Why no foreign-born American as president?

Who can vote, and who can’t

Can citizens in U.S. Territories, such as Puerto Rico and American Samoa, vote for president?
No. Article II of the Constitution only refers to electors who are chosen by the states, although the 23rd amendment, ratified in 1961, does provide for electors chosen by the District of Columbia.

If under Article II of the Constitution, people in Puerto Rico can’t vote in the presidential election, then why they can vote in presidential primaries?
Because the major political parties have decided under their own rules to give Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and other U.S. territories some role in the presidential nominating process. Federal law regulates the primaries only to a limited extent; most decisions are left to the political parties.

How many states have same-day registration, allowing voters to register on Election Day?
Seven states allow voters to register on Election Day: Idaho, New Hampshire, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

In how many states are voters required to present a government-issued photo ID before they can cast their ballot?
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 24 states ask voters to show identification prior to voting. Seven of these states specify that voters must show a photo ID.

But "all states have some sort of recourse for voters without identification to cast a vote," such as a provisional ballot, according to the NCSL.

If you did not vote in a presidential primary in your state, can you still vote in the presidential election in November?
Yes, you can, assuming that you register to vote by the deadline set by your state and assuming that you meet the qualifications for voting.

What are the qualifications for voting?
They vary somewhat from state to state, but basically you must be at least 18 years old, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the state in which you are voting.

In Florida, to take one example, you must also not have been judged to be mentally incapacitated with respect to voting. You must also not have been convicted of a felony in Florida, or any other state, without your civil rights having been restored.

In Florida, you must also sign an oath swearing that you "will protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Florida."

Can convicted felons vote?
In a few states, such as Virginia, once he gets out of jail a convicted felon must obtain a pardon or a restoration of citizenship from the governor in order to vote. But in many states the felon’s voting rights are automatically restored once he finishes serving his sentence.

If I am an American citizen and I happen to be living in Paris, can I still vote in the presidential election?
Yes, you can.

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, enacted in 1986, sets up procedures for you to vote using an absentee ballot. Your state of residence for voting purposes is the state where you last lived prior to going overseas. See the Federal Voting Assistance Program web site for more information.

Is voting in presidential elections regulated by the states or by the federal government?
Voting in presidential elections is regulated by both the states and federal law.

For example, states can set different rules for where to vote, for recounts, and whether to allow voting by mail.

But Congress has imposed some mandates. For example, the 26th amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1971, required that 18 year olds be permitted to vote in every state. And the 1975 expansion of the Voting Rights Act requires bilingual ballots in places where there are minorities who do not speak English.

In how many places in the United States are bilingual ballots mandated by federal law?
There are 371 counties and other jurisdictions in 30 states which are mandated to provide bilingual ballots. The languages covered include Spanish, Vietnamese, Navajo and Chinese.

The president-elect

Has a president-elect ever died before taking the oath of office and, if so, how was that situation handled?
No, this has never happened.

The closest this has come to happening was on Feb. 13, 1933, when former bricklayer and transient Guiseppe Zangara fired shots at President-elect Franklin Roosevelt just after he finished giving a speech in Miami.

Zangara missed Roosevelt, but one of his shots hit Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak who subsequently died from his wounds. Zangara was convicted of murder and executed on March 20, 1933.

But what would happen if a president-elect were to die after the general election on Nov. 4, but before the electors cast their ballots on Dec. 15?

According to "After the People Vote: A Guide to the Electoral College" published by the American Enterprise Institute, if the president-elect died, the national committee of the president-elect’s political party would meet and choose a new nominee, and thus a new president-elect.

The electors, when they meet in the various state capitals on Dec. 15, are free to choose whomever they want, but in all likelihood would go along with the choice made by the national party committee.

If the president-elect died after Congress met on Jan. 6, 2009 to count the votes of the electors, then the vice president-elect would become president on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.

Primaries and caucuses

What is a primary and what is caucus? How do they differ?
In a primary, voters simply cast their ballots and then go on with the rest of their day.

But a caucus in more participatory, with supporters showing up in person at designated sites throughout the state, such as a high school gymnasium, and standing up to be counted for their candidate.

In Iowa caucuses, there’s debate and jockeying among those who show up, as supporters of one candidate try to woo the undecided caucus participants.

How are a caucus and a primary alike?
In both, voters are ultimately choosing delegates to their party’s national convention, the body that formally nominates their presidential candidate.

Why do some states have primary elections and other states have presidential caucuses?
State legislatures and state parties determine which form of balloting they prefer. In some states such as New Hampshire, the primary has become well entrenched and legislators are not likely to switch to a different system.

Can independent voters take part in a political party’s primary?
It depends on state law. In New Hampshire, for example, independent voters can go the polling place on primary day and ask for the ballot of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. Then, once they cast their ballot, they can fill out a form and switch back to being independent.

California used a similar system in its Feb. 5, 2008, presidential primary.

The key role of Iowa and New Hampshire

Why do Iowa and New Hampshire get to vote first and not states with larger populations, such as California?
The short answer is tradition and inertia.

The preferred place of Iowa and New Hampshire is cemented by tradition, by party rules and by the difficulty of getting the state legislatures and political parties to agree on how to alter the process. While Iowa and New Hampshire have traditionally cast the first votes, Democrats in 2008 added Nevada and South Carolina to their early schedule in an attempt to add more variety to their electorate. The Republicans also had an early primary in South Carolina.

How and when did the Iowa caucuses become important?
Iowa’s prominence dates to Jimmy Carter’s effort there in 1976. As the campaign started, Carter was a little-known former one-term Georgia governor, a pygmy in a field that included heavyweights such as Sen. Henry Jackson, the Democrats’ pre-eminent national security expert.

But in the Iowa caucuses, an event in which just 38,500 people took part (and which Jackson chose to bypass), Carter won 28 percent of the vote, finishing second to "uncommitted," which was the preference of 37 percent of the Democrats who took part.

How does the Iowa Republican contest differ from the Democratic caucuses?
The Iowa Republican Party conducts a straw vote of those attending the caucuses.

Democratic caucus-goers form different groups, with each of the contenders needing to have at least 15 percent of the attendees at each precinct caucus in order to get any delegates from that precinct.

How many people take part in the Iowa caucuses?
In 2008, more than 227,000 people took part in the Democratic caucuses, up sharply from 122,000 in 2004.

Among Republicans, there were around 120,000 caucus-goers, up from 86,000 in 2000, the last time there was a competitive Republican contest in Iowa.

How many people vote in the New Hampshire primary?
More than 230,000 people voted in the Republican primary on Jan. 8, 2008, while more than 280,000 voted in the Democratic primary.

How has New Hampshire proven to be decisive in past elections?
Since 1920, New Hampshire has been the first state in the nation to conduct a presidential primary. Its importance dates back to 1952 when Dwight Eisenhower beat Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio to win the New Hampshire primary, putting Ike on track to securing the Republican nomination.

On the Democratic side, too, New Hampshire has a history of making or breaking candidacies. For instance, Granite State voters essentially drove President Lyndon Johnson out of the race in 1968 by giving him a disappointing 49 percent and giving insurgent Sen. Eugene McCarthy 41 percent. Pundits deemed this a victory for McCarthy.

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