Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service
In the United States, National Political Conventions are crucial events where parties officially nominate presidential and vice-presidential candidates, present their platform or policies, and energize their voter base.
They are usually predictable events whose outcome is determined by the preceding primaries, where the party electorates choose their nominee and elect delegates. Former President Trump, who escaped assassination, accepted the nomination at the Republican National Convention on the 18th and became the 2024 presidential candidate.
On the Democratic side, President Biden will not seek re-election and endorsed VP Harris. Many scholars compare the current political situation with that of 1968, when Columbia students held an anti-Vietnam War protest and were violently cleared by the police, and presidential candidate Kennedy was assassinated.
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, Professor (ret) of the Practice of Public Policy Communication, Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California said this was a compromise between large and small states in the early days of the United States because if it were counted by popular vote, every election would be dominated by the large states.
Bill Schneider, Professor Emeritus, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University pointed out that the Republican Party has always been internationalist since it voted to join NATO in 1949, but the Republican Party led by Trump has changed its course and is no longer a conservative party, but a populist party. Bill said that various polls have errors to some extent, and the best way is to look at the average.
Jonathan Diaz, Director of Voting Advocacy and Partnerships, Campaign Legal Center said extreme rhetoric and positions, as well as voter intimidation and harassment, are concerning, especially in communities of color. Some people may be staying home for fear of standing in line at the polls, a chilling impact that is difficult to measure.
Election officials, law enforcement agencies and nonpartisan election protection groups are preparing responses. In addition, Trump’s allies have also done a lot of work to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election. In addition, Diaz also reminded that in response to the riots on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, the “Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA)” was passed in 2022 to update the vote counting procedures and clarify the role of the vice president. It is merely administrative in nature, does not have the power to reject a state’s electoral votes, and raises the threshold for contesting the vote count. In the past, only one member from each house of the House of Representatives and the Senate could raise objections; now it requires one-fifth of each member of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Also Read: ‘I know Donald Trump’s type’ : Kamala Harris offers a preview of the campaign to come
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