美国总统选举过程.docx

Generally, elections in US are held once in four years, and a new American president will be elected on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, which is called the Election Day. The whole process begins one-year in advance before the General Presidential Election for electing the president, and there will be drastic competetion between Democratic party and Republican party, whose party animals are donkeys and elephants. The process involving five periods: Primary elections, Presidential nominating convention, Election campaign, The national raferendum and Electoral College. Actually the first period is the nomination of candidates; In each state, two parties will choose different electors as their representatives, and after that the Congress will vote for them. The one who gets the most votes will be the candidates of his party. The following is the campaign period which is the most important period of presidential election, including giving speeches in different states,meeting with votes and publicing debt with his rival candidate, to gain support of people. Then it will be the election for president voters, that is the Electoral College and then they will vote the president. Generally speaking, the voters will vote for the candidates representing their party,and the candidate getting the highest number of votes wins. The result will be announced in the sixth day of January, the next year of the election year. Then after the inaugurate address about two weeks later, the United States got its new president. 　预选是美国总统选举的第一阶段，通常从大选年的年初开始，到年中结束。预选有两种形式，分别是政党基层会议和直接预选。前者是指两党在各州自下而上，从选举点、县、选区到州逐级召开代表会议，最终选出本党参加全国代表大会的代表。后者在形式上如同普选，一个州的两党选民同一天到投票站投票选出本党参加全国代表大会的代表，这是大多数州目前采用的预选方式。 　　预选结束后，两党通常将分别在七、八月份召开全国代表大会。会议的主要任务是最终确定本党总统、副总统候选人，并讨论通过总统竞选纲领。 　　全国代表大会之后，总统竞选活动便正式拉开帷幕。这一过程一般要持续8至9周。在此期间，两党总统候选人将耗费巨资，穿梭于全国各地，进行广告大战、发表竞选演说、会见选民、召开记者招待会以及进行公开辩论。此外，候选人还将通过多种形式阐述对国内外事务的政策主张，以赢得选民信任，争取选票。 　　全国选民投票在选举年11月份的首个星期一的翌日（2008年是11月4日），这一天被称为总统大选日。所有美国选民都到指定地点进行投票，