In US election, Americans vote for so-called “voters” in their state who are supporting the candidate they want to run for president – a process called electoral college.
The more people live in a state, the more electorate there is for the state. So, for example, California, with a population of 38.8 million, has 55 votes – while Delaware, (Pope 936,000) has only three votes.
There are currently a total of 538 voters, including 435 delegates (Congressmen and Ratans) and 100 senators, as well as three additional voters in the District of Columbia. The Constitution prohibits any federal official, elected or appointed, from becoming a voter.
The candidate with the highest number of voters wins the votes of all the electoral colleges in the state and the first candidate who wins in enough states to get 270 electoral votes is elected for that office.
Follow the live results of the 2020 US election
When will we know the winner of the 2020 elections?
Who can become President?
The President of the United States may be a man or a woman of any race or religion, but he must:
- Must be at least 35 years old
- Born in the United States
- Has lived in the United States for at least 14 years
The rules also state that a person can only stay in the job for a maximum of eight years. (The only exception was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected for a special third time at the height of World War II.)
The two presidential candidates in the 2020 election are Donald Trump, who represents the Republican Party, and Democrat Joe Biden, who was vice president under the Obama administration from 2009 to 2017.
What is Electoral College?
Electoral College elects President of the United States. When an American citizen casts his or her ballot, he or she is not directly choosing the presidential candidate. Instead, they are choosing an officer who will represent them in “college.” The word college translates to a large group of people (elected officials) who have the task of electing the president, and this role is performed a few weeks after the election day results.
