Ahead of the 2024 US presidential election on November 5, here's a look at the election process.
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The 2024 US presidential election will take place on November 5, with former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump running against the current vice president and Democratic candiate Kamala Harris. Here's how the election process works.
Who can run for presidential office?
The US Constitution has three basic requirements for presidential candidates: Individuals must be natural-born citizens of the United States and at least 35 years old and have lived in the country for 14 years. There are some exceptions to the 14-year requirement for members of the US armed forces.
What are the requirements for candidates?
"Almost anybody who's an adult citizen can run for president," Wayne Steger, a political science professor at DePaul University in the US state of Illinois, told DW. That includes people who have been accused or convicted of crimes. The US Constitution, in fact, contains a provision that explicitly allows these individuals to run to ensure that political prisoners are not denied the ability to lead, Steger said.
A section of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution famously prohibits individuals who have "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof" from holding political office. But Steger said it was very unlikely that the amendment would play a role in the upcoming election.
Though the Supreme Court won't rule on Trump's involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol before the 2024 election, a majority of justices said in July that the former president had broad protection from criminal prosecution for actions that fell within his official responsibilities. The Supreme Court has delegated the lower District Court in Washington to determine just how that immunity should be applied.
What happens in primaries and caucuses?
These modest eligibility requirements mean that the candidate pool must be whittled down before the November election.
Primaries and caucuses represent the first step of this process by determining political party support for candidates. These take place at the state level during early spring of an election year. Unless a candidate runs as an independent, they will register to run with a political party in the state where they live.
As in regular elections, primaries take place via secret ballot, and the candidate with the most votes wins. Caucuses are more complex. In states that use them, a day is designated for political party members to meet to decide together, through a sort of public vote, which candidate they want to represent them. Hundreds of these meetings occur when a state holds its caucus.
Primaries and caucuses look different depending on the state and the party, but the goal is the same: to determine support for individual candidates and pick a nominee for the general election.
What is the significance of the national conventions?
After all the state-level primaries and caucuses, the political parties hold national conventions to officially choose the candidate to represent them in the November election, along with his or her running mate.
At the conventions, delegates from each of the 50 US states come together to vote on the presidential nominee. A candidate needs a simple majority of delegate votes to win the nomination.
There are different types of delegates. The Democrats call them "pledged" and "unpledged"; the Republicans call them "bound" and "unbound." Pledged/bound delegates must vote for the candidate who won the primary in their state — at least in the first round of voting. Unpledged/unbound candidates are free to vote for a candidate of their personal choosing. At the Democrats' convention, unpledged delegates are only allowed to vote starting in round two.
US Democrats, Republicans compete for Pennsylvania votes
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In July, President Joe Biden withdrew his candidacy for the 2024 election, endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris. All Democratic delegates who had previously been pledged to Biden were free to vote for whomever they chose at the Democratic National Convention, since the candidate they'd been pledged to via the primary process was no longer running. The overwhelming majority voted for Harris, so she became the presidential nominee.
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What happens in the presidential general election?
After national conventions, election season heats up. On Election Day, votes are held nationwide in thousands of cities and towns. Any US citizen registered to vote can take part.
What is the Electoral College?
The US presidential election is not determined by a majority vote but is ultimately decided by the Electoral College, which comprises 538 electors (one elector for every member of US Congress, plus three for the District of Columbia). A simple majority of at least 270 of these electoral votes is needed to win the election.
These votes are allocated based on geography and population, with each US state given one electoral vote per member of its congressional delegation. That means that regardless of population, each state automatically has three electoral votes because all states have two US senators and at least one seat in the House of Representatives.
The number of people who make up a state's congressional delegation depends on its population. California has the most electoral votes, with 54, while Vermont, for example, has the minimum, with three. Except for Maine and Nebraska, which have a variation of the proportional representation system, a candidate will win all of a state's electoral votes if it wins the majority there.
Edited by: J. Wingard
This article was originally published on 15.07.24. It has been updated to reflect Biden's choice to withdraw his candidacy in July, and the selection of Kamala Harris as the Democrats' official presidential candidate for the 2024 election.
Kamala Harris: A woman of firsts
Kamala Harris, Black and of South Asian descent, is the first woman and first person of color to serve as US vice president. She has broken many glass ceilings — could she also be the first female president of the US?
Image: Tony Avelar/AP/dpa/picture alliance
A family of immigrants
Kamala Devi Harris was born in Oakland, California on October 20, 1964. Her father, Donald J. Harris, is a renowned US-Jamaican scientist. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, was a noted Indian biomedical scientist who conducted research into breast cancer. This undated photo shows Harris at her mother's lab in Berkeley, California.
After their parents divorced, Kamala Harris (left) and her younger sister, Maya, lived with their mother, moving to Montreal, Canada when Kamala was 12. Gopalan Harris died of cancer in 2009. "She raised us to be proud, strong Black women, and she raised us to know and be proud of our Indian heritage," said Harris as she accepted the Democratic Party's vice presidential nomination in 2020.
Both of Harris' parents were active in the US civil rights movement, and in her autobiography she wrote that this had a major impact on her own career. In this November 1982 photo, Harris is seen at the age of 18 during her freshman year at Howard University in Washington, taking part in an anti-apartheid demonstration.
Image: Courtesy of Kamala Harris/AFP
Law studies in California
Harris graduated from Howard University in 1986 and went on to study at the Hastings College of the Law at the University of California in San Francisco. In 1990, she began her career as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California.
Image: Avalon/Photoshot/picture alliance
San Francisco's top prosecutor
In 2004, Harris was sworn in as San Francisco's first female district attorney, becoming also the first woman of color to hold the post. When she received the oath of office, her mother (center) held a copy of the US Bill of Rights in her hand. The document comprises the first 10 amendments to the constitution and guarantees personal freedoms and rights and clear limitations on government power.
Image: George Nikitin/AP Photo/picture alliance
From district attorney to attorney general
In January 2011, Harris took on the role of California's attorney general — once again, the first woman and the first person of color in the job. She attracted criticism for her opposition to the death penalty and her support of an anti-truancy program.
Image: Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo/picture alliance
Move into politics
In 2016, Harris decided to run for the California State Senate — and won. She stepped down as attorney general and was sworn in by the outgoing vice president, Joe Biden, in January 2017. Her husband Douglas Emhoff, an entertainment lawyer whom she married in 2014, stood next to her with a Bible in his hand.
Image: Kevin Wolf/AP/dpa/picture alliance
Facing off with Biden
In early 2019, Harris announced she would be seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2020 election against Donald Trump. She was up against Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (center) and former Vice President Biden, among others. Harris pulled out of the race in December 2019 before the primaries, endorsing Biden in March 2020. He named her as his running mate in August.
Image: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
From rivals to winners
In November 2020, Harris and Biden won the presidential election for the Democrats. They celebrated the historic win in Wilmington, Delaware — wearing face masks in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Image: Andrew Harnik/AP/dpa/picture alliance
Another political first
On January 20, 2021, Harris was sworn in as the first female vice president of the US and the first person of color to hold the post. The ceremony took place under strict security conditions: on January 6, Trump supporters had stormed the US Capitol building insisting that he had won the election.
Image: Rachel Wisniewski/REUTERS
Tasked with tackling migration
One of the first tasks Biden gave Harris was to look into the root causes of migration, primarily from South America. She visited various countries as part of her efforts, including Guatemala in June 2021. The Republican Party has repeatedly criticized Harris for failing to come up with an adequate solution to the thorny issue of illegal migration.
Image: Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo/picture alliance
Staunch supporter of Ukraine, NATO
Like Biden, Harris is a strong advocate of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his efforts to defend Ukraine against Russia, describing Russia's actions as "cruel," "horrendous" and "gruesome." At the Munich Security Conference in February 2024, Harris also pledged the US' ongoing support for NATO and international cooperation — a stark contrast to Republican presidential candidate Trump.
Image: TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP/Getty Images
Defender of abortion rights
Harris also differs from the Republican Party when it comes to the issue of abortion. After the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, she launched a campaign for reproductive freedoms — an issue that is particularly important to young voters. Many Republicans want to restrict abortion rights even further.
Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
What are Harris' 2024 chances?
If the Democrats officially choose Harris as presidential candidate in August, she will have about 100 days to select a running mate and run a successful campaign against Trump. She has already received many endorsements and millions in donations since Sunday, and analysts say she could inspire people of color to vote for her. But racist and sexist attitudes could also work against her.