Controversial situations in the US electoral system

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Why controversial situations arise in the US electoral system and how democratic it is, experts explain: Alexei Mukhin, director of the Center for Political Information, and Georgy Bovt, a political scientist.

What is the key feature of the electoral system?

Alexey Mukhin:The fact that such a system is traditional. This, in fact, is its only value. Due to the multi-layered nature and complexity of the organization of the American presidential elections, they, as it periodically become known, are very susceptible to various manipulations and are not an example of democratic mechanisms.

The Americans themselves understand this very well, but they do not want to change the existing system, because it is a tradition, and loyalty to this tradition, to some extent, even deserves respect.

Georgy Bovt:The electoral system is aimed at ensuring that both the interests of the simple majority of voters and the states as subjects of the American federation are taken into account in the election results.

This is achieved due to the fact that the electoral votes take into account both the population in a particular state, and the number of congressmen and senators who are elected from this state. Thus, candidates who are vying for the presidency are incentivized to compete for popular votes in every state, not just in populous states.

If the election results were determined by a simple majority, then it would be enough to get a majority, say, on the east and west coasts. Mid America would be ignored.

The candidate speaks to the voters. Source: yandex.ru

Is the US electoral system fair?

Alexey Mukhin: Since the United States has declared itself the standard of electoral democracy, then for them, apparently, yes. But this justice exists only in the imagination of American citizens. Periodically, this sensation disappears even in them. That is, it is a reality given to them in sensation. In this regard, it is extremely difficult to assess their fairness from afar.

If they think it is fair, they use it. Until then, it is fair for them. For an outside observer, it is more likely no than yes.

Georgy Bovt: It seems to me that this system is valid for large countries with different conditions for different regions. America is a diverse country, and this system takes into account the diversity of its regions.

Why do controversial situations arise under a two-tier election system when more people vote for one of the candidates, but he loses?

Alexey Mukhin: The multi-layered organization of these elections a priori provokes such incidents. And these incidents are repeated from election to election. It is impossible to avoid violations and machinations, attempts to put pressure on the electors. What, in fact, is evidenced by the experience of these same campaigns.

Georgy Bovt: Disputes arise only over the recount of votes in a particular state. The question can only be raised at the state level, since federal law is of the most general nature, and all procedural subtleties are spelled out in state law.

There has been no precedent in American history for anyone to question the electoral system itself as deceitful. They questioned only specific voting figures in specific states. No one in America will seriously challenge the established voting system.

Debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Source: club-tm.ru

Does the two-tiered system help make elections more fair?

Alexey Mukhin: The legitimacy of an election is assessed by public sentiment. The mechanism can be the most perfect, elections can be held to the fullest extent of the revolutionary time. But their legitimacy is assessed by public opinion based on the results of these elections.

Georgy Bovt: Such a system helps to better take into account the interests of different regions and their populations when summing up the overall result. The American system is spread across 50 states. Therefore, control takes place at the level of each specific state. In this regard, there is much more opportunity to control the overall result, since in each state people control it.

Is the two-stage electoral system applicable to Russia?

Alexey Mukhin: Absolutely not. Over the past several decades, we have already developed a stable idea of what the elections should be like. By the way, thanks to the efforts of Western observers and critics, our system is one of the most modern and transparent. Of course, not without abuse - where there are people, there is abuse. But thanks to constant external control, it seems to be one of the most modern.

Georgy Bovt: It seems to me that for Russia it would be interesting primarily in terms of the Duma elections. Because due to the different turnout and different use of the administrative resource, the regions where the administrative resource is used to a greater extent are now gaining advantage in the Duma elections. Probably the same applies to the presidential elections.