when Americans gained independence a new Sun was rising on what would grow into one of the world's greatest experiments and democracy today's political system is a complex one of checks and balances one that promises justice and equality for all the United States is regarded as one of the most radical and successful experiments in government but for Millennials like tests cracks in the system are starting to show like other Millennials born in the 1980s she grew up in a time of relative prosperity and security in the United States when both major political parties won congressional control and presidencies and power oscillated back and forth peacefully now in a world that seems to move faster with each passing day Millennials like her are staring at parsh realities foreign interference digital sabotage and domestic discord ranging from voter purges and gerrymandering to billion-dollar political campaigns leave people like Tessa wondering how intact their democracy is after all heading into one of the most consequential elections in US history Millennials and Gen Z should be the largest voting bloc in the US for would be participants in democracy it's important to understand the foundations of American elections and which factors have eroded over time one of the earliest stages of a presidential election is when states hold either a primary or a caucus these are early forms of voting that help choose leaders from political parties who will ultimately faceoff in the November general election the first type primaries function more like a typical vote in which ballots usually paper are cast and the candidate with the most votes wins and goes on to compete at more advanced stages of the election second caucuses are meetings held among registered party members they informally discuss and then vote for their preferred candidate either by raising their hands or splitting off into political groups inside the room Tess who lives in a caucus state heads to her neighborhood High School on caucus night to select her candidate of choice she's initially drawn to the candidate who represents her childhood a time of American global dominance the massive tech boom and expanding soft power but faced with issues like climate change and digital privacy rights she decides to vote for someone she hasn't supported in the past her community agrees and votes in favor of the new candidate upsetting the establishment and causing discord within the party this new candidate having secured the majority of votes and Tessa's precinct goes on to be represented by a delegate usually a local leader or activist at ensuing stages of the party's primary elections of thousands of delegates some are super-delegates unlike delegates super-delegates usually consist of the party elite such as elected officials or large donors and are unpledged in other words they can change their support for a candidate until the convention together delegates and super-delegates ultimately determine who becomes the party nominee at the national convention in most cases incumbent presidents do not face serious challengers and usually have an easy path to becoming their party's nominee however when an incumbent president is primary the challenger must obtain more delegate support of the party's national convention in order to become the party's official nominee once both parties have chosen their candidate in the primaries and then confirmed the nomination at their convention the general election kicks off in many countries national elections are based on the popular vote meaning the candidate with the most votes wins this is true at the local and state level in the u.s. at the national level presidential elections are not based solely on the popular vote instead they are determined by the Electoral College the Electoral College consists of a number of electors representing each state the number of electors each state has corresponds with its population size much like states representation in Congress states with the lowest populations such as Montana have only three electors states with larger populations have more electors the three states with the most electoral college votes are Florida with 29 Texas with 38 in California with 55 presidential candidates need a majority for 270 electoral college votes to win in 2000 presidential candidate Al Gore received the majority of votes but lost the electoral college majority due to a contested recount in Florida this assured in the presidency of George W Bush this happened again in 2016 when Donald Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton but won the necessary electoral college votes to become president both of these elections blood tests and her friends to question the fundamental processes underlying American democracy a key component in determining the number of electors for each state is the u.s. census every 10 years the US census counts the population to the best of its ability based on census results congressional districts can be redrawn to accommodate demographic changes when this is done expressly to benefit one party or another it is called gerrymandering gerrymandering often carves out certain voting groups for example minority communities so that their voting power is diluted in a new district gerrymandering results in under and misrepresentation of minority communities to Tess the Electoral College and the prevalence of gerrymandering seems like a democratic decay but when Tess feels defeated by a problem too large for one person to fix she remembers that she is a member of the largest generation in American history even as one individual she holds a key to a different future but in the absence of people like her people who are willing to participate in democracy the son could one day set on one of the world's greatest democracies [Music]