senior senator is also not related to their class. Rather, a state's senior U.S. senator is the one with the greater seniority in the Senate , which is mostly based on length of service. The U. S. Constitution sets

1672-429: A vice presidential running mate to join the ticket, which is either determined by choice of the nominee or by a second round of voting. Because of changes to national campaign finance laws since the 1970s regarding the disclosure of contributions for federal campaigns, presidential candidates from the major political parties usually declare their intentions to run as early as the spring of the previous calendar year before

1760-568: Is allocated a number of electors equal to the number of its delegates in both houses of Congress, combined. In 1961, the ratification of the Twenty-Third Amendment granted a number of electors to the District of Columbia, an amount equal to the number of electors allocated to the least populous state. However, U.S. territories are not allocated electors, and therefore are not represented in the Electoral College. Constitutionally,

1848-542: Is confirmed that it is much more effective than contacting potential voters by email or by phone, (Sides et al., pg. 147 para, 2, 3). These are just some of the wide variety of tactics used in campaigns. Under the United States Constitution, the manner of choosing electors for the Electoral College is determined by each state's legislature. Although each state designates electors by popular vote, other methods are allowed. For instance, instead of having

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1936-672: Is no provision for the role of political parties in the U.S. Constitution, since the Founding Fathers did not originally intend for American politics to be partisan. Thus, the first president, George Washington , was elected as an independent . Since the emergence of the American two-party system , and the election of Washington's successor, John Adams , in 1796 , all winners of U.S. presidential elections have represented one of two major parties. Third parties have taken second place only twice, in 1860 and 1912 . The last time

2024-444: Is re-sorted every two years so that the next scheduled election year appears at the top. The following table lists the senators by party by class.     Democrat    Independent who caucuses with Democrats     Republican    Not up for election The following table lists the senators by state and by class, including the states' Cook Partisan Voting Index ratings, which indicate

2112-407: Is sufficient to elect a general ticket using popular vote. But in the first presidential election in 1789 , for example, some states used "open" list block voting ; Maryland used block voting but had guaranteed seats for different parts of the state; Virginia elected its 12 electors by first-past-the-post voting contest in 12 districts. Other states later used multi-member districts, each covering

2200-407: Is the responsibility of state legislatures to regulate voter eligibility and registration. And the specific requirements for voter eligibility and registration also vary by state, e.g. some states ban convicted felons from voting. 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

2288-404: Is the utilization of previous election results and survey data that can be used to identify who falls into the categories given in section one. Third, it is not essential, nor possible to get the support of every voter in an election. The campaign focus should be held mostly to keeping the base and using data to determine how to swing the undecided voters. Fourth, now that the campaign has identified

2376-427: Is to promote stability in the Senate, and encourage senators to deliberate measures over time, rather than risk a rapid turnover of the entire chamber every six years. At the same time, it provided for more frequent elections as opposed to waiting every six years, to prevent senators from permanently combining for "sinister purposes". The three classes of the Senate are specified by Article   I, Section   3 of

2464-477: The 1796 election , congressional party or a state legislature party caucus selected the party's presidential candidates. That system collapsed in 1824, and since 1832 the preferred mechanism for nomination has been a national convention . Delegates to the national convention were usually selected at state conventions whose own delegates were chosen by district conventions. Sometimes they were dominated by intrigue between political bosses who controlled delegates;

2552-553: The 1824 election was the only presidential election under the current system decided by a contingent election in Congress that elected a different president than the candidate with a plurality in both the electoral and popular vote. (The 1800 election and the 1824 election were decided in the House. In 1800 the House winner was the candidate who had won a plurality of the popular vote.) Presidential elections occur every four years on Election Day , which since 1845 has been

2640-548: The Electoral College . These electors then cast direct votes, known as electoral votes, for president and for vice president. The candidate who receives an absolute majority of electoral votes (at least 270 out of 538, since the Twenty-Third Amendment granted voting rights to citizens of D.C.) is then elected to that office. If no candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes for president,

2728-691: The Electoral Count Act in 1887 in response to the disputed 1876 election , in which several states submitted competing slates of electors. The law established procedures for the counting of electoral votes. It has subsequently been codified into law in Title 3 of the United States Code . It also includes a " safe harbor " deadline where states must finally resolve any controversies over the selection of their electors. Until 1937, presidents were not sworn in until March 4 because it took

45th United States Congress - Misplaced Pages Continue

2816-685: The House of Representatives elects the president; likewise if no one receives an absolute majority of the votes for vice president, then the Senate elects the vice president. United States presidential elections differ from many other republics around the world (operating under either the presidential system or the semi-presidential system ) which use direct elections from the national popular vote ('one person, one vote') of their entire countries to elect their respective presidents. The United States instead uses indirect elections for its president through

2904-561: The Seventeenth Amendment required direct popular election of senators). When a new state is admitted to the Union , its two senators are placed into separate classes. Which two classes are determined by a scheme that keeps the three classes as close to the same size as possible, so that the largest class never differs by more than one senator from the smallest class. A random draw determined which new senator enters which of

2992-488: The U.S. Constitution . The actual division was originally performed by the Senate of the 1st Congress in May 1789 by lot . Whenever a new state subsequently joined the union, its two Senate seats were assigned to two different classes by a random draw, while keeping the three classes as close to the same number as possible. The classes only apply to the regular fixed-term elections of the Senate. A special election to fill

3080-490: 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

3168-447: The 50 states if they want to qualify on each state's ballot, and the requirements for filing vary by state. 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

3256-490: 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

3344-584: The Democratic candidate in the previous three presidential elections, and the number of electoral votes each state had in the Electoral College. In contrast, the Republicans assigned to each state 10 delegates, plus three delegates per congressional district. Both parties then gave a fixed number of delegates to each territory, and finally bonus delegates to states and territories that passed certain criteria. Along with delegates chosen during primaries and caucuses, state and U.S. territory delegations to both

3432-659: The Electoral College, and the system is highly decentralized like other elections in the United States . The Electoral College and its procedure are established in the U.S. Constitution by Article II, Section 1, Clauses 2 and 4 ; and the Twelfth Amendment (which replaced Clause   3 after its ratification in 1804). Under Clause   2, each state casts as many electoral votes as the total number of its Senators and Representatives in Congress , while (per

3520-500: The House and Senate committees can be found through the Official Congressional Directory at the bottom of this article. The directory after the pages of terms of service lists committees of the Senate, House (Standing with Subcommittees, Select and Special) and Joint and, after that, House/Senate committee assignments. On the committees section of the House and Senate in the Official Congressional Directory,

3608-485: The House. In response to the 1800 election, the Twelfth Amendment was passed, requiring electors to cast two distinct votes: one for president and another for vice president. While this solved the problem at hand, it reduced the prestige of the vice presidency, as the office was no longer held by the leading challenger for the presidency. The separate ballots for president and vice president became something of

45th United States Congress - Misplaced Pages Continue

3696-491: The Secretary, rolled up and put into a box, and drawn by Mr. Langdon, Mr. Wingate, and Mr. Dalton, in behalf of the respective classes in which each of them are placed; and that the classes shall vacate their seats in the Senate according to the order of numbers drawn for them, beginning with number one: And that, when Senators shall take their seats from States that have not yet appointed Senators, they shall be placed by lot in

3784-459: The Senate divided the members into three classes: Thursday, May 14, 1789. The committee appointed to consider and report a mode of carrying into effect the provision in the second clause of the third section of the first article of the Constitution, reported: Whereupon, Resolved, That the Senators be divided into three classes: That three papers of an equal size, numbered 1, 2, and 3, be, by

3872-521: 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,

3960-487: 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

4048-464: The Twelfth Amendment, the House must choose the president out of the top three people in the election. Clay had come in fourth, so he threw his support to Adams, who then won. Because Adams later named Clay his Secretary of State, Jackson's supporters claimed that Adams gained the presidency by making a deal with Clay. Charges of a "corrupt bargain" followed Adams through his term. In five presidential elections ( 1824 , 1876 , 1888 , 2000 , and 2016 ),

4136-515: The Twenty-third Amendment, ratified in 1961) Washington, D.C., casts the same number of electoral votes as the least-represented state, which is three. Also under Clause   2, the manner for choosing electors is determined by each state legislature , not directly by the federal government. Many state legislatures previously selected their electors directly, but over time all switched to using votes cast by state voters to choose

4224-615: The U.S. Constitution: Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year. The allocation took place in May 1789, several weeks after

4312-417: The age and residency requirements by Inauguration Day . The Twenty-second Amendment to the Constitution also sets a term limit : a president cannot be elected to more than two terms. 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

4400-399: 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. 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

4488-481: The classes selected to be expanded. This means at least one of any new state's first pair of senators had a term of more than 2 and up to 6 years and the other had a term that was 2 or 4 years shorter. New York, which held its first Senate elections in July 1789, was the first state to undergo this process after the original May 1789 draw by the Senate of the 1st Congress . Among the new senators, Philip Schuyler drew

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4576-488: The committee's members on the first row on the left side shows the chairman of the committee and on the right side shows the ranking member of the committee. Classes of United States senators The 100 seats in the United States Senate are divided into three classes for the purpose of determining which seats will be up for election in any two-year cycle, with only one class being up for election at

4664-430: The contested swing states critical to winning an electoral college majority, so they do not try to maximize their popular vote by real or fraudulent vote increases in one-party areas. However, candidates have failed to get the most votes in the nationwide popular vote in a presidential election and still won. In the 1824 election, Jackson won the popular vote, but no one received a majority of electoral votes. According to

4752-468: The election (almost 21 months before Inauguration Day). Article Two of the Constitution originally established the method of presidential elections, including the creation of the Electoral College , the result of a compromise between those constitutional framers who wanted the Congress to choose the president, and those who preferred a national popular vote. As set forth in Article Two, each state

4840-412: The feasibility of them actually running. The U.S. presidential election process, like all other elections in the United States , is a highly decentralized system. 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

4928-475: The finances. The most expensive form of advertising is running ads on broadcast television and is the best way to reach the largest number of potential voters. This tactic does have its drawback, however, as it is the most expensive form of advertisement. Even though it reaches the largest number of potential voters it is not the most effective way of swaying voters. The most effective way is believed to be through personal contact as many political scientists agree. It

5016-449: The first Senate assembled. Only twenty senators from ten states were present; North Carolina and Rhode Island had not yet ratified the U.S. Constitution, and New York, because of its late ratification, had not yet selected its senators. To decide on how to implement the division into classes, on May 11 the Senate appointed a committee consisting of Senators Ellsworth , Carroll , and Few . In accordance with their recommendation, on May 14

5104-481: The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. This date coincides with the general elections of various other federal, state, and local races; since local governments are responsible for managing elections, these races typically all appear on one ballot. The Electoral College electors then formally cast their electoral votes on the first Monday after December 12 at their state's capital. Congress then certifies

5192-493: The first state to establish a presidential preference primary, which requires delegates to the National Convention to support the winner of the primary at the convention. The impetus for national adoption of the binding primary election was the 1968 Democratic National Convention . Vice President Hubert Humphrey secured the presidential nomination despite not winning a single primary under his own name. After this,

5280-433: The fixed term of senators to six years and staggers their elections into three cycles, so that a third of the Senate was up for election every two years. This allows at least some Senate elections to be held during any presidential or midterm election year, as the U.S. President is elected to a fixed term of four years and members of the U.S. House of Representatives are elected to fixed terms of two years. The objective

5368-427: The foregoing classes, but in such manner as shall keep the classes as nearly equal as may be in numbers. On the next day, May 15, the term expiration of each class was determined by drawing lots . Lot 1 was drawn by Dalton, 2   by Wingate, and 3   by Langdon. Upon the expiration of a senator's term of any length, someone starts a new six-year term as senator (based on election by the state legislatures until

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5456-416: The general election in November, while the nominating conventions are held in the summer. Though not codified by law, political parties also follow an indirect election process, where voters in the fifty states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories , cast ballots for a slate of delegates to a political party's nominating convention, who then elect their party's presidential nominee. Each party may then choose

5544-492: 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

5632-459: The highest number of votes (provided it was a majority of the electoral votes) became the president, and the second-place candidate became the vice president. This presented a problem during the presidential election of 1800 when Aaron Burr received the same number of electoral votes as Thomas Jefferson and challenged Jefferson's election to the office. In the end, Jefferson was chosen as the president because of Alexander Hamilton 's influence in

5720-448: The ideal base strategy, it is now time to allocate resources properly to make sure your strategy is fulfilled to its extent, (Sides et al. pg. 126, para 4, and pg. 127, para 1). Campaign tactics are also an essential part of any strategy and rely mostly on the campaign's resources and the way they use them to advertise. Most candidates draw on a wide variety of tactics in the hopes to flood all forms of media, though they do not always have

5808-502: The ideas may differ the goal of them all are the same, "...to mobilize supporters and persuade undecided voters..." (Sides et al., pg. 126 para, 2). The goal of any campaign strategy is to create an effective path to victory for the intended candidate. Joel Bradshaw is a political scientist who has four propositions necessary to develop such a strategy. The first one being, the separation of the eligible voters into three groups: Undecided voters, opponent voters, and your voting base. Second,

5896-475: The last Congress, requiring reelection in 1880; Class 2 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1882; and Class 3 meant their term ended in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1878. The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers. The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress. Lists of committees and their party leaders for members of

5984-417: The late 20th century both the Democratic and Republican parties have favored sports arenas and domed stadiums to accommodate the increasing attendance. One major component of getting elected to any office is running a successful campaign. There are, however, multiple ways to go about creating a successful campaign. Several strategies are employed by candidates from both sides of the political spectrum. Though

6072-495: The legislature of each state determines how its electors are chosen; Article   II, Section   1, Clause   2 states that each state shall appoint electors "in such Manner as the Legislature Thereof May Direct". During the first presidential election in 1789 , in four of the 11 states of the time, the electors were elected directly by voters. In two others, a hybrid system was used where both

6160-414: The lot for class   1 (whose term would end in 1791) while Rufus King drew class   3 (whose term would end in 1795). This made class   1 have 8 senators while classes 2   and 3 had 7 senators each. North Carolina was then assigned classes 2   and 3 after holding its first Senate elections in November 1789, making all three classes have 8 seats each. When the newest state, Hawaii,

6248-445: The national convention was far from democratic or transparent. Progressive Era reformers then looked to the primary election as a way to measure popular opinion of candidates, as opposed to the opinion of the bosses. Florida enacted the first presidential primary in 1901. The Wisconsin direct open primary of 1905 was the first to eliminate the caucus and mandate direct selection of national convention delegates. In 1910, Oregon became

6336-486: The nationwide popular vote does not directly determine the winner of a presidential election, it does strongly correlate with who is the victor. In 54 of the 59 total elections held so far (about 91 percent), the winner of the national popular vote has also carried the Electoral College vote. The winners of the nationwide popular vote and the Electoral College vote have differed only in close elections. In highly competitive elections, candidates focus on turning out their vote in

6424-455: The new state, Colorado. This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed in order of seniority, and representatives are listed by district. Senators were elected by the state legislatures every two years, with one-third beginning new six-year terms with each Congress. Preceding the names in the list below are Senate class numbers , which indicate the cycle of their election. In this Congress, Class 1 meant their term began in

6512-411: The other 2 classes: 70–75% of the U.S. population. Because each state has 2 senators, the sum of these figures is 200%, not 100%. Several of the most populous states, such as California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, have their senators in classes 1   and 3, provoking this imbalance. The only times when both of a state's Senate seats are up for election in the same year are either when

6600-529: The party direction in which a state tends to lean and the extent of that lean. United States presidential election [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The election of the president and for vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C. , cast ballots not directly for those offices, but instead for members of

6688-420: The president was not an "office under the United States" 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,

6776-508: The purchase and coining of silver. Congress also approved a generous increase in pension eligibility for Northern Civil War veterans. The count below identifies party affiliations at the beginning of the first session of this Congress, and includes members from vacancies and newly admitted states, when they were first seated. Changes resulting from subsequent replacements are shown below in the "Changes in membership" section. During this Congress, two Senate seats and one House seat were added for

6864-458: The results in early January, and the presidential term begins on Inauguration Day , which since the passage of the Twentieth Amendment has been set at January 20. The nomination process, consisting of the primary elections and caucuses and the nominating conventions , was not specified in the Constitution, but was developed over time by the states and political parties . These primary elections are generally held between January and June before

6952-534: 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. The conventions have historically been held inside convention centers , but since

7040-490: The state legislature - all the states had switched to the general ticket method, Colorado having been the last hold-out. And today only two states - Maine and Nebraska - elect at least some of their electors through a different method than that general ticket method, in their cases it is First-past-the-post voting in districts covering part of the state. Under the original system established by Article Two, electors cast votes for two candidates for president. The candidate with

7128-495: The state's members of the electoral college (electors). Beyond the parameters set in the U.S. Constitution, state law, not federal, regulates most aspects of administering the popular vote, including most of the voter eligibility and registration requirements. Almost all states edict the winner of the plurality of its constituent statewide popular vote ('one person, one vote') shall receive all of that state's electors ("winner-takes-all'). A couple - Nebraska and Maine - determine

7216-457: 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

7304-459: The time, the winner as determined by the electoral college also has received the largest part of the national popular vote. There have been four exceptions: 1876 , 1888 , 2000 , and 2016 , in which the Electoral College winner's portion of the popular vote was surpassed by an opponent. Although taking fewer votes, the winner claimed more electoral college seats, due to winning close and narrow pluralities in numerous swing states . In addition,

7392-446: The voters and the state legislatures took part in electing the electors. In five, the state legislatures themselves elected the electors. Gradually more states began conducting popular elections to choose their slate of electors. In 1800, five of the 16 states chose electors by a popular vote; by 1824, after the rise of Jacksonian democracy , 18 of the 24 states chose electors by popular vote. (In most cases simple state-wide plurality

7480-537: The winner of the electoral vote lost the popular vote outright. Numerous constitutional amendments have been submitted seeking to replace the Electoral College with a direct popular vote, but none has ever successfully passed both Houses of Congress. Another alternate proposal is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact , an interstate compact whereby individual participating states agree to allocate their electors based on

7568-618: The winner of the national popular vote instead of just their respective statewide results. The presidential election day was established on a Tuesday in November because of the factors involved (weather, harvests and worship). When voters used to travel to the polls by horse, Tuesday was an ideal day because it allowed people to worship on Sunday, ride to their county seat on Monday, and vote on Tuesday—all before market day, Wednesday. November also fits nicely between harvest time and harsh winter weather, which could be especially challenging for people traveling by horse and buggy . Congress passed

7656-466: Was admitted in 1959, its first Senate elections had candidates run either for "seat A" or "B". The new senators, Hiram Fong and Oren E. Long , in a process managed by the Secretary of the Senate , drew lots to determine which of the two would join class   1 (whose term would end in five-and-a-half years), and which would join class   3 (whose term would end in three-and-a-half years). If

7744-541: Was that many more future delegates would be selected by a state presidential primary. The Republicans also adopted many more state presidential primaries. Article Two of the Constitution stipulates that for a person to serve as president, the individual must be a natural-born citizen of the United States , at least 35 years old, and a resident of the United States for a period of no less than 14 years. A candidate may start running their campaign early before turning 35 years old or completing 14 years of residency, but must meet

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