The election of the United States President is governed by Section 1 of Article Two of the United States Constitution, as amended by Amendment XII.
The President and Vice President are elected on the same ticket by the U.S. Electoral College, whose members are elected directly from each state; the President and Vice President serve four-year terms.
Elections take place every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The last election was held on November 7, 2000. See U.S. presidential election, 2000.
The next election will take place on November 2, 2004.How elections are administered
* "Major Opponent" is defined as a candidate receiving greater than 1% of the total popular vote for elections including and after 1824, or greater than 5 electoral votes for elections including and before 1820. (This column may not be complete).
† Denotes a minority President—one receiving less than 50% of all popular votes. This is typically an indication of a particularly strong third-party candidate or a close election.
‡ Denotes a (minority) President who did not receive a plurality of the popular votes and the opposing candidate who did. This is typically an indication of an extremely close election.
Voter turnout in Presidential elections has been on the decline in recent years, although it bounced back slightly during the 2000 election from 1996's lows. While turnout has been decreasing, registration has been increasing. Registration rates varied from 65% to 70% of the voting age population from the 1960s to the 1980s, and due in part to greater government outreach programs, registration swelled to 75% in 1996 and 2000. Despite greater registration, however, turnout has not greatly improved.
Voter turnout
| Year | Voting Age Population ¹ | Turnout | % Turnout of VAP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 205,815,000 | 105,586,274 | 51.30% |
| 1996 | 196,511,000 | 96,456,345 | 49.08% |
| 1992 | 189,529,000 | 104,405,155 | 55.09% |
| 1988 | 182,778,000 | 91,594,693 | 50.11% |
| 1984 | 174,466,000 | 92,652,680 | 53.11% |
| 1980 | 164,597,000 | 86,515,221 | 52.56% |
| 1976 | 152,309,190 | 81,555,789 | 53.55% |
| 1972 | 140,776,000 | 77,718,554 | 55.21% |
| 1968 | 120,328,186 | 73,211,875 | 60.84% |
| 1964 | 114,090,000 | 70,644,592 | 61.92% |
| 1960 | 109,159,000 | 68,838,204 | 63.06% |
Source: Federal Election Commission
¹ It should be noted that the voting age population includes all persons over the age of 18 as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, which necessarily includes a significant number of persons ineligible to vote, such as non-citizens or felons. The actual number of eligible voters is somewhat lower. The number of non-citizens in 1994 was approximately 13 million, and in 1996, felons numbered around 1.3 million, so it can be estimated that around 7-10% of the voting age population is ineligible to vote.