5 Weird Things About Elections in America
By: Megan R. Clark
Tags: Learning, History, Culture, America, Elections

1. An elected official who has not been reelected is called a “lame duck”

In the United States, the president upon being voted out — or finishing a second four year term — embarks on what is called a “lame duck period.” The outgoing president and president-elect then begin the transition of power.

In most recent cases, the lame duck president loses a lot of credibility — mostly thanks to Bill Clinton, who issued 140 pardons on his very last day in office (one of whom was his own half-brother).

The term was coined in the 18th century at the London Stock Exchange. It wasn’t until 1863 that the term transitioned to politics and used by the United States Congress.

I was somewhat surprised to learn that there are a handful of countries that recognize a “lame duck period,” including Vatican City and Venezuela.

2. The reason Inauguration Day is ten weeks away from Election Day is all George Washington’s fault…and then FDR

Photo by Dave Lowe on Unsplash

As I stated, this question was really what started this Google deep-dive. I knew there had to be a transition period, and that obviously the First Family has to have time to move out and such, but why two whole months?

It all started with George Washington. Washington was elected in 1788 when he ran unopposed as the first official President of the United States of America. Basically, since it was the late 18th century, travel took a really long time. In order to be sworn in as President, all members of Congress had to be present and because everyone lived in different places, Washington’s inauguration had to be set back a bit — to 30 April 1789 in fact.

It was set in the constitution though that all inaugurations had to happen on 4 March. That is, until 1933 with Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

See, when FDR was elected president during the Great Depression, America truly couldn’t wait until March to start rebuilding the economy that Hoover left in shambles. Therefore, FDR was sworn in early, in January. Thus, the 20th amendment to the constitution was adopted on 23 January 1933.

3. Vice President used to be the runner-up to the election, until we decided we didn’t like that

Anyone who has watched or listened to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit musical Hamilton knows that Aaron Burr became vice president because he was the runner-up in his election with Thomas Jefferson (they actually tied with Congress deciding that Jefferson would be president). This was actually the way that the Vice President was elected for a long time.

It wasn’t until 1804 that the 12th amendment changed this “runner up” vice presidency. This (in short) said that candidates for vice president would also run and be elected on their own. So one person would be voted President and another would be voted Vice President.

However, running mates didn’t become commonplace until later in the 19th century, and announcing a running mate didn’t emerge until the late 1960s:

As more and more states subsequently began to choose their electors by popular election instead of appointment (South Carolina being the last state to change, in 1860), candidates began to realize they could run together as a team for president and vice president instead of running completely separately for each office.

Bonus: It is not required, but recommended that a presidential nominee choose a running mate from a different state than his or her own, “because each elector can vote for no more than one candidate from his or her own state.”

4. Nebraska and Maine are the only two states in the country that don’t subscribe to the “all or nothing” method of electoral votes

Here’s a quick run-down of the Electoral College and how it works:

The Electoral College is a unique method for indirectly electing the president of the United States. It was established by Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution and modified by the 12th and 23rd Amendments. The Electoral College consists of a total of 538 members, one for each U.S. senator and representative, and three additional electors representing the District of Columbia. Each state has a number of electoral votes equal to the combined total of its congressional delegation, and each state legislature is free to determine the method it will use to select its own electors… …When voters in each state will select their presidential electors. The names of electors are not on the ballot in most states. Rather, when a voter casts a vote for a presidential candidate, s/he is also casting a vote for the electors already selected by the party of that candidate. If a majority of voters in a state vote for the Republican candidate for president, the Republican slate of electors is elected. If a majority vote for the Democratic candidate, the Democratic slate of electors is chosen.

Screenshot of the current electoral map by Associated Press as of 2:11pm 8 November 2020

48 states and Washington, DC use what is called a “Winner Take All” method, which means that the most popular candidate in that state wins all of the electoral votes for that state (for example, Maryland has 10 electoral votes and because Joe Biden won the popular vote in Maryland in 2020, he earned all 10 votes).

In Maine and Nebraska, though, electors follow the “District System:” “One electoral vote is awarded to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote in each congressional district, and the remaining two electoral votes are awarded to the candidates receiving the most votes statewide.” This means that each district has it’s own popular vote along with the statewide popular vote, meaning that in theory the state could split the votes (which did happen in Nebraska in 2008).

With all that being said, electors are not required to vote in December the way that they are nominated. Electors who do not vote for the party that nominates them are called “faithless electors.” There are a lot of states that do attempt to bind their electors to their parties:

Screenshot from nscl.org

5. The “sore loser” statute

A few nights ago, I was curious about who all got votes in my state and I stumbled upon Jerome Segal; a candidate of the Bread and Roses party got 4,937 votes in Maryland. Which, sure, isn’t that many in the grand scheme of things but it was sort of surprising.

Which then led me to the Bread and Roses party. I had never heard of it. Segal created it in 2018 as a socialist political party after raising enough signatures per Maryland’s Board of Elections. Segal ran for Senate in 2018 but lost as a Democrat in the primaries. Later, Segal tried to run in the general election under the new Bread and Roses party but was prohibited due to Maryland’s “sore loser” statute.

This law prevents losing candidates in a primary election to run under a different party in the forthcoming general election. When I saw this law, I wrongfully assumed it was a Maryland law but most other states have similar statues with the exception of Connecticut, Iowa, New York, and Vermont.

I just get a kick out of the law being called a “sore loser” statute.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

The more I learn about my country, the more intrigued I am by how outdated everything is. Maybe the Biden-Harris Administration will shake things up.