Table of Contents
What is the importance of elections in democracy?
The nature of democracy is that elected officials are accountable to the people, and they must return to the voters at prescribed intervals to seek their mandate to continue in office. For that reason most democratic constitutions provide that elections are held at fixed regular intervals.
What is our system of elections in India?
Members of Lok Sabha (House of the People) or the lower house of India’s Parliament are elected by being voted upon by all adult citizens of India, from a set of candidates who stand in their respective constituencies. Every adult citizen of India can vote only in their constituency.
How do elections work in the US?
When people cast their vote, they are actually voting for a group of people called electors. The number of electors each state gets is equal to its total number of Senators and Representatives in Congress. Each elector casts one vote following the general election. The candidate who gets 270 votes or more wins.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Electoral College?
The Electoral College was established in the Constitution to protect minority interests and mitigate the possibility of a regional candidate. However, some critics argue that the advantages of a direct popular election including reflecting democratic principals, outweigh the disadvantages.
Are there any problems with a political campaign?
One problem of political campaigns is that they may be rather useless for people who already have a quite strong political opinion regarding whom they want to vote. If the concentration of people that already have those strong opinions is quite high, election campaigns will usually be quite ineffective.
How many electoral votes does each state have?
Under the electoral college system of voting, the number of representatives a state has in Congress (Senators and Representatives) is the total number of electoral votes it is allowed. That means every state is allowed a minimum of 3 electoral votes. In 2016, Florida had 29 electoral votes and 9.4 million voters, created a voter value of 0.72.