In 2024, voters return to the polls for (yet another) unprecedented election in modern history, to elect a President who will not be new, in any sense of the word. The campaign has been going on for a long time and promises to intensify until November.

Because of its importance to the world, but also because of the nature of political combat in the United States, American politics has invaded television, newspapers and radio all over the world, and Portugal is no exception. Caucuses, primaries, delegates, superdelegates, tickets, are all terms that enter our eyes and ears, but do we know what it all means?

Who’s going to vote?

Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump are, at this point, the official candidates of their parties, having obtained the necessary number of delegates for this purpose by the beginning of March. The official ratification of this vote – the actual choice of candidates by the delegates – will take place during the conventions of the two parties. The Republican Party meets in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15-18. The Democratic Party in Chicago, Illinois, August 19-22.

Joe Biden got the necessary number of delegates in mid-March, after Super Tuesday, with virtually no internal opposition. Marianne Williamson, an author of self-help books, suspended her campaign in early February.

Donald Trump secured the number of delegates also after Super Tuesday, with more candidates running against him, but without really strong opposition. Most of the candidates dropped out by the first of the Iowa primary – including Ron DeSantis, who was once seen as one of the front-runners; and Mike Pence, Donald Trump’s vice president.

The only candidate who remained in the race was Nikki Haley, former governor of the state of New Hampshire and permanent representative of the United States to the United Nations (appointed by Donald Trump). The disappointing results on Super Tuesday led Haley to suspend her campaign.

A Third Way

There are already some candidates who have announced their intention to be an alternative to the two presidents who are going to vote, but it remains to be seen whether they will carry enough weight to be the independent candidate that will affect the overall results, as happened with Ross Perot in 1992 (and who contributed to the non-reelection of George H. W. Bush).

The best known of this batch are, for now, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a member of the best-known political family in the United States – and known for controversial positions such as opposition to vaccines -, Cornell West, Professor at Stanford and well-known progressive activist, and Jill Stein, who is once again seeking nomination for the Green Party.

The challenge for these candidates will be to get enough support to appear on the ballot in all 50 states.

When are there elections?

The elections for President of the United States, the Head of State and Government of the U.S., are held every four years. The process, very different from the one we know in Portugal, lasts approximately 1 year, from the beginning of the primaries until the inauguration of the new President, on January 20 of the year following the elections. The elections always take place on the first Tuesday of November, which in this case will be November 5, 2024.

How are the candidates elected?

The process begins with the campaign to choose the presidential candidate of each party. This candidate is defined locally by the different states, and can take the form of primaries or caucuses. In both primaries and caucuses, electoral processes vary from state to state. Thus, there are states, such as Iowa, that elect their candidate by caucuses, and others, such as New Hampshire, that have primary elections.

In both primaries and caucuses, presidential candidates are not directly elected, but delegates, who in turn will endorse a candidate at their party’s National Convention. The choice of the candidate will be completed when one of them obtains more than half of the votes of the delegates.

The Republican Party meets in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15-18. The Democratic Party in Chicago, Illinois, August 19-22.

What is a Caucus?

Caucuses are party meetings, organised by the respective parties, in which it is decided and publicly declared support for a candidate. During these meetings, participants are divided into groups according to the candidate they support. The number of supporters in each group determines the delegates that the respective candidate gets.

The primaries are elections at the state level, in which candidates are subject to the anonymous popular vote.

Once the candidate of each Party has been decided, and they have chosen their candidates for the US Vice-Presidency, who will accompany them on the campaign trail, the election campaign for President of the United States begins.

The candidates are already chosen. What’s next?

Once the candidates are known throughout the various dates of the primaries that culminate in the conventions, the campaign kicks off into a face-to-face phase between the two candidates – one Republican, one Democrat – culminating with Election Day, which takes place on the first Tuesday of November 2024.

But if this is the day where it all begins, it’s not where it ends. The process continues for a few more months. Citizens over the age of 18 can vote to elect the President. But they don’t do it directly on Election Day. Instead, they elect electors, who make up an electoral college.

What is the Electoral College?

Each State has a number of electors equal to the sum of the members of the House of Representatives elected by that State and its 2 Senators. As such, the total number of electors is 538 and the number of electors in each state depends on the corresponding population, since it is a function of the population that the number of Representatives (members of the House of Representatives, which belongs to the U.S. Congress) is determined.

Each elector is entitled to one vote, and as such, to win the election, it is necessary to have at least 270 votes in the electoral college.

When is the President formally chosen?

After Election Day, voters meet in their respective states on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. On that day, they vote on their choices for President and Vice-President.

But it’s not that day that you count the votes. Only on January 6th of the following year, the Congress meets to count the votes arising from the electoral college. At that time the election result is officially announced: the names of the President and Vice-President of the United States.

On the 20th of January, the President and Vice-President take office.

What if no candidate gets the 270 delegates needed?

Theoretically, it’s possible that neither Republicans nor Democrats get the 270 delegates needed to win the election. If this happens, which would have to result in a tie of 269 delegates each, the U.S. Constitution stipulates that it is up to the House of Representatives to choose who will be President of the United States. The Senate, the upper house of Congress, has the responsibility of appointing the Vice-President.