The truth about Arkansas when voting in a general election for President of the United States:
The examples given here will be based on the 2020 election in order to explain the process.
The entire process begins with someone wanting to become a candidate for President.
From this initial desire to be a candidate, the entire process may get complex or seem difficult to follow, so please pay attention to every detail.
In Arkansas, a presidential candidate seeking a major party’s nomination must file with his or her party as well as the Secretary of State, and the deadline to do so is November 12, 2019.
An independent presidential candidate must collect at least 1,000 signatures to get on the general election ballot. Arkansas does not permit write-in candidates in presidential elections.
The type of primary election that takes place in Arkansas is known as an open primary. It may surprise you to learn that each State can have a different way of doing things as part of this entire process leading up to someone becoming President of the United States.
In general, but not always, states that do not ask voters to choose parties on the voter registration form are “open primary” states. In an open primary, voters may choose privately in which primary to vote. In other words, voters may choose which party’s ballot to vote, but this decision is private and does not register the voter with that party. This permits a voter to cast a vote across party lines for the primary election.
Let’s break this down for a complete understanding:
The primary election in Arkansas is an open primary, so you don’t have to declare yourself to any one specific party to then be forced to vote among the candidates of this one party. You can vote freely during this primary election. However, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes for the Democratic and Republican Party will become the candidate on the ballot in November when registered voters will vote again.
The election that takes place in November is known as the general election.
In each year in which a President and Vice President of the United States are chosen, each political party or group in the state shall choose by its state convention electors of President and Vice President of the United States. The state convention of the party or group shall also choose electors at large if any are to be appointed for the state. The state convention of the party or group, by its chair and secretary, shall certify to the Secretary of State the total list of electors together with electors at large so chosen.
The electors shall meet at the office of the Secretary of State, in a room to be designated by him or her in the State Capitol Building, at the time appointed by the laws of the United States at the hour of 10:00 a.m. of that day, and give their votes for President and for Vice President of the United States.
In case any person duly elected an elector of President and Vice President of the United States shall fail to attend at the Capitol on the day on which his or her vote is required to be given, it shall be the duty of the electors of President and Vice President attending at the time and place to appoint persons to fill the vacancies.
This other vote known as the electoral vote takes place on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December in each of the fifty states. The time of day when the electors gather to conduct this vote may vary from state to state, but the electoral vote happens on the same day in every state, the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. Another interesting point to mention: this electoral vote is weeks after we the people have already cast a so-called vote.
What happens to these electoral votes? Each state has a certain number of electoral votes associated with their state. There are a total of five-hundred and thirty-eight (538) electoral votes to be exact, and only a total of two-hundred and seventy (270) of these electoral votes are required to determine the person who will become President of the United States.
Knowing the number of electors associated with each of the States, it is mathematically possible to have only eleven (11) states determine who will become the President of the United States.
The following eleven states add up to the two-hundred and seventy (270) electoral votes needed to determine who becomes President of the United States:
California (55 electoral votes)
Texas (38 electoral votes)
New York (29 electoral votes)
Florida (29 electoral votes)
Illinois (20 electoral votes)
Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes)
Ohio (18 electoral votes)
Georgia (16 electoral votes)
Michigan (16 electoral votes)
North Carolina (15 electoral votes)
New Jersey (14 electoral votes)
This next fact may disappoint those of you who reside and vote in Arkansas.
If these eleven (11) states end up having their electoral votes casted for the same candidate, the remaining thirty-nine (39) states would not matter at all. So… that vote you casted in the general election in November as a citizen… what was the purpose of your vote? The answer: NOTHING (when these eleven states have an electoral outcome as such) !!!
The time is NOW to understand that our country does not have a voting process in place whereby every citizen who wants to cast a vote is able to cast a vote and to then have his or her vote be accurately counted towards choosing the person who will become the next President of the United States.
