In the United States, citizens choose their leaders at local, state and national levels. The biggest and most well-known election is for the president, which occurs every four years. But instead of directly choosing the president by popular vote alone, the United States has a special system called the Electoral College.
First, before the main election happens, each political party selects a candidate. This happens through primary elections and caucuses, which are like smaller elections held in each state. In primaries, people vote directly for the candidate they support. In caucuses, party members gather in meetings to choose their preferred candidate. After this, there’s a big party convention where each party officially announces their candidate.
Next, during the general election, which is held on the first Tuesday in November, people across the country vote. When you vote for president, you’re not voting for the candidate directly, but for a group of people called electors. These electors then vote for the president, and each state has a certain number of them based on its population. There are 538 electors in total, and the magic number to win is 270. Most states use a system where the candidate who wins the most votes in the state gets all the state’s electors. There are a few exceptions like Maine and Nebraska, which split their electors based on the vote. If no one receives 270 votes, the decision goes to the House of Representatives to pick the president.
Besides the president, Americans also vote for members of Congress. Senators serve for six years, and members of the House of Representatives serve for two years. These elections happen regularly, helping keep the government accountable and representative of the people’s will.
American citizens that are eligible to vote will cast their ballot on Tuesday, Nov. 5, either at a designated polling site, by absentee or by mail.
In the past, the next president is usually decided over the course of the evening, yet in the 2020 presidential election, it took nearly a month to see who would assume the presidency.
The designated candidate will assume their position on Monday, Jan. 20.
In the meantime, voters can access their ballot on ballotpedia. Once voters enter the address where they are registered to vote, Ballotpedia will take voters to their ballot.