How The Election Works:
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on a question to find the answer!
• Who
made up the election rules?
• Can
anyone be U.S. President?
• How
do we decide who gets to be President?
• What
are candidates, and what do they do?
• What
is a political party?
• How
do the parties choose candidates?
• How
are the Pres. and Vice-Pres. elected?
• Does
the person with the most votes win?
LOOKING BACK ON ELECTION 2000:
Check
out the articles covering major election events:
• GO!
Not always! In fact, a couple of times, the candidate with the most votes did NOT become President. This is because votes are counted by state, and the nominees are trying to win states. Each state is assigned a certain number of electoral votes based on its number of senators and representatives. Each state gets one electoral vote for each senator and one for each representative it has in Congress. Every state has two senators and between 1 and 52 representatives, depending on the state's population. States with small populations, like Alaska and Rhode Island, have only 3 electoral votes. States with big populations, like California, have lots of electoral votes (California has 54!).Whichever candidate ticket gets the most votes in a state gets all of that state's electoral votes (except in Nebraska and Maine, where electoral votes can be split). That means candidates will spend a lot more time in California than they will in Rhode Island or Alaska!
There are a total of 538 electoral votes (for the 100 senators, 435 representatives, and 3 extras for the District of Columbia - another one of those amendments). A ticket needs a majority of the electoral votes, or 270, to win. After Election Day, each state assigns people called electors who will vote for the ticket that won their state. The electors then get together at a big meeting in the middle of December, called the Electoral College, where they elect the President and Vice President. The new President and Vice President are then sworn in during January and begin their term.
