USA elections

Next Tuesday, the 8th of November is election day in the USA. This is the basic information to understand the whole process:

Introduction

In the USA there are two main parties. Every president since 1852 has been either a Republican or a Democrat.

This is a "single-member district" system. The candidate who is elected is the one who gets the highest number of votes in their respective state. Then presidents are elected indirectly. The voters are really voting for electors in each state.

In all states, the candidate who wins a plurality, receives all of that state's electoral votes. All together there are 538 electors (in the "Electoral College"). It is very important to win in populous states and certain states are known to be the key to presidency. To win the presidential election, a candidate must earn an absolute majority at least 270 of the 538 electoral votes cast nationwide.

Candidates

Donald Trump
image from Wikipedia

HIllary Clinton
image from Wikipedia

He/she must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, be at least 35 years of age, and have been a resident of the United States for 14 years.

Candidates in each party are usually chosen in primary elections within the year before the election. These can be closed and semiclosed (as in Arizona), open (as in Missouri) or blanket primaries (as in Louisiana).
The two candidates for this year's election are Hillary Clinton (Democrat) and Donald Trump (Republican).

Length of term

The president is in office for 4 years and can be reelected only once so he/she can be in office for 8 years.

Voters

Anyone who is 18 years of age can vote. There is no national list of eligible voters, so a citizen must first qualify by becoming registered. Citizens register to vote in conjunction with the place they live so if they move to a new location, they typically have to register again.

How is the president elected?

Voters don't choose the president directly. They vote for electors who are members of a party.

Dates

The election day is on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.  In December the 538 electors meet in each states’s capitol to formally elect the President.
The congress meets in joint session to count the electoral votes January 6 and the elected candidate will become president on the 20th of January.

Interesting links if you need more information:

• Elections in the USA
• List of USA presidents
• Declaration of Independence