How to win?
First of all, one of the most important things to consider is that you have to be a US citizen to have the right to vote; you can vote in any of the 50 states of the country, but only once. The elections take place every four years on Election Day, held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Most states have a “winner-take-all” system: this means that the candidate with the majority of the votes takes all of the state’s electoral votes. The only states which don’t use this method are Maine and Nebraska. Every state has several established electoral votes, which are equal to its number of Senators and Representatives in Congress, exception is made for Washington DC (which always casts 3 votes). California has the most electoral votes with 55 (meaning California has 55 Senators and Representatives in Congress), while the District of Columbia, Montana, North/ South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming only have 3. Adding up all of the states’ votes we get a total of 538. In order to win, the candidate must have 270 votes, so more than half. There is more to that though, here comes the tricky part! You can win the popular vote but lose the election. How is that possible? You always have to remember that the Electoral College vote has the last saying. Even if the margin is at 50.1%, the votes go to that candidate. It simply doesn’t matter if the difference is 0.3% or 15%, the candidate with the majority wins that state’s votes. Losing the election, but winning the popular vote has only happened in 2016 and three times in the 1800s. But this is the explication in a few words. This kind of situation is rare but it’s still good to be informed about it, right? There is another situation: we have no majority. No one won the majority. What’s to do now? The vote goes to the House of Representatives. House members choose the new president from the top three candidates. The Senate elects the vice president from the remaining top two candidates. This has only happened once in history, in 1824. Most of the time, the votes just go to the candidate without any other issues.
Now you might be wondering what you have to do to become a president in the US. Simple answer. Article Two of the Constitution stipulates that for a person to serve as president, the individual must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, at least 35 years old, and a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. A candidate may start running their campaign early before turning 35 years old or completing 14 years of residency, but must meet the age and residency requirements by Inauguration Day. The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution also sets a term limit: a president cannot be elected to more than two terms.
To sum up, everything we’ve learned today in a few words, we have 2 major parties (Republican and Democrat), I talked about the presidency, how can you become a president, and what the process of that is. Politics is interesting, you just have to find an explanation so that you understand. I promise it can be exciting!
References:
-https://www.usa.gov/election
-https://www.britannica.com/topic/Republican-Party
-https://www.britannica.com/topic/Democratic-Party#ref308570
-https://democrats.org/who-we-are/who-we-serve/
Editor- Raul Spânu
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