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##  Teaching about Presidential Elections. ERIC Digest.                          

Although elections are an annual theme in many social studies                   classrooms, presidential election years prompt increased interest               among students in the electoral process and offer an opportunity to             teach about a national election as it happens.  This ERIC Digest                describes legal and extralegal requirements and traditions of                   presidential elections, processes by which people seek and gain the             office of president, and resources for teaching about presidential              elections. REQUIREMENTS AND TRADITIONS OF PRESIDENTIAL                        ELECTIONS.Americans elect their president through a combination             of custom, state law, and constitutional requirement such as the                electoral college as specified in Article II, Sections 2 and 4 and              Amendment 12.  Furthermore, Article II, Section 5 plus Amendments 20            and 23 of the United States Constitution pertain to election of the             president.  The following statements describe the presidential                  election system in the United States. 
*  A president must be at               least 35 years old, a natural born citizen, and a resident of the               United States for a minimum of 14 years. 
*  A president is elected            by delegates to the electoral college (i.e., electors), not directly            by the people. 
*  In each state, each party on the ballot selects             electors equal to that state's number of senators and                           representatives in Congress (in addition to three delegates from the            District of Columbia, as secured by the passage of the Twenty-Third             Amendment). 
*  Eligible voters in each state and the District of              Columbia vote for a presidential candidate on the designated                    election day, or they cast absentee ballots if they are out of the              state on the official election day; these are the popular                       votes. 
*  Entire slates of electors are pledged to each of the                presidential nominees in every state (except Maine, where special               presidential elector districts allocate delegates) so that the                  winner of the state's popular vote, even a plurality winner, takes              all of the electoral votes of a state (even though the Constitution             does not require electors to vote for the candidate receiving the               most popular votes in the general election). 
*  Electors cast                 ballots in their state capitals the first Monday after the second               Wednesday in December (the electoral college never convenes as an               entire body). 
*  Ballots are sent to Washington and counted before            a joint session of the new Congress on January 6. 
*  If no                    candidate wins a majority of electors in the electoral                          college (i.e., 51 percent or 270 electoral votes), then the election            of the president goes to the House of Representatives, where each               state casts one vote, determined by the state's representatives,                among the five highest-ranking candidates, and the election of the              vice president goes to the Senate, where every member casts one vote            for one of the two highest-ranking candidates. @*  If the House of              Representatives fails to elect a president by majority vote before              the president's scheduled inauguration on January 20, then the vice             president-elect "shall act as President until a president shall have            qualified" (Twentieth Amendment). 
*  The president-elect is sworn             in on January 20. 
Unable to foresee development of political                  parties and a two-party system, most delegates to the Constitutional            Convention believed the electoral college would fail frequently to              produce a majority, thus throwing the election of the president into            the House of Representatives. Only the presidential elections of                1800 and 1824, however, did not yield a majority in the electoral               college. Yet, because of the winner-take-all system, in 17 of 52                presidential elections a candidate won without attracting a majority            of the popular vote.  Moreover, John Quincy Adams (1824), Rutherford            B. Hayes (1876), and Benjamin Harrison (1888) were elected despite              receiving fewer popular votes than their opponents. BECOMING                  PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.In addition to the formal                    requirements listed above, Americans typically elect a president who            meets unwritten criteria such as leadership in one of the two major             parties, foreign policy experience, moral standing, and extensive               experience in running for and gaining political office.  Although               millions of Americans are legally eligible to run for the nation's              highest elected office, people who have experience in politics,                 especially as governors and members of Congress, have a decided                 advantage.  Sixteen former governors and 24 former members of one or            both houses of Congress have served as president.  Of the two                   leading presidential candidates in 2000, George W. Bush is a state              governor and Albert Gore Jr. has served in both houses of                       Congress. 
Serious candidates for president must begin preparing               for the election years in advance.  The first decision potential                candidates and their families face is whether or not they are suited            for the demands of the office and willing to make the personal                  sacrifices necessary to win the election.  The next step usually                involves forming political action committees to broaden a                       candidate's visibility, to test the candidate's appeal nationwide,              and to raise money for increasingly expensive campaigns.  Candidates            also establish exploratory committees whose job it is to: 1)                    seriously consider the candidate's chances of becoming president, 2)            suggest possible campaigns themes and slogans, 3) write speeches and            position papers, 4) seek endorsements from powerful individuals and             groups, 5) recruit professional and volunteer staff, 6) begin                   organizing state campaigns in key states, 7) hire pollsters and                 consultants, and 8) develop media appeals. 
For candidates who make            it through these initial stages, the next step is announcing                    formally their candidacy and entering their party's series of                   caucuses and primaries.  Presidential caucuses and primaries differ             from state to state, as do the rules and qualifications for getting             on the ballot.  Generally, a state presidential caucus is a                     multilayered system of meetings usually attracting only dedicated               party members who elect delegates to represent them in the next                 stage of the election process.  There are two types of state                    primaries.  In the first type, voters directly vote for the person              they want to nominate for the presidency.  In the second type,                  voters elect delegates to the national nominating convention.  Since            1956 these state contests have determined each party's nominee for              the presidency.  Traditionally, Iowa conducts the first caucus and              New Hampshire the first primary, giving these two smaller states                significant influence over the process. 
National party conventions            are held in late July or August before the fall presidential                    campaign to nominate the candidates for president and vice-president            and approve the party platforms, each party's stated goals for the              next four years.  Until direct primaries became popular in states               during the twentieth century, these national conventions were                   extremely important in the presidential election process.  Because              Americans usually know a party's presidential nominee and platform              before the convention, their importance in recent years has                     diminished.  Still, conventions are important to nominees because               they help solidify party support. 
After the national party                    conventions, candidates are focused fully on the general election,              held the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.  During              the campaign for the general election candidates must decide the                best strategy for winning the general election.  Typically,                     candidates must decide which issues and sections of the country to              emphasize, how much and what kinds of advertising to buy, how to                collaborate with other interested groups to broaden support, and how            to reorganize their campaigns at the state and local levels (Nelson             1994, 140).  With every decision, a candidate also must consider the            likely responses from other candidates. 
If the general election               produces a majority in the electoral college for a presidential and             vice-presidential ticket, then these candidates are known as the                president-elect and vice-president elect until taking office on                 January 20 of the following year.  Although many view the system by             which Americans elect their president as odd or even antiquated, to             date there has not been a serious effort to change it. WORLD WIDE             WEB RESOURCES FOR TEACHING ABOUT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.The                 following World Wide Web sites are recommended as valuable resources            for teachers and students. 
*  Kids Voting USA.  This acclaimed                nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots organization works with schools              and communities to enhance civic education and provide youth a                  voting experience at official polls on election day.  Independent               research has confirmed the value of Kids Voting USA, and K-12                   educators who wish to actively engage students in learning about                elections should consider using this program.  This well-organized              site provides an overview of the program, information about how to              use it, teacher- and student-only domains, and a newsletter.                    http://kidsvotingusa.org/ 
*  The American President: Election                 2000.  Part of the companion site to PBS's monumental series "The               American President, Election 2000" is designed to help teachers and             students track the emerging themes, events, and personalities of the            2000 presidential elections.  A student magazine, presidential                  biographies, and lesson plans for teaching about the presidency are             available at this site.                                                         http://www.americanpresident.org/election2000.htm 
*  Issues2000:              Every Candidate on Every Issue.  This nonpartisan site tracks the               positions of the Republican, Democratic, Reform, Libertarian, Green,            Natural Law, and Constitution party candidates on a wide variety of             important issues and policy debates.  http://issues2000.org 
*                 Federal Election Commission: Guide for Citizens.  Part of the                   official site of the Federal Election Commission, this site is                  designed for anyone wishing to learn more about financing campaigns             for federal office, the rules and regulations of financing, and                 elections and voting in general.                                                http://www.fec.gov/citizen-guide.html REFERENCES and ERIC                       RESOURCES. 
The following list of resources includes references                used to prepare this Digest.  The items followed by an ED number are            available in microfiche and/or paper copies from the ERIC Document              Reproduction Service (EDRS).  For information about prices, contact             EDRS, 7420 Fullerton Road, Suite 110, Springfield, Virginia                     22153-2852; telephone numbers are (703) 440-1400 and (800)                      443-3742.  Entries followed by an EJ number, annotated monthly in               CURRENT INDEX TO JOURNALS IN EDUCATION (CIJE), are not available                through EDRS.  However, they can be located in the journal section              of most larger libraries by using the bibliographic information                 provided, requested through Interlibrary Loan, or ordered from                  commercial reprint services. 
Haas, Mary, and Others.  "Teaching               about the President and the Presidential Election."  SOCIAL STUDIES             AND THE YOUNG LEARNER 5 (September-October 1992): 1-4.  EJ 460                  398. 
Milkis, Stanley M., and Michael Nelson.  THE AMERICAN                    PRESIDENCY: ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT, 1776-1998.  3d ed. Washington,             DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1999. 
Nelson, Michael, ed.  THE                  PRESIDENCY A TO Z: A READY REFERENCE ENCYCLOPEDIA.  Washington, DC:             Congressional Quarterly, 1994. 
Scher, Linda, and Mary Oates                   Johnson.  CANDIDATES, CAMPAIGNS, & ELECTIONS: PROJECTS, ACTIVITIES,             LITERATURE LINKS.  Jefferson City, MO: Scholastic, Inc., 1996.  ED              423 168. 
Weko, Thomas, and John H. Aldrich.  "The Presidency and              the Election Campaign: Framing the Choice in 1996."  Michael Nelson,            ed. THE PRESIDENCY AND THE POLITICAL SYSTEM.  6th ed. Washington,               DC: Congressional Quarterly, 2000. 
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This project has been              funded at least in part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department             of Education under contract number ED-99-CO-0016.  The content of               this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies             of the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names,            commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S.             Government.  ERIC Digests are in the public domain and may be freely            reproduced and disseminated. 
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Thomas S. Vontz is director              of the Indiana Program for Law-Related Education at the Social                  Studies Development Center of Indiana University. William A. Nixon              is a doctoral student in history at Indiana University and a project            assistant at the Social Studies Development Center.                          **Title:** Teaching about Presidential Elections. ERIC Digest.                          **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education, 2805            East Tenth Street, Suite 120, Bloomington, IN 47408. Tel:                       800-266-3815 (Toll Free).                                                    **Descriptors:** Citizenship Education,  Elections, Law Related Education,                        Presidential Campaigns (United States), Secondary Education, Social            Studies                                                                      **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests                                                                 
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