New York: In this article, we will address two peculiarities of American politics that make it unique in the free world: The U.S. president can be elected with 270 votes, and the “Designated Survivor” can become president without being selected by the vote.
In the U.S., the president is not elected by popular vote but by the vote of political delegates from parties, totaling 538 in a nation of over 340 million people.
To be elected president, one only needs to reach 270 votes out of the 538 that make up the Electoral College, the second-degree system that elects the president. Each vote is assigned to the candidate who wins the majority of the popular vote in each state.
According to the population of each state, a certain number of members of the Electoral College are allowed to be chosen to represent the country’s population proportionally. Most states stipulate that the candidate who wins the majority of votes will receive all the electoral votes assigned to that state.
For example, in the 2016 presidential elections, where the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, and the Democrat, Hillary Clinton, faced off, the latter won the popular vote with 65,844,95 against Trump’s 62,979,879. However, Trump was declared the winner of the elections with 306 electoral votes, as opposed to Clinton’s 232.
It was the fifth and most recent presidential election in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote. This is because in the U.S., the presidential election is indirect, where voters do not directly choose their president; instead, they choose the Electoral College, a body of 538 electors from the 50 states and the District of Columbia (Washington DC).
“The Designated Survivor” can become the president of the United States without being elected by voters.
Designated survivors are essential because they can become the president of the United States. This person holds an unspoken position in the presidential chain of command, which includes the vice president, speaker of the House, president of the Senate, secretary of state, secretary of the treasury, secretary of defense, and attorney general.
When all of these officials are gathered, for example, during the State of the Union Address, the “Designated Survivor” figure comes into play. They must be a cabinet member, obligated to stay physically away from the public in a secure, undisclosed location.
The goal of the “Designated Survivor” is to ensure the continuity of government in case the cabinet falls victim to a terrorist attack or if they all perish in a catastrophic event. The “Designated Survivor” becomes the acting president, following the principles of the presidential succession law.
