After a long and hectic election campaign (for many also quite botched), a small part of Americans elect the most important ruler in the world. The most important, but not necessarily the one with the most votes. The democracy of the country that most influences public life and is most involved in governing among the nearly 200,000 countries in which the planet is divided, is governed by very old rules that historians believe may date back to the times of British colonialism.
The surprising, and surely unfair, thing is that not all citizens count the same when adding up their vote. First, because before going to the polls, if they are natives, they have to register in the census that entitles them to participate. An important majority, around 50%, do not bother and the election is reduced to the most politicized, which leaves out of the election the so-called “natives”, who are the ones who have the right to vote. ticket presidential (president and vice president) to half of the citizens.
The second premise of the system is that the vote acquires value only for the State in which it is cast: 48 of the 50 that make up the Federation, with the exception in part of Nebraska and Maine. The counting of the votes of each State provides what is called the electoral candidate, who will ultimately represent the votes of all parties, particularly the Democratic and Republican, without distinction, which makes their differences count. The result, ie, the election of the new president is the final sum of the representatives (delegates) of all the states. The rest of the voters are worthless.
Each state has a number of ‘electoral votes’ proportional to its population: the largest, California, has 44 and the number varies; second, Texas; and last, Maine, with six. The number of all voters counted is 538 and the winner is the one who exceeds 270. In case of a tie, it will be the House of Representatives and the Senate, which are both formed through complex, but fairer systems.
In mathematical practice, the president, who I repeat is considered the most powerful in the world, is not necessarily the most voted in North America: taking into account that between the two finalists they only add up to 50% of the potential voter and that the final system only counts the sum of the states, in which they are usually very evenly matched, the chosen one almost never reaches 30% of the electors. And the most unfair thing is that, frequently, the one who adds up the most individual votes is the one who loses.
Nor can it be added that elections, which begin at the caucuses, primaries and conventions, can be said to be a model of democratic fairness: the result is the fruit of group fanaticisms, of racial conditions and often of money, of the millions that their various stakeholders bring to finance the process. Industrial and commercial factors are involved in this, which throughout the campaign contribute often astronomical amounts and modest donations from humble sympathizers.
The cleanliness of all these steps is not always rigorous either, but among all of them a name emerges, the one that has the power to influence the rest of humanity, from involving it in conflicts and wars to deciding to resort to atomic weapons. The outcome involves luck, and not just the winner’s, but everyone’s. The comparison that fits between us is very simple: the most similar is the Lottery game, with the jackpot reserved for luck and the pedrea for those who do not play or buy more tickets. It is true that in this case luck affects us all.