QUICK FACTS ON THE UNITED STATES ELECTIONS

Zimpapers Politics Hub

• Every four years, U.S citizens cote for president and vice president during the general election. Major political parties nominate presidential and vice presidential candidates at their party’s national convention and the candidates’ names would be listed on the general election ballot.
Presidential Election Voting

• U.S citizens who are registered can vote even if they did not vote in their primary state’s primary elections.

• U.S citizens can vote for any presidential candidate, regardless of the party they are registered with or who they voted for in the past.

• Depending on where one lives, the voting period may be extended to include absentee voting and voting by mail; and early voting.

Presidential Candidates Requirements

• Be a natural-born citizen of the United States

• Have been a resident of the United States for 14 years

• Anyone who meets the requirement can declare their candidacy for president

• Once a candidate raises or spends $US5000 for their campaign, they must register with the Federal Election Commission- naming a principal campaign committee to raise and spend campaign funds

• The Electoral College decides who will be the elected president and vice president of the U.S. It is not a physical place but a process which includes the:

• Selection of electors

• Meeting of electors who cast votes for the president and vice president

• In other U.S elections, candidates are elected directly by popular vote. But the president and vice president are not elected directly by citizens. Instead, they are chosen through the Electoral College process.

• The process of using electors comes from the country’s Constitution. It was a compromise between a popular vote by citizens and a vote in Congress.

Who sits in the Electoral College?

• Each state’s political parties choose their own state of potential electors. Who is chosen to be an elector, how, and when varies by state.

How the Electoral College Process Works?

• After casting ballot for president, the vote goes to a state-wide tally. In 48 states and Washington, D.C., the winner gets all the electoral votes for that state. Maine and Nebraska assign their electors using a proportional system.

• In most cases, a projected winner is announced on election night in November after one votes. But the actual Electoral College vote takes place in mid-December when the electors meet in their states.

• While the Constitution does not require electors to vote for the candidate chosen by their state’s popular vote, some states do. The rare elector who votes for someone else may be fined, disqualified, and replaced by a substitute elector. Or they may even be prosecuted by their state.

Unusual Electoral College scenarios

• If no candidate receives the majority electoral votes, the vote goes to the House of Representatives. This has happened twice. The first time was after the 1800 presidential election when the House chose Thomas Jefferson. And after the 1824 presidential election when the House selected John Quincy Adams as president.

• The Electoral College process would need a constitutional amendment to change it.

SOURCE: United States government official website