Part 1: US presidential election FAQs
How does this thing work?
Unless you live in an isolation tank, chances are you know an awful lot about the historic battle between Barack Obama and John McCain to be the 44th President of the United States, whether you like it or not. With that in mind, I figure if you're going to hear nothing but coverage for the next few weeks anyway, would it not be better if you knew what was actually going on? Hopefully, these frequently asked questions about the election will make things clearer, and maybe more enjoyable too.
So what exactly will happen on November 4th?
Americans in all fifty states and the capitol district will vote for their preferred Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates, as well as in their local districts for elections to the House of Representatives. And, depending on the state they live in, they may be voting to elect Senators and Governors in their state too. Mind you, votes are already being cast by postal vote, from Americans living or serving abroad, or by young Americans who registered for the first time and voted on the same day.
How will you know who wins?
Not as daft a question as you might think, as US Presidential elections aren't necessarily won by the candidate who gets the most votes overall, but by the candidate who wins the Electoral College.
See, now that's just daft. And what's an electoral college?
Kinda, but there is a rationale to the way they do it. To understand the Electoral College you have to imagine America not so much as one country but as fifty individual states, each with a certain degree of autonomy. Imagine, for example, we were electing a President of Europe, countries like Ireland would get swept away in the bigger populations of the likes of Germany and have little input in the overall vote, but if the outcome of the Irish vote had an effect, then it would benefit all the smaller countries.
You're starting to lose me...
I'll put it like this: every state in America is given a number of electoral votes (EVs) based on its population. For instance, Texas has 34, California has 55, and teensy Delaware has 3.
How are the numbers decided upon?
You add the amount of Senators a state has (every state big or small have two) to the amount of Congressmen a state have (anything from 1 to 53 depending on the population of the state).
Ok, so how many electoral votes does a candidate have to get to win?
270 is the magic number, anything after that is bragging rights.
By: Paddy Duffy
Photo: David Katz, Obama for America
Wanna learn more?
Rock the Vote (America)
www.america.gov
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