Katarzyna Kaszuba How Does the US Presidential Election Work?

The procedures related to the presidential electionpresidential election date back to the very beginning of the United States as an independent country. The office of the president is described in the US Constitution. The founders of the country wanted the society to choose their president. However, they were not sure if ordinary people were capable of voting forvoting for [vote for]voting for the right person. Therefore, they established the so‑called electoral college, which consisted ofconsisted of [consist of]consisted of a certain number of members from each state. The bigger the state’s population was, the bigger number of electors came from that area.

The electoral collegeelectoral collegeelectoral college has existed ever since. That means that on the election dayelection dayelection day people in each state vote for a candidate for the president indirectly. Voters mark their choice on ballot papersballot papers [ballot paper]ballot papers and put them in ballot boxesballot boxes [ballot box]ballot boxes. However, they do not directly cast their ballot forcast their ballot for [cast one’s ballot for]cast their ballot for their chosen candidate but for the members of the electoral college. Nowadays, there are 538 electors and a candidate needs at least 270 votes to win the election. In the majority of states, the candidate that wins the popular vote (that is, gets the most citizens’ votes) is supported by all the electors from this state. It does not really matter if the candidate receives 99% or 52% of votes there, he or she still gets the support of all the electors in that area. 

Certainly, getting citizens’ votes and later on electors’ support needs a lot of preparation. Everything starts with the political partiespolitical parties [political party]political parties (usually these are Democrats and Republicans) choosing their representative. Then the election campaignelection campaignelection campaign begins and the candidates travel across the country, visiting mainly swing statesswing states [swing state]swing states where they convinceconvinceconvince citizens to vote for them. Many public debatespublic debates [public debate]public debates are organised and most of them, especially the last one, called the final boutfinal boutfinal bout, are broadcast on TV. During the debates candidates answer questions about their ideas for economic growth, social and environmental issues and international policy.

During the presidential campaign, scientists do special researchdo special research [do reaserch]do special research called opinion pollsopinion polls [opinion poll]opinion polls. They ask people for their opinion about the candidates. Then the results are published and the candidates know which area or group of citizens they need to focus on. It is interesting that there is no election silence in the USA. Opinion polls or public debates are not banned at any time. Even the media can comment on campaign actions just before or on the election day.

When the voting process finishes, the winner of the election, then called the president‑elect, is announced. However, he/she becomes the president only after they take the presidential oathtake the presidential oathtake the presidential oath of office, which usually takes place at noon on January 20th.

1 Źródło: Katarzyna Kaszuba, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.