An election for the Presidential post in the United States happens every four years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election will be held on November 3, 2020. This will be the 59th Presidential Election. U.S. voters will elect Presidential candidates who will vote on December 14, 2020, to elect a new President and Vice President or re-elect incumbent Donald Trump and Mike Pence respectively.
Who can run for President?
As per Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States, to run for the post of President of the United States, the candidate must be:
1- A U.S. citizen from birth.
2- At least 35 years old.
3- A U.S. resident for at least 14 years.
What is the process of the U.S. Presidential Election?
1- The U.S. election process begins with primaries and caucuses. The two major political parties (the Republicans and the Democrats) select their candidates through the internal election process. In caucuses, the party members meet, discuss and vote for the right candidate. In primaries, the party members vote in a state election for the candidate who they want to represent in the General Election.
2- After the primaries and caucuses, Democrat and Republican hold a national convention to select Presidential nominee.
3- The presidential nominee than announces his choice for Vice-Presidential running mate.
4- The candidate campaigns across the country and on election day, people cast their vote. This voting is done for a group of people called electors.
5- In the Electoral College system, each state gets electors based on its total number of representatives in Congress. A total of 538 electors form the Electoral College.
6- Each elector casts one vote and the candidate getting at least 270 electors wins the elections.
7- In case, no candidate receives a majority, the House of Representatives chooses the President and the Senate chooses the Vice-President.
8- The newly elected President and Vice-President take the oath of office and are inaugurated on January 20th.
It is interesting to note that in other U.S. elections, the candidates are elected directly by people. However, for the Presidential and Vice-Presidential post, the citizens indirectly vote for the candidates through Electoral College.
How does the Electoral College process work?
After a vote is cast for the President, the vote goes to the statewide tally. The winner in a state gets all the electoral votes for that state. A candidate must get at least 270 electors to win the elections.
It is possible to win the popular vote but lose the election and vice-versa. In the 1800s, 2000 and 2016, the candidate won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote.
If no candidate wins the majority of electoral votes, the vote goes to the House of Representatives. The House members choose the new President from the top three candidates. The Senate elects the Vice-President from the remaining top two candidates. This happened in 1824 and the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams as President.
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