History Term Paper: How Elections Work

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How Elections Work
The election is a process of electing one’s preferable leader. Generally, elections are used in the democratic system, but also systems outside the democracy employ them. However, many countries globally regard regular and systematic elections carried out under conditions that meet the credible core values of democracy and political equality. Holding elections has been recorded as a significant anti-corruption strategy that enables the creation of various functions like legitimating people in power, political accountability, selecting political elite as well as the establishment of political programs. In democratic rules, the policy goes in line with the outcomes of an election because elected leaders can be replaced and therefore, they have to maintain policy and also respond to the policy demands strongly. Accordingly, the understudy will shed light on how elections work and also review some effects of elections.
Electoral systems typically act as the law that translates votes into seats, for instance, in a single presidential seat, various parliamentary seats among others. Competitive elections are carried out to ensure that all adults are given a chance to exercise their constitutional right of voting. However, all candidates vying for different sets are given time to campaign, but the candidate who gets the most votes becomes elected. Electoral campaigns start right after it is clear who are the candidates for the main parties. In the United States, elections are held after every four years, allowing an individual to have only two terms that will add up to eight years in leadership (Norris et al. 30). However, citizens are given a chance to vote for leaders who will represent them in the parliament and also defend their interests. Individual states manage elections in the U.S, but in many US states, elections are held under the Secretary of state who is eligible in tabulating, certifying as well as reporting votes (Norris et al. 44).
During elections, eligible voters must have been registered with their local, federal or state council before the Election Day and also, candidates have to take their nominations to the Returning Officers (Norris et al. 44). Voting takes place in two different ways, attendance elections, and postal elections. These two relies on which system the electoral council chooses. However, in attendance elections, voting starts at 8 am and closes at 6 pm while in postal elections, the ballot papers are submitted to the returning officer by 6 pm the day before the election day. The postal elections are commonly used by the voters who are absent during the voting time set. The due voting dates are published, and therefore all citizens prepare fully for the voting day. At any time after the elections, votes are counted in a comparative way, and the candidates who get some votes greater than or even equal to the quota is declared elected (Norris et al. 30).
The first effect of an election relies on the party as well as the candidate’s behavior. The people contesting for an electoral seat understand the rules and how the political is structured, thus, in many instances, their deployment and campaign efforts are all about seeking to raise the number of votes they will secure in the election. Also, both the party and the candidates are always aware of the efforts that take to secure an electoral seat, and they might modify their behavior about this approach (Michael and Betsy 546). Furthermore, the political party’s behavior towards an election helps develop a basis of inter-ethnic coordination in intensely divided communities. For instance, for a presidential candidate to secure the seat, one has to approximately have 25% of the votes in 2/3 of all states in order to minimize crisis in a religiously diverse and multi-ethnic nation (Sisk 11).
The political implementation accountability requires all the voters to take part in elections through casting a valid vote. In case they are voting against the binding authorities, they are supposed to vote for the candidates in the opposition side, or cast votes against all of the above if their electoral candidates allow them to. However, voting against the binding authority as well as the opposition means that the voters are in support of the current government, particularly if that government has a disciplined and a loyal electorate (Wojtasik 33). Loyalty and discipline in an electorate are one of...