Electoral Systems in the USA | 美国的选举制度

📚 Electoral Systems in the USA | 美国的选举制度

The United States employs a complex patchwork of electoral systems that have evolved over more than two centuries. Understanding these systems is essential for any student of US politics, as they shape the behaviour of parties, candidates, and voters. This article explores the key mechanisms used to elect the President, members of Congress, and other officials, and examines the debates surrounding electoral reform.

美国使用一套复杂的选举制度拼图，这套制度经过两个多世纪演变而成。理解这些制度对于任何学习美国政治的学生都至关重要，因为它们塑造了政党、候选人和选民的行为。本文探讨了选举总统、国会议员及其他官员所采用的关键机制，并审视了围绕选举改革的争论。

1. Overview of US Electoral Systems | 美国选举制度概述

The United States does not have a single, unified electoral system. Instead, the Constitution grants states broad authority to administer elections, leading to considerable variation. At the federal level, the Presidential election uses the Electoral College, while Congressional elections predominantly rely on the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system in single-member districts. Understanding this fragmented structure is the first step to grasping the dynamics of American democracy.

美国没有一个单一、统一的选举制度。相反，宪法赋予各州广泛的权力来管理选举，因此各州之间存在相当大的差异。在联邦层面，总统选举采用选举人团制度，而国会选举则主要依赖单一选区中的简单多数制（FPTP）。理解这种分散的结构是把握美式民主运作的第一步。

2. Presidential Elections: The Electoral College | 总统选举：选举人团

The President of the United States is not elected directly by the popular vote. Instead, voters cast ballots for a slate of electors pledged to a particular candidate. Each state is allocated a number of electors equal to its total Congressional delegation (House seats plus two Senators). Washington D.C. receives three electors under the 23rd Amendment, bringing the total to 538. A candidate must secure an absolute majority of 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

美国总统并非由普选票直接选举产生。相反，选民投票选择一组承诺支持特定候选人的选举人。每个州分配的选举人数目等于其国会代表团总数（众议员席位数加上两位参议员）。根据宪法第二十三条修正案，华盛顿特区拥有三张选举人票，使总数达到538张。候选人必须获得至少270张选举人票的绝对多数才能赢得总统职位。

In almost every state, the winner-takes-all principle applies: the candidate who wins the most popular votes in that state captures all of its electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska are the exceptions; they award two electoral votes to the statewide winner and one vote to the winner of each congressional district. This structure can produce outcomes where the Electoral College winner loses the national popular vote, as occurred in 2000 and 2016.

几乎每个州都采用赢者通吃原则：在该州赢得最多普选票的候选人将囊括该州全部选举人票。缅因州和内布拉斯加州是例外；它们将两张选举人票给予全州获胜者，并将各国会选区的一张票给予该选区获胜者。这种结构可能导致选举人团获胜者输掉全国普选票的结果，正如2000年和2016年所发生的情况。

3. How the Electoral College Works in Practice | 选举人团的实践运作

After Election Day, electors meet in their respective state capitals in December to officially cast their votes for President and Vice President. Although electors are expected to vote for the candidate they are pledged to, 'faithless electors' occasionally break their pledge. Some states have laws mandating that electors follow the popular vote, and the Supreme Court affirmed such laws in 2020. The electoral votes are then counted in a joint session of Congress in early January, presided over by the sitting Vice President.

选举日过后，选举人于12月在各自州的首府正式投票选举总统和副总统。虽然选举人应按承诺投票给所支持的候选人，但偶尔会出现“失信选举人”违背承诺的情况。一些州的法律强制选举人遵循普选票结果，最高法院于2020年确认了这类法律的合宪性。随后，选举人票在次年一月初的国会联席会议上清点，由在任副总统主持。

The process creates a strong incentive for candidates to focus their campaigns on 'battleground' or 'swing states' where the outcome is uncertain, largely ignoring reliably Democratic or Republican states. This has profound consequences for campaign strategy, resource allocation, and policy priorities, as the concerns of swing-state voters often dominate the national political conversation.

这一过程强烈激励候选人将竞选活动集中在结果不确定的“战场州”或“摇摆州”，而在很大程度上忽略了可靠的民主党或共和党州。这对竞选策略、资源分配和政策优先事项产生了深远影响，因为摇摆州选民的关切往往主导着全国政治对话。

4. Congressional Elections: The House of Representatives | 国会选举：众议院

All 435 members of the House of Representatives are elected every two years from single-member districts. The candidate with the most votes in each district wins the seat, a classic first-past-the-post system. Because districts are redrawn every ten years following the Census, the process of redistricting can be highly politicised. State legislatures often engage in gerrymandering—manipulating district boundaries to favour one party—which can significantly distort representation.

众议院全部435名议员每两年从单一选区中选出。每个选区中得票最多的候选人赢得议席，这是典型的简单多数制。由于选区每十年根据人口普查结果重新划分，选区重划过程可能高度政治化。州议会经常进行“杰利蝾螈”（gerrymandering）——操纵选区界线以便偏袒某一党派——这可能严重扭曲代表性。

House elections also tend to have lower voter turnout than presidential elections, particularly in midterm years. Incumbents enjoy enormous advantages in name recognition and fundraising, contributing to very high re-election rates. Nevertheless, wave elections can produce substantial seat swings, as seen in 2010, 2018, and 2022.

众议院选举的投票率往往低于总统选举，尤其是在中期选举年。现任议员在知名度和筹款方面享有巨大优势，这导致连任率极高。然而，浪潮式选举仍可能产生重大的席位变动，正如2010年、2018年和2022年所见。

5. Congressional Elections: The Senate | 国会选举：参议院

The Senate comprises 100 members, two from each state, who serve staggered six-year terms. Approximately one-third of the Senate is up for election every two years. Senators are elected statewide by plurality vote, meaning the candidate with the most votes wins even if they do not exceed 50%. This statewide constituency gives Senators a different representational focus compared to House members, often making them more moderate and attentive to broader state interests.

参议院由100名议员组成，每州两名，任期六年且交错任职。约三分之一的参议院席位每两年改选一次。参议员是在全州范围内通过相对多数票选举产生的，这意味着即使得票未超过50%，得票最多的候选人也能获胜。这种全州范围的选区赋予了参议员与众议员不同的代表重点，通常使他们更加温和并更关注全州范围的利益。

The equal representation of each state in the Senate regardless of population has become a subject of intense debate. Critics argue that it grants disproportionate power to voters in sparsely populated states; for example, Wyoming (population approximately 580,000) has the same Senate representation as California (population approximately 39 million). This structural feature affects everything from judicial confirmations to legislative outcomes.

每个州在参议院中的平等代表权（不论人口多少）已成为激烈争论的话题。批评者认为，这赋予了人口稀少州的选民不成比例的权力；例如，怀俄明州（人口约58万）与加利福尼亚州（人口约3900万）在参议院的代表席位相同。这一结构性特征影响着从司法任命到立法结果的一切事务。

6. Primary Elections and Caucuses | 初选与党团会议

Before the general election, parties select their nominees through a series of state-level primaries and caucuses. Primary types vary widely: in closed primaries, only registered party members can vote; in open primaries, any voter may choose a party’s ballot on the day; and in a ‘top-two’ or ‘jungle’ primary (used in California and Washington), all candidates appear on a single ballot and the top two advance to the general election regardless of party. These different rules shape the type of candidates who succeed.

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在大选之前，各政党通过一系列州级初选和党团会议选出其提名人。初选的类型差异很大：在封闭初选中，只有注册的政党成员可以投票；在开放初选中，任何选民可以在选举日当天选择某个政党的选票；而在“前两名”或“丛林”初选中（加州和华盛顿州采用），所有候选人出现在同一张选票上，得票最多的前两名（不分党派）晋级大选。这些不同的规则影响着能够胜出的候选人类型。

Iowa’s caucuses and New Hampshire’s primary traditionally kick off the nomination season, granting these small states outsized influence. The system’s front-loaded nature often allows a candidate to build unstoppable momentum before many larger states have even voted. This has drawn criticism and led to periodic calls for a national primary day or a rotating regional calendar.

艾奥瓦州的党团会议和新罕布什尔州的初选传统上拉开了提名季的帷幕，赋予了这些小型州巨大的影响力。该制度前置的特点常常使某位候选人在许多大州还未投票之前就积累了无法阻挡的势头。这引发了批评，并周期性地导致人们呼吁设立全国初选日或轮换区域日程。

7. First-Past-the-Post and Its Consequences | 简单多数制及其后果

The dominance of FPTP elections for Congress and most state offices reinforces the two-party system described as Duverger's Law. In a winner-takes-all single-member district, any vote for a third-party or independent candidate is often dismissed as wasted. Consequently, voters tend to choose the lesser of two evils to prevent their least favourite candidate from winning. This systemic barrier makes it extremely difficult for third parties, such as the Libertarians or the Greens, to gain a foothold.

国会和大多数州级职位选举中简单多数制的主导地位强化了被称为“迪韦尔热定律”的两党制。在一个赢者通吃的单一选区中，任何投给第三党或独立候选人的选票往往被视为浪费。结果，选民倾向于在两害相权取其轻，以防止自己最不喜欢的候选人获胜。这一系统性障碍使得自由意志党或绿党等第三党极难立足。

FPTP can also produce unrepresentative outcomes at the state level. A party may win a majority of seats in a state legislature with a minority of the statewide vote if its support is efficiently distributed across districts. This efficiency gap has become a central measure in legal challenges to partisan gerrymandering, further illustrating how deeply the electoral system shapes political power.

简单多数制在州一级也可能产生缺乏代表性的结果。如果某个政党在各选区中的支持者分布得足够有效，它可以在获得全州少数选票的情况下赢得州议会的多数席位。这种效率差距已成为针对党派性杰利蝾螈的法律挑战中的核心衡量标准，进一步说明了选举制度对政治权力的深远塑造作用。

8. Criticisms of the Electoral College | 对选举人团的批评

The Electoral College faces numerous criticisms from across the political spectrum. The most prominent is that it can defeat the popular vote winner, undermining the principle of political equality. The small-state advantage is also controversial: a voter in Wyoming has nearly four times the electoral vote weight of a voter in Texas, relative to population. Furthermore, the winner-takes-all method effectively disenfranchises millions of minority-party voters in safe states.

选举人团面临着来自政治光谱各方的众多批评。最突出的是它可能击败普选票的胜者，从而破坏政治平等的原则。小州优势也颇具争议：就人口比例而言，怀俄明州选民在选举人票中的权重几乎是得克萨斯州选民的四倍。此外，赢者通吃的方法实际上剥夺了安全州中数百万少数党选民的选举权。

Critics also argue that the system depresses voter turnout in non-competitive states and narrows the geographical battlefields to just a handful of states, leaving most of the country feeling like spectators in their own democracy. The possibility of a contingent election in the House of Representatives, triggered if no candidate reaches 270 electoral votes, adds another layer of uncertainty and potential crisis.

批评者还认为，该制度抑制了非竞争州中的投票率，并将地理上的战场缩小到仅仅少数几个州，使得全国大部分地区感觉自己是本国民主中的旁观者。如果没有候选人达到270张选举人票，就会触发由众议院进行的应急选举，这种可能性增加了另一层不确定性和潜在危机。

9. Proposals for Electoral Reform | 选举改革提案

Numerous reform proposals have been advanced to address the perceived flaws of the US electoral system. The most prominent among them is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC), an agreement among states to award all their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote once states totalling 270 electoral votes have joined. As of today, states holding 209 electoral votes have enacted the compact, but it will not take effect until the 270 threshold is reached.

为解决美国选举制度中人们所感知的缺陷，已提出了大量的改革提案。其中最突出的是“全国普选票州际协议”（NPVIC），该协议规定，一旦加入协议的州所拥有的选举人票达到270张，这些州就将把全部选举人票授予全国普选票的获胜者。截至目前，拥有209张选举人票的州已通过了该协议，但在达到270张的门槛之前，该协议不会生效。

Other reforms target congressional elections. Some advocates call for replacing FPTP with ranked-choice voting (RCV), where voters rank candidates in order of preference and an instant-runoff process ensures the winner has majority support. RCV is already used in Maine for federal elections and in Alaska’s top-four primary system. Proponents argue it reduces negative campaigning and gives independent candidates a fairer chance.

其他改革针对的是国会选举。一些倡导者呼吁用排序投票制（RCV）取代简单多数制，在这种制度下，选民按偏好顺序对候选人进行排序，并通过即时决选过程确保获胜者获得多数支持。排序投票制已在缅因州的联邦选举以及阿拉斯加的前四名初选制度中得到采用。支持者认为它能减少负面竞选，并给予独立候选人更公平的机会。

Additionally, there are widespread calls for non-partisan redistricting commissions to curb gerrymandering. Several states, including Michigan and Colorado, have adopted independent commissions, transferring the power to draw district lines away from self-interested legislators. While such commissions can reduce extreme partisan bias, they remain a subject of ongoing litigation and political struggle.

此外，广泛存在着建立无党派选区重划委员会以遏制杰利蝾螈的呼声。包括密歇根州和科罗拉多州在内的几个州已经采用了独立委员会，将划分选区界线的权力从自利的立法者手中转移出去。虽然这类委员会能够减少极端的党派偏见，但它们仍然是持续诉讼和政治斗争的焦点。

10. Comparing the USA with Other Democracies | 美国与其他民主国家的比较

When compared to many established democracies, the US electoral system stands out for its decentralisation and reliance on plurality voting. The United Kingdom also uses FPTP for general elections, leading to similar two-party dominance, but the parliamentary system fuses executive and legislative power in a way that the US separation of powers does not. Meanwhile, most European democracies employ forms of proportional representation (PR), resulting in multi-party systems and coalition governments.

与许多老牌民主国家相比，美国选举制度因其权力分散和对相对多数制的依赖而显得与众不同。英国在大选中也使用简单多数制，导致类似的两党优势，但其议会制融合了行政与立法权力，而美国的分权制则并非如此。同时，大多数欧洲民主国家采用某种形式的比例代表制（PR），从而形成了多党制和联合政府。

In Australia, mandatory voting and preferential instant-runoff voting for the House of Representatives produce higher turnout and more consensual outcomes. Germany’s mixed-member proportional system combines district representatives with party-list seats, balancing local representation with overall proportionality. These international contrasts highlight the distinct choices embedded in the American framework and fuel ongoing debates about whether the current system truly serves democratic accountability.

在澳大利亚，强制投票和众议院中的优先排序投票制带来了更高的投票率和更具共识的结果。德国的混合成员比例代表制将选区代表与政党名单席位相结合，平衡了地方代表性与整体的比例性。这些国际对比突显了美国框架中内嵌的独特选择，并助长了关于当前制度是否真正服务于民主问责的持续辩论。

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