In the United States, citizens do not directly elect their president but entrust this task to representatives selected state by state. Since the 2016 and 2020 elections, this routine procedure has been increasingly monitored, as two elected officials tell franceinfo.
To find them, you have to search the registers – and above all show your credentials. American voters are not used to showing themselves, much less speaking to the press. “A certain amount of restraint is expected of us”confides Nina Ahmad, Democratic city councilor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who played this role in 2020. It must be said that their mission is of the utmost importance. Since 1787, the American presidential election, by indirect universal suffrage in one round, has been divided into two phases: citizens vote first, then it is the turn of the electoral college to relay their votes to Washington, in order to officially designate the winner. In total, 538 electors are distributed across the country's 50 states, according to population censuses.
“Anyone can occupy this position, but it is the political parties that establish their list in advance”explains Nina Ahmad. These are most often party executives, union leaders or supporters. Only federal elected officials, such as senators for example, are excluded from this selection. “The process is a little opaque, because the candidate and the party make this choice together, adds Nina Ahmad. In general, the lists are defined during the summer preceding the election, during the major Democratic and Republican conventions. In 2020, the local elected official was notified by telephone “a few weeks” before election day in early November. “I was then made to promise not to say anything. No one was supposed to know”she remembers.
This unique system has some subtleties. In all American states, with the exception of Nebraska and Maine, the candidate who comes first wins all of the state's electors. This is the logic of “winner takes all” (“winner takes all”). This year, if Kamala Harris comes first in Michigan for example, where 15 electors are at stake, the list of 15 people prepared by her party will be designated to vote on behalf of the entire state. But if Donald Trump wins, the Republican list will be chosen. Another important detail: these voters undertake to vote for a specific candidate, and must respect this promise, at the risk of being replaced, receiving a fine and even being prosecuted.
“It is a great honor and a heavy responsibility, comments Nina Ahmad. Because, in the end, we are the ones who really elect the president.” Arriving in the United States at the age of 21, this Bangladeshi immigrant ensures “give great importance” to this process, which is really taking shape a few weeks after the election. “Once the results are known, the voters must meet in person on a specific day and at a specific time in the capital of their state”she explains.
After the November 5 election, the results of the popular vote will be certified on December 11 and the electors will vote on December 17, according to the calendar (a PDF) established by the United States Election Commission. These votes will then be counted and certified in Congress in Washington on January 6, 2025, before the inauguration ceremony scheduled for January 20. In December 2020, Nina Ahmad had to vote while respecting barrier gestures, because the Covid-19 epidemic was raging in the United States. From this day “very special”she keeps her certification letter, a party badge and a protective mask embroidered for the occasion in her office.
This year, she will not be part of the electoral college. And she claims not to know who is on the Democratic list, which is kept secret. “We have to understand that we are taking risks”insists the municipal councilor. “Especially since 2020”she adds, when the accusations of electoral fraud launched by Donald Trump had made voters “public figures, almost targets”. Before that, these women and men “were under the radar”explains Nina Ahmad. “Almost no one knew their names, it was published after the fact and there wasn't as much media attention. Everything changed in a few years, it became more and more complicated.”
On the Republican side, the list of electors chosen for the 2024 election is known, after being revealed by the investigative online media Spotlight PA and the specialized site VoteBeat. Andrew Reilly, lawyer and member of the Republican Party national committee, appears once again “after being chosen in 2016 then in 2020”he tells franceinfo. “It’s not the kind of thing you apply for.”he smiles, in front of his opulent residence in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Andrew Reilly says he was chosen as “active member of the party”. What's new this year is that he was warned “well before” the presidential election. “I was asked if that suited me, if I really agreed, because there had been controversies four years ago.”
In 2020, despite Democrat Joe Biden's victory in Pennsylvania, Republicans still submitted their list of electors and voted for Donald Trump in this state, as federal records show. Andrew Reilly was among the signatories. Similar practices had been reported elsewhere in the country, giving rise to legal proceedings in the so-called “fake electors” affair, as reported by New York Times. The Republicans were then accused of wanting to disrupt the election by not accepting defeat.
“Donald Trump's team appealed the results in Pennsylvania, we were simply asked to vote in case he was ultimately declared the winner”Andrew Reilly defends himself today. “All of this was controversial and people even linked it to the attack on the Capitol [le 6 janvier 2021 à Washington par des partisans de Donald Trump]but we didn't know anything about it at all.” he assures.
For Andrew Reilly, the role of major voter has been far from easy. In 2016, after the announcement of Donald Trump's surprise victory, he received “thousands of emails every day from left-wing groups”asking him not to vote for the billionaire on D-Day – what is authorized for voters in Pennsylvania. “They ended up overwhelming my inbox and the FBI had to come to my office.”says the lawyer, who specifies that the messages “were based on four or five text models, copied and sent en masse”.
“People came to my house, I must have received more than 10,000 letters, including threatening letters. It was anything but funny.”
Andrew Reilly, Republican voter in 2016, 2020 and 2024at franceinfo
For this presidential election, if Donald Trump were to win the very undecided state of Pennsylvania, Andrew Reilly expects “relive the same kind of things”. “The list of voters is public, my email address will surely be shared again”anticipates the Republican leader, who does not want to be intimidated. “In 2020, I had to go to Washington to have the FBI recommend that I not speak out about my role, he says. But my reputation is at stake and I don't want to be portrayed in a bad way. I want to be able to talk about it freely, without fear of harassment.”
