|
|
How does a Presidential election work?
On Election Day, the residents who are eligible and
willing to vote, will visit a voting centre where they will show proof of
registration (usually a driver’s license) and then continue on to the ballot
area. All votes are cast in secret and are recorded using an optical scan voting
machine or DRE voting machines. Even once this voting has been completed and the
votes have been counted, the next President of the United States is still not
decided. This is the direct popular vote but the Constitution states that
another process must be completed and that is of the Electoral College. This
will ultimately decide who will be the next President.
Different than the direct popular vote given on
Election Day, the Electoral College is a system of determining the indirect
popular vote to ensure that the best candidate will take office. Now the votes
will vote for a block of electors that have stated that they will vote for a
certain candidate. These electors then vote for the presidential candidate that
they have been elected to vote for. The number of electors in state represents
their representation in Congress. These electors will vote the first Monday
after the second Wednesday in December. Although the electors generally vote for
the candidate that they have stated they will vote for, it is not illegal for
them to vote for someone different. This is called an unfaithful or a faithless
elector. Because this makes them appear quite disgraceful in the eyes of the
public, this is very rare. Because of this, the candidate that has won the
general election will usually be the candidate that is voted on by the electors.
When a candidate wins in a particular state, that candidate will receive all of
that state’s elector’s votes although there are some exceptions to this in some
states.
Once the electors have voted, these votes are sent
to Congress and the President of the Senate will count the votes. This always
happens on January 6, unless that is a Sunday in which case, the votes will be
counted the next day. Absolute majority is needed for a candidate to be
announced as the next President or Vice President. There are a total of 538
electors, meaning that a candidate must get 270 of the votes to become President
or Vice President. If no one candidate receives a majority, the House of
Representatives will then determine who the next President of the United States
will be. The Senate determines who the next Vice President will be. The
candidate elected as the next President and the candidate that was elected the
next Vice President will then take the oath of office. The inauguration
concludes the election process and takes place on January 20th.
PART 1
PART 2
Page Sponsored By:
Play Free Online Games
|
|
|
