How is The US President Elected? Role of Electoral College | Explained

US Elections 2024 : As US presidential election voting's are coming to an end, it might leave you with many questions in mind: how US president is elected and what is entire process of electing US president in United States of America. 

Basic Criteria for Candidates to Contest in US Elections:

• Be a natural-born citizen of United States
• Be at least 35 years old
• Have been a resident of United States for 14 years

What is Electoral College?

Electoral College decides who will be elected president and vice president of U.S. Electoral College is t a physical place. It is a process which includes :

• Selection of electors
• Meeting of electors who cast votes for president and vice president
• Counting of electors’ votes by Congress

Role Of Electoral College

US presidential election is a confounding system that includes primaries, caucuses, an electoral college, ‘early voting’ option, so-called battleground states, and federal Election Commission.

But re is a fixed date for presidential elections: first Tuesday after first Monday of vember every fourth year. And race, most likely, has only two serious contenders, one from Democratic Party (this time, Vice President Kamala Harris) and Republican Party ( Donald Trump ).

Referendums

voters, however, don’t just pick man or woman y want as president. ballot paper could include options to pick representatives to state legislatures and even local bodies. And voters could also be asked to participate in “referendums” on issues before lawmakers in that particular state.

For example, legalizing recreational marijuana is on ballot papers in Florida, rth Dakota, and South Dakota. Coloro wants to kw this time if proceeds from a sales tax on guns should be spent to help victims of crime.

State ministrations conduct elections. So, processes vary. Opening and closing times at polling centers can be different from state to state. And if you think about it, vember 5 is just ar date. Depending on ir state, people have mailed in ir ballot papers or used drop boxes to cast ir vote days earlier.

In many states, a driving license is about only document you have to produce before casting your vote. An election ID card is just something that Trump wants everyone to possess.

process begins months ahe of so-called polling date. Parties pick ir candidates through primaries and caucuses held across states.

Technically, voters don’t pick man or woman y want to be next president. y vote for presidential electors—a body of eminent people chosen earlier from each state. Broly, each state gets a certain number of electors based on its representation in US House and Senate.

But when it comes to crunch, it’s t proportional representation. If Kamala Harris wins popular vote in ‘battleground’ or swing state Pennsylvania, she wins votes of all 19 electors from state—even if re is here for some legalistic quibbling later on.

presidential electors from Pennsylvania form part of 538-member electoral college drawn from all states. candidate who wins 270 or more votes nationwide is next president.

Usually, candidate who wins electoral college vote has also won majority of popular vote. But re have been exceptions—twice in last six US presidential elections. Hillary Clinton’s lost to Donald Trump in 2016 despite winning nationwide popular vote.

Unlike Indian system, re is cooling-off period between campaigning and polling and between polling and counting.

Several hours before centers opened for polling across country, tiny New Hampshire resort town of Dixville tch finished with its own in-person voting—following a trition that allows it to be first.

At stroke of midnight, its six voters began casting ir ballots. Fifteen minutes later, vote count was complete—a 3:3 split between Harris and Trump.

Within a couple of hours of polls closing in most states, counting trends to hazard predictions could be available from at least some of battleground states. se swing states, which can turn an election, are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Neva, rth Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.