Presidential
The Presidential Election is a very unique election, and thus the process of tracking and entering the election and candidates into the database is unique and must be done differently to regular process for other federal and state level elections. This page should have insights into the process for updating the Presidential election: adding and tracking candidates, creating state candidate lists, and processing election results.
Adding Presidential Elections:
For the Presidential election, an initial national general election stage should be created as the first step. The will be the first location that presidential candidates will be added. As state list of candidates that will appear in state caucus’/primaries are released, additional electionstages can be created for each state primary, and candidates that appear on these lists can be added to each applicable election stage they appear on.
Adding Presidential Candidates (National General):
When we first start adding Presidential candidates, we add them to a "National" Presidential election. Unlike state elections, we will also cover "announced" and "potential" candidates. In a very general sense, the "announced" election status would apply to those who file with the FEC as presidential candidates or otherwise declare their intention to run for President, while the "potential" election status would apply to those who the media or other respected source suspects will run, or have expressed interest in running, but have not formally announced candidacy by filing or public announcement. The "Running" election status is reserved for those who actually achieve ballot status or register as a write-in in a given state.
For 2020 Presidential Election, we have continued with the criteria formed from 2016 from below. For determining 'Potential' Candidates, we have also included the following criteria:
- Primary Source or News Media resource with direct quote from candidate expressing their interest in the presidential race - This may be a judgement call, but most candidates are very explicit in expressing their interest to run!
As of summer 2016, we have reevaluated and updated the collection of Presidential candidates. Instead of working strictly based on FEC filings, there are five new criteria, and a candidate must meet one to be included in the election. This is to prevent the inclusion of complete joke or offensively named candidates. The decided criteria are:
- Total disbursements reported by the FEC is greater than $0 (ie they have raised or spent some money)
- They have run in previous elections/are already in the database
- They have some sort of campaign web presence
- They are on the ballot in one state. In this case they are just listed as Running in that state
- They have contacted us in some way.
We aim to add these candidates as soon as we hear about them, which can sometimes be over a year before the actual election.
Sources for Announced Candidates:
- FEC filers: Presidential candidates are required, amongst other things, to file a FEC form 2 to declare their candidacy for President of the United States.
- Media outlets: These can be helpful to track new updates to candidates, in particular potential candidates and candidate withdrawals.
Adding Presidential Candidates (State Primary/General):
Every state runs their presidential primaries differently, and thus it is important to understand the systems that each state operates for their primary/caucus. We will only attach a Presidential candidate to a particular state primary list if the candidate appears on the official ballot or is a registered write-in for that state. Some states do not require write-in candidates to register, and some states do not even have a candidate list for their respective presidential primary. Each state should be handled and reviewed as a unique situation: Our process is to ensure we are best we can accurately representing the ballot wherever possible. If no ballot exists, then the back-up is the National General stage that contains all presidential candidates that have met our criteria, and would be eligible in a completely open caucus.
Tiers of Coverage for Presidential:
See: http://wiki.votesmart.org/DefiningMajorCandidates for the highest tier of coverage. Usually we will curate a second tier list of candidates as well to provide some form of coverage for as well. These should be run by the national director. These tiers of coverage for Presidential candidates influence various areas of research and the website resources (VoteEasy candidates, Public statements coverage etc.) For more details on other research areas, consult your supervisor or the either Director on presidential coverage.
Removing Candidates:
With the above process and structure of the Presidential election, the list is constantly in flux, as candidates can choose to withdraw or suspend their campaigns at any point through the case. Monitoring news media, and candidate campaign sites can be valuable to noting any necessary candidate status changes, and they should be updated as soon as we hear about them, similarly to adding candidates, so our list is as up-to-date as possible at all times.In the case where a candidate may remove themselves from the race, their elections status will need to be updated in every electionstage that they have been added to up to that point (See Jeb Bush or Martin O’Malley as 2016 examples of this). In addition, any major candidates designations, or tiered coverage should be removed/halted on the date that the respective candidate is removed from the election.
Presidential Primary Results:
These are updated the same as other elections results. However, when you make the results live for the state primaries, it automatically puts the winner into all 50 states general election, which will need to be deleted manually. Please be aware of this, and be careful when updating Presidential election results.In cases where a candidate list was not released for a state primary, the election results can be used to populate a list, by first putting the candidates that received votes/support, then process the results for this state in the regular process specified.
