Government in the USA

US Congress:
The US Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of:

• the Senate; and
• the House of Representatives.

The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election. Each of the 435 members of the House of Representatives represents a district and serves a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population. The 100 Senators serve staggered six-year terms. Each state has two senators, regardless of population. Every two years, approximately one-third of the Senate is elected at a time. Re-election rates for incumbents often exceed 90%.

Article I of the Constitution vests all legislative power in Congress. The House and Senate are equal partners in the legislative process (legislation cannot be enacted without the consent of both chambers); however, the Constitution grants each chamber some unique powers. The Senate is uniquely empowered to ratify treaties and to approve top presidential appointments. Revenue-raising bills must originate in the House of Representatives, which also has the sole power of impeachment, while the Senate has the sole power to try impeachment cases.

The term Congress is also used to refer to a particular meeting of the national legislature, reckoned according to the terms of representatives. Therefore, a "Congress" covers two years.

The Senate:
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral (that is, having two branches) United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution (which does not use the terms "upper" and "lower"). Each U.S state is represented by two senators, regardless of population. Senators serve staggered six-year terms. The chamber of the United States Senate is located in the north wing of the Capitol, in Washington, D.C., the national capital. The House of Representatives convenes in the south wing of the same building.

The Senate has several exclusive powers not granted to the House, including consenting to treaties as a precondition to their ratification and consenting or confirmation of appointments of Cabinet secretaries, federal judges, other federal executive officials, military officers and other federal uniformed officers, as well as trying federal officials impeached by the House. The Senate is a more deliberative body than the House of Representatives because the Senate is smaller and its members serve longer terms, allowing for a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere that is more insulated from public opinion than the House. The Senate is considered a more prestigious body than the House of Representatives because of its longer terms, smaller membership, and larger constituencies.

The House of Representatives:
The US House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral US Congress, the upper house being the US Senate.

The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution (which does not use the terms "upper" and "lower"). The major power of the House is to pass federal legislation that affects the entire country, although its bills must also be passed by the Senate and further agreed to by the President before becoming law (unless both the House and Senate re-pass the legislation with a two-thirds majority in each chamber). Each state receives representation in the House in proportion to its population but is entitled to at least one Representative. The most populous state, California, currently has 53 representatives. The total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at no more than 435. Each representative serves for a two-year term. The presiding officer of the House is the Speaker who is elected by the members of the House.

The Constitution grants the House several exclusive powers: the power to initiate revenue bills, to impeach officials, and to elect the President in case of an Electoral College deadlock.

The United States as a Republic:
The United States is a Republic, which means that the people hold the power and they elect representatives to decide what to do with it. It is also a federal country, meaning that powers are divided between central government and those in the individual states.
Although these powers have changed over time, the US constitution originally only gave certain powers to the federal government. Many government services are still the responsibility of state governments.

Each state elects a governor and politicians to sit in the Senate and House of Representatives - the two chambers of the legislature.

Federal power is divided into three separate branches of government - the president and his cabinet (the Executive), the two chambers of the US Congress (the Legislature) and the courts (Judiciary).

Elections:
The United States holds elections every two years. Once every four years there is a presidential election, with congressional elections held at the same time.

Mid-term elections take place in-between presidential elections, in the middle of the presidential term.

Elections for the House of Representatives are held every two years. Senators have six-year terms, with one-third elected every two years.

State governors serve four-year terms with about half up for election every two years.

Primaries:
Voters also get to choose their party's candidate in the main election. Voters register which party they support, and can then participate in primary elections.

Before he became the Republican candidate for president in 2000, George W Bush had to beat Republican Senator John McCain in primary elections.

Primaries are sometimes quite close to the general election, and once they are over, candidates must turn quickly to the general election.

Constitution:
America declared its independence from Britain in 1776. The Declaration of Independence read: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Eleven years later, the separate states joined together to form the United States. At Philadelphia in 1787, a convention attended by the most important men of the day produced a constitution.

Unlike the UK, the US has a written constitution. It has four important principles: republicanism, federalism, the 'separation of powers', and 'checks and balances'.

President:
The president's main function is to enforce the law, by running the federal government. He also proposes laws and the annual budget to Congress, is commander-in-chief of the US armed forces, and is broadly responsible for foreign policy.

He can also veto bills passed in the Congress, although that veto can be overridden if two-thirds of the Congress vote against it.

The president is elected every four years, but cannot serve more than two terms. His cabinet members are not elected and are not normally members of Congress. They have to leave Congress to join the cabinet.

Congress:
The Congress is responsible for passing laws and the budget. It has two chambers - the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The two chambers share the power to declare war, while the Senate must approve treaties agreed to by the president. Senators must also approve the appointment of judges and many government officials.

Every state has two senators, but the number of members of the House depends on the population.

For example, a state like Wyoming with a small population has two senators and just one member of the House, while a state like California with a huge population still has two senators, but 43 members of the House.

In total there are 100 Senators and 435 members of the House of Representatives.

Judiciary:
The third part of government is the courts system - known as the Judiciary. The Supreme Court has nine judges who decide whether laws passed are in line with the constitution.

The judges are nominated by the president, and have to be approved by the Senate. They are extremely powerful positions. The judges are appointed for life, so a vacancy can only arise through the death, resignation, retirement, or impeachment of a sitting judge.

Two-party system:
The US has a two-party system, which makes it very hard for anyone who is not a Democrat or a Republican to be elected. Almost everyone in Congress is a Democrat or Republican

The Electoral College:
Voters do not, technically, participate in a direct election of the president. They choose "electors", who are pledged to one or another candidate. This is known as the Electoral College.

The Electoral College system in America was a compromise at the 1787 Constitutional Convention between allowing Congress to elect the president and allowing the American people to elect the president. Instead, citizens in each state essentially vote for electors when they cast their vote for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the general presidential election. Each state is awarded electors equal to its number of representatives in Congress plus two electors for each senator. In 48 out of 50 states, the candidate who wins the popular vote, even if by a small margin, receives all of that state's Electoral College votes.

Voters in each state choose among slates of electors pledged to one candidate or another. These electors - collectively called the Electoral College - in turn cast their votes to pick the president.

Each state receives the number of electoral votes equal to the number of its members of the House of Representatives, which depends on the state's population, and the number of its senators, which is always two.
The architects of the US political system established the Electoral College process because they did not trust the average voter to understand the issues or know the political leaders of the new nation well enough to make informed choices. So originally, state legislators chose electors, who were not to be professional politicians, but citizens of exemplary knowledge and sophistication. These “electors” would then choose the President of the United States.
Furthermore, the framers of the Constitution preferred the electoral system to a direct popular election because in the 18th century, travel was difficult and there were no national party organizations. They feared that many regional candidates would divide the vote. Requiring a candidate to win a majority in the Electoral College was a way of obtaining a national consensus.
Electoral College - Pro's
Proponents of the Electoral College system normally defend it on the philosophical grounds that it:

• contributes to the cohesiveness of the country by requiring a distribution of popular support to be elected president
• enhances the status of minority interests,
• contributes to the political stability of the nation by encouraging a two-party system, and
• maintains a federal system of government and representation.

Electoral College - Con's
Those who object to the Electoral College system and favour a direct popular election of the president generally do so on four grounds:

• the possibility of electing a minority president
• the risk of so-called "faithless" Electors,
• the possible role of the Electoral College in depressing voter turnout, and
• its failure to accurately reflect the national popular will.

The Party Convention
The national party conventions, held a few months before the election, are where the candidates are formally nominated.

Delegates who have been chosen during the state primaries pick the nominee, though by this stage, the party normally knows who has won.

The winning candidate then picks a running-mate, sometimes from among the defeated rivals.

An alternative system for the UK?
No electoral system is perfect. Some, however, are more perfect than others.

Martin Keegan wrote (at http://mk.ucant.org/info/ukconst/electoral_systems.html
“.. what matters for democracy is not representativeness or proportionality, so much as accountability and responsiveness. When MPs behave in accordance with their constituents' wishes, this is to be preferred to their merely existing in party groupings of such sizes as best reflect their constituents' choices at the previous election.”

On 10 March 2008, the House of Commons Library published a paper setting out different voting systems. It is available at: www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-04458.pdf The paper also set out a Table showing where the systems are used in the UK:

Single Transferable Vote (STV)
The Electoral Reform Society believes that where candidates are being elected to multiple vacancies, STV offers voters the best and most effective choice.

STV uses preferential voting in multi-member constituencies. Each voter gets one vote, which can transfer from their first-preference to their second-preference and so on, as necessary. Candidates don't need a majority of votes to be elected, just a known 'quota', or share of the votes, determined by the size of the electorate and the number of positions to be filled.

If your preferred candidate has no chance of being elected or has enough votes already, your vote is transferred to another candidate in accordance with your instructions. STV thus ensures that very few votes are wasted, unlike other systems, especially the so-called “First-Past-the-Post”, where only a small number of votes actually contribute to the result.

Why STV?
STV gives voters more choice than any other system. This in turn puts most power in the hands of the voters, rather than the party heads, who under other systems can more easily determine who is elected, meaning that under STV MPs' responsibilities lie more with the electorate than those above them in their party.
• Fewer votes are 'wasted' (i.e. cast for losing candidates or unnecessarily cast for the winner) with STV. This means that most voters can identity a representative that they personally helped to elect. Such a link in turn increases a representative's accountability.
• STV offers voters a choice of representatives to approach with their concerns post-election, rather than just the one, who may not be at all sympathetic to a voter's views, or may even be the cause of the concern.
• Competition is generally a good thing. Competition to provide a good service to constituents is no different.
• There are no safe seats under STV, meaning candidates cannot be complacent and parties must campaign everywhere, and not just in marginal seats.
• When voters have the ability to rank candidates, the most disliked candidate cannot win, as they are no good at picking up second-, third- and lower-preference votes.
• There is no need for tactical voting.
• There is a more sophisticated link between a constituency and its representative. Not only is there more incentive to campaign and work on a more personal and local level, but also, the constituencies are likely to be more sensible reflections of where community feeling lies.

Notes on each alternative voting system:
• First past the-post (FPTP), the system currently used for UK general elections:  Voters have one vote and the candidate with the most votes wins.
• Supplementary vote (SV), as used in mayoral elections: Voters mark a first and a second preference. The first preferences are counted and all except the top two candidates are eliminated. The second preferences of the votes cast for the eliminated candidates are examined and where they are for either of the top two they are added to that candidate's total. The candidate from the initial top two with the highest total of first preferences plus second preferences transferred from eliminated candidates wins.
• Alternative vote (AV), which is also equivalent to applying the single transferable vote (favoured by the LibDems for multi-member constituencies) to a single-member constituency: Voters list candidates in order of preference. After the first preference count, the bottom candidate only is eliminated, and the second preferences from his/her votes are added to the totals for the other candidates in line with those preferences. After this the candidate who is now bottom is eliminated, and more second/third preferences are transferred. Then the bottom candidate is eliminated and this process continues until only two are left and the candidate with the higher total of votes including transferred preferences is elected.
• Borda count - as with AV, voters list candidates in order of preference, but unlike AV Borda is a points-based system: If there are four candidates and the voter puts them all in order of preference, a first preference is worth four points, a second is worth three points, a third is worth two, and a fourth is worth one. The candidate with the highest points total wins.

Proportional Representation
Proportional Representation (PR) is the principle behind a number of electoral systems, all of which attempt to ensure that the outcome of the election reflects the proportion of support gained by each competing group.

Proportional representation voting is the main rival to plurality-majority voting. Among advanced western democracies it has become the predominant voting system. For instance, in Western Europe, 21 of 28 countries use proportional representation, including Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Proportional representation, sometimes referred to as full representation, is a class of voting system aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections, and the percentage of seats they receive (e.g., in legislative assemblies). PR is often contrasted to plurality voting systems, such as those commonly used in the United States and (much of) the United Kingdom, where disproportional seat distribution results from the division of voters into multiple electoral districts, especially "winner takes all" plurality ("first-past-the-post" or FPTP) districts.

PR contrasts to the Majoritarian principle, where whichever party or candidate obtains a plurality of votes within any given constituency wins that contest outright.

Majoritarianism is the principle that underpins the First-Past-The-Post system that is used for elections to the House of Commons, along with other systems including alternative vote, bloc vote and various single member constituency systems.

Similarly, there are a number of different systems based on PR. A simple party-list PR system is used in the UK for the European Parliament. A different Additional Member System (AMS) is used to elect the Scottish parliament and the Welsh Assembly. There are several important differences and the principle of proportionality is applied quite differently between the two.

The single transferable vote system is used to elect the district councils (since 1973) and the MEPs in Northern Ireland, and the local government councils in Scotland (since 2007).

The extent to which an electoral system is PR-based depends on the number of candidates elected per constituency and the existence of any thresholds for successful election. A number of electoral systems combine elements of both, such as the single non-transferable vote and cumulative voting systems.

Background
PR is a relative novelty in British politics, although it has long been used in Europe and went through a spell of popularity in some circles in the late 19th century. There were several attempts to introduce PR voting for the UK parliament during the early 1900s and there were several more reviews of the topic. The University members of the UK parliament were elected by STV-PR until this special category of MP was abolished. More recently, support for PR has been growing since the 1970s, and its leading champions in the UK are the Liberal Democrats.

The growth in support for PR has stemmed largely from recent concerns about the First Past the Post system. In the 1970s, First Past the Post failed to produce the strong majority accountable governments that was said to be one of the key points in favour of the system. And throughout the 1980s, the growth of the third party share of the vote increasingly showed the handicaps of the First Past the Post system on parties other than the Conservatives and Labour.
For example, in Labour's 1997 election landslide, the Liberal Democrats secured 16.8 per cent of the total national vote, but won fewer than 10 per cent of the seats.

Labour promised a referendum on PR on coming to power in 1997, ostensibly as a result of an agreement with the Liberal Democrats, but nothing has since come about.

However, a combination of PR and First Past The Post (the Additional Member System) was used for the elections to the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh National Assembly, and the electoral system for the European Parliament was changed to a closed party list PR system.

In the Scottish elections of 1999 and 2003, and the Welsh elections of 1999, the electoral system failed to return an absolute majority for any one party, requiring coalition administrations to be formed.
Controversies
Arguments cited in favour of a change from First Past the Post to PR include:

• The fairer treatment of minority parties and independent candidates
• Fewer votes are 'wasted', as more people's preferences are taken into account
• Greater effective choice for voters. By reducing the dominance of the large parties, PR may encourage turn-out and reduce apathy
• By rarely producing an absolute majority for one party, PR ensures greater continuity of government and requires greater consensus in policy-making.
• Arguments cited against PR include:
• PR provides a route for extremists into the political mainstream, who would otherwise be excluded by the structure of FPTP
• PR produces 'weak' coalition governments rather than 'strong' majority governments, which can lead to indecision, compromise and even legislative paralysis. It can also reduce accountability to voters, as an ousted party of government can reinstall itself by finding new coalition partners after an election
• The adoption of list systems breaks the link between the elected representative and his or her constituency
• The greater complexity and choice that PR allows can put voters off voting, by requiring them to have a greater knowledge of individual and party positions.

There is also an institutional paradox built into the British political system, working against the adoption of Proportional Representation. Any party that comes to power under “First Past The Post” is likely to appreciate the advantages that it gives to the government: a strong mandate, (usually) a lack of coalition partners, and considerable freedom of action. Therefore, arrival in government under “First Past The Post” is likely to dampen any party's enthusiasm for PR - as some suggested was the case with Labour in 1997.

Alternative Voting Systems analysed
Party Lists: (proportional)
Party list systems have two main forms - open and closed. Each party provides a list of candidates. With the open system, voters put a cross by the name of a candidate; with the closed system they put a cross by the name of a party. Voters have only one vote and seats are allocated in proportion to the number of votes received.

List PR is used to elect candidates in multi-member districts, or sometimes in an entire country. Party list systems vary considerably across the globe, determined chiefly by the size of districts, thresholds for securing seats and the manner in which the seats are allocated.

There are a number of methods used to translate votes into seat allocation. The most common are the d'Hondt method, the Sainte-Lague method, the Huntington-Hill method and the largest remainder (LR) method.

Where used: Party lists are the most common method of election in the world. Places where they are used include British elections to the European Parliament (excluding Northern Ireland, which uses STV); Israel's Parliament, the Knesset; and The Netherlands' Second Chamber.

Single Transferable Vote (STV): (semi-proportional)
STV uses preferential voting in multi-member constituencies. Each voter has one vote. This vote can transfer from the voter's first preference, to second preference and so on if the voter's preferred candidate has no chance of being elected or has enough votes already. Candidates do not need a majority of votes to be elected, just a known 'quota' or share of the votes determined by the size of the electorate and the number of positions to be filled.
Where used: Republic of Ireland - all elections except for the presidency and by-elections when Alternative Vote is used; Northern Ireland - Assembly, European and local government elections; Scotland - local elections from 2007; Malta - all elections; Australian Senate; Tasmanian House of Assembly; New Zealand - various local authorities; India - the indirect elections to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's federal Parliament.

Additional Member System: (hybrid)
AMS is a hybrid voting system, part “First Past The Post” and part closed party list, the party list element added on to make the result more proportional. Outside the UK it is more commonly referred to as Mixed Member Proportional (MMP).The exact proportion of constituency representatives and list representatives varies from country to country; the constituency element usually makes up between 50 and 80 per cent. Voters typically have two votes - one for a candidate and one for a party.

When all the votes are in, each constituency returns a winner, in the traditional FPTP style. If a candidate was standing in a constituency as well as on a party list, their name is taken off the list, with everyone below them moving up a place. The additional members are then allocated with the aim of tallying the number of seats won by each party to their share of the vote. Some systems do this solely on the basis of the party vote, others include the constituency vote too.

Where used: Scottish Parliament; Welsh Assembly; Greater London Assembly; Italy - Senate and Chamber of Deputies; Germany - Bundestag; New Zealand - House of Representatives; Mexico - Camara de Diputados (lower house); Bolivia - Camara de Diputados (lower house); Lesotho - National Assembly (lower house).

First Past The Post: (majoritarian)
“First Past The Post” voting, currently used to elect members of the House of Commons, takes place in single-member constituencies. The voter simply puts a cross in a box next to one candidate. The candidate with the most votes in the constituency wins. All other votes count for nothing. In some places, such as a number of English and Welsh local elections, FPTP is used to elect several representatives at one time. This system is known as the Multiple Non-Transferable Vote (MNTV).

FPTP is also known as simple majority voting or plurality voting.

Where used: FPTP is the second most widely used voting system in the world, after party lists. Countries which use this system include the UK, the US, Canada and India.

The Limited Vote: (majoritarian)
The Limited Vote is used in multi-member constituencies. It allows each elector more than one vote, but fewer votes than there are candidates to choose from. The candidates with the most votes get elected.

Where used: The Spanish Senate; Gibraltar's House of Assembly, where electors have eight votes for the 15 seats; various local-level elections, such as those for municipal offices in some US States.

Alternative Vote: (majoritarian)
The Alternative Vote (AV) is very much like First Past The Post. It is used to elect representatives for single-member constituencies, but rather than simply marking a solitary 'X' on the ballot paper, the voter has the chance to rank the candidates on offer by putting a '1' by their first preference, a '2' by their second preference and so on.
If a candidate receives a majority of first-preference votes (more people put them as number one than all the rest combined), then they are elected. If no candidate gains a majority on first preferences, then the second-preference votes of the candidate who finished last on the first count are redistributed. This process is repeated until someone gets over 50 per cent.

AV is also known as Instant Run-off Voting (IRV), Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) and

Preferential Voting:
Where used: Australian House of Representatives; Australian Legislative Assemblies ("lower houses") of all states and territories (bar Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, which both use STV); Australian Legislative Council in Tasmania; Irish Presidential election; By-elections to the Dáil (the lower house of the Irish Parliament); By-elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly; Papua New Guinea National Parliament; Fijian House of Representatives; numerous American Mayoral and district elections; Student Union elections.

Alternative Vote Plus:
The Alternative Vote Plus (AV+) was invented by the 1998 Independent Commission on the Voting System, commonly known as the Jenkins Commission. The Commission described the system as a "limited" form of AMS aimed at achieving a balance between the requirements of "broad proportionality" and "stable government".

AV+ was created with the intention of being the alternative to First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) in Labour's promised referendum on the voting system for the House of Commons. The referendum never came and AV+ has, for now, been confined to the parliamentary archives.

Supplementary Vote (SV):
The SV system is similar to the Alternative Vote system, but under SV voters are limited to a first and second preference only. All first choice votes are tallied and if the candidate has a majority they are elected. If no candidate receives a majority, the top two candidates are retained, and the rest eliminated. The second-preference votes of the eliminated candidates are then counted, and any for either of the top two candidates are added to their first-round totals. Whichever candidate has the most votes after these second-preferences have been allocated is declared the winner.

Where used: Directly elected English mayors, most notably the Mayor of London.

Sources: various including Wikipedia