Key Facts about US Presidential Election

About US Presidential Election:

• The president and vice president are not elected directly by citizens in the US.
• Instead, they are chosen by "electors" through a process called the Electoral College. 
  • The Electoral College is a process in which electors or representatives from each state cast their vote and determine who will be president.
  • Each state is given a number of electors based roughly on the size of its population.
  • There are a total of 538 electors selected according to each state’s policy.
• When people cast their vote, they are actually voting for electors.
• The general elections take place every four years on the first Tuesday of November.
• All states except Maine and Nebraska use a “winner-take-all” system.
  • In this system, the party of the candidate who receives the most votes is awarded all the state’s electors, even if the margin of victory in the state’s popular vote is small. 
• Following a general election, the slates of electors meet in their state capitals to cast their votes for president and vice president.
  • The vote occurs on the Monday following the second Wednesday in December.
• The candidates who receive a majority, or more than half, of the votes become president and vice president.
• If no candidate receives a majority, the president is elected by the House of Representatives, which may choose among the three candidates with the most electoral votes.
• There are times when a candidate wins the presidency (electoral votes) but not the popular votes (voted by people during the general election).
• The newly elected President and Vice President are inaugurated in January.