ABSTRACT
Direct democracy is possible only when the population is small. In the United States, both registration and voting are voluntary; as a result, the people have a much lower voter turnout than other countries. After all of the primary elections and caucuses, each party holds a convention in the summer in which delegates from each state select a presidential candidate and decide on a platform. When the political conventions are held in the summer, the delegates vote on the ballot for the candidate who won the state's primary election. The electors representing the party whose candidate received the most popular votes meet on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December in their respective state capitals. Even after the passage of the Twelfth Amendment in 1804, the method of electing a President by the Electoral College has not been without its problems. In addition, the presidential and vice presidential candidates for each party should be from different states.
