Delegates and Electors in the United States - Assignment Example

Delegates and Electors in the United StatesIn the United States, a federal republic, citizens do not elect the president and vice-president directly in a general election. Rather, delegates from each political party vote in persons to be their party's candidates during party ‘conventions’. After November, when the presidential election is held, electors in the Electoral College cast their votes for president, thereby acting as representatives of the citizens. It follows therefore, that the delegates represent their state in choosing a presidential and vice presidential nominee for a political party.

Electors, however, are people that represent a state’s electoral votes for president and vice president after the presidential election is held (Janda, 48).Delegates are selected from all states either through primary elections, caucuses or even for their prominence in the party. In this regard, the delegates of a particular political party will vote in a presidential candidate who they feel has the party’s best interests. They also consider the competitiveness and the likelihood of the candidate to give the party a win in the general election.

On the other hand, electors are chosen by voters from the fifty States plus the District of Columbia and total up to 538. The candidate who receives a majority of the elector’s votes becomes the president and his/her running mate the vice president.Each of the two sets of groups ,the delegates and electors, play a decisive part in selecting the president of the United States. The delegates are crucial in the nomination of a political party’s presidential candidate and therefore significantly influence the option presented to the people in the general election.

Candidates become the official party flag bearers after a vote is taken by the particular party’s delegates to the presidential nominating conventions. The delegates, in so doing take their cue from the voters' decision during the party primaries and caucuses. It is important to note that the rules for selecting delegates vary by party; by state, and also by congressional district.The electors are too necessary to be assumed as well. It is the electors that decide for the People who the president of the United States of America will be in an election.

Each state has a number of electors that is equivalent to the number of both the senators and representatives combined. On the day of elections, voters in each state, choose electors based on their preferred presidential candidates. It is these elected people, forming the Electoral College, that vote for the president and the vice president, with each elector casting one single vote.While the delegates collectively form the body that avails the competing presidential candidates, the electors form the institution ,the Electoral College, that officially elects both the president and the vice president.

Another notable difference is in the manner in which the two groups are involved. The delegates can be seen as acting prior to the election date, and their role is strictly limited to the nomination of the presidential candidates. They, therefore, prepare the ground for the contest to be. The electors then assert their duty on the day of the election and depending on the votes of different states decide on the winner of the presidential elections.Both the delegates and the electors play an almost similar role of working towards the success of their preferred candidates.

The delegates act in the interest of their political party while the electors serve the interest of both the party and the states they represent.Works citedJanda, Kenneth, Jeffrey M. Berry, and Jerry Goldman. The Challenge of Democracy: Government in America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. Print.