Elections, parties & political behavior

The Electoral College and the Mechanics of Federal Elections

The President is not chosen by national popular vote. Article II, Section 1 and the Twelfth Amendment (1804) vest selection in the Electoral College, which since the Apportionment Act framework comprises 538 electors: one per Representative (435) and Senator (100), plus three for the District of Columbia under the Twenty-third Amendment (1961). A candidate needs an absolute majority of 270. If no candidate reaches 270, the House chooses the President voting by state delegation (one vote each), the procedure last invoked in the contingent election of 1824, which seated John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson despite Jackson's plurality.

Forty-eight states and D.C. award electors winner-take-all; Maine and Nebraska use the congressional-district method. The system produced popular-vote losers winning the presidency in 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016. In Bush v. Gore (2000) the Supreme Court halted the Florida recount on Equal Protection grounds, effectively awarding the state—and the presidency—to George W. Bush. In Chiafalo v. Washington (2020) the Court upheld state "faithless elector" laws, confirming states may bind electors to the popular vote.

Apportionment, Redistricting, and the Franchise

The decennial census drives reapportionment of House seats among states; states then draw district lines. The Supreme Court established one person, one vote in Baker v. Carr (1962) and Reynolds v. Sims (1964), requiring roughly equal district populations. Racial gerrymandering is justiciable (Shaw v. Reno, 1993), but in Rucho v. Common Cause (2019) the Court held partisan gerrymandering a nonjusticiable political question in federal courts.

The franchise expanded through the Fifteenth (1870), Nineteenth (1920), Twenty-fourth (1964, banning poll taxes), and Twenty-sixth (1971, voting age 18) Amendments and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Shelby County v. Holder (2013) struck down the VRA's Section 4(b) coverage formula, ending federal preclearance of voting-law changes in covered jurisdictions and triggering a wave of state voter-ID and access laws.

Primaries, Conventions, and the Party Nomination

Nominations run through state primaries and caucuses, not the Constitution. The modern primary-dominant system dates to post-1968 reforms (the McGovern–Fraser Commission) after the contentious 1968 Democratic Convention. Iowa's caucuses and New Hampshire's primary traditionally open the calendar; "Super Tuesday" clusters many contests. National conventions formally nominate the ticket and ratify the platform, but since the 1970s they largely confirm a winner already determined by pledged delegates. Understanding this sequence—primary, convention, general election, Electoral College certification on January 6 under the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022—is essential FSOT terrain.

The Two-Party System and Why It Persists

The United States sustains a durable two-party system—Democrats and Republicans—despite no constitutional mandate for parties (the Framers, especially in Federalist No. 10, distrusted "factions"). Political scientists attribute its stability to Duverger's Law: single-member districts with plurality ("first-past-the-post") voting mechanically favor two parties by penalizing third parties that cannot win pluralities. Third parties have shaped outcomes without winning—Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive "Bull Moose" run split the Republican vote in 1912, and Ross Perot drew 18.9% of the popular vote in 1992 without a single electoral vote.

The parties have undergone realignments: the New Deal coalition forged under Franklin Roosevelt after 1932, and the regional party-switching of the South following the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Republican "Southern strategy." Parties perform recruitment, mobilization, platform articulation, and—through congressional caucuses—legislative organization (committee chairs, the Speaker, majority/minority leaders).

Campaign Finance Law

Money regulation begins with the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (amended 1974 after Watergate), which created the Federal Election Commission and contribution limits. In Buckley v. Valeo (1976) the Court upheld contribution limits but struck expenditure limits, equating spending with First Amendment speech. Citizens United v. FEC (2010) held that corporations and unions may make unlimited independent expenditures, spawning Super PACs (validated in SpeechNow.org v. FEC, 2010). The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (McCain–Feingold) had banned "soft money" to parties; much of its issue-ad regime was later loosened. Dark money flows through 501(c)(4) groups that need not disclose donors.

Drivers of Political Behavior

Voter choice tracks party identification (the strongest single predictor, per the Michigan model of The American Voter, 1960), incumbency, the economy (retrospective voting), candidate evaluation, and issue salience. Turnout is higher in presidential than midterm years and rises with education, age, and income; the U.S. lags many democracies in turnout owing to voter-initiated registration and frequent elections. Public opinion is measured by polling subject to sampling and the Bradley effect; the media and, increasingly, social platforms shape the agenda (agenda-setting and framing).

Why This Matters for the Exam

The FSOT's U.S. Government section tests this material as discrete factual recall and as applied reasoning: expect items naming the amendment that lowered the voting age, the case that enabled Super PACs, or the doctrine behind two-party dominance. High-yield facts to retain cold: 270 electors, the five popular-vote-loser elections, Citizens United (2010), Shelby County (2013), Rucho (2019), Duverger's Law, and FECA/BCRA. As a future Foreign Service Officer you will explain American elections to foreign publics—so command the why (federalism, the Electoral College's federal logic) as well as the what. Pair this lesson with the separation-of-powers and federalism lessons to see how electoral structure feeds institutional behavior.