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The United States presidential elections will be held on November 3. Current President Donald Trump (74) is running for Republican re-election, and Mike Pence (61) is running for vice president.
The challenger is Democrat Joe Biden (77), who runs with Kamala Harris (55) as his running mate.
CANDIDATES FOR VICE PRESIDENT: Kamala Harris (55) and Mike Pence (61). Photo: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
But the president of the United States is not directly elected by the people.
Voters
The president of the United States is elected by a college of electors, which consists of 538 electors. There are as many as representatives in the House of Representatives (438) and the Senate (100) together.
Thus, American voters give their vote to the voters, who have made it clear in advance which candidate they support, and then the voters in turn vote for the president.
– Even if voters are elected, it is the votes that decide, says American commentator Eirik Bergersen.
In principle, voters should vote for the candidate who receives the most support among the voters of the state to which they belong.
States have different numbers of voters, depending on size. California, the most populous state, has 55 voters. The smallest states, as well as the capital Washington DC, have just three.
The magic number in the Electoral College is 270. That’s half the electorate plus one, that is, the majority needed to become president of the United States.
Due to the electoral system, the candidate who gets the most votes from the people may still lose the election.. This has happened five times in the history of the US elections, the most recent with Hillary Clinton in 2016.
2016: Hillary Clinton pictured during her speech acknowledging Trump’s defeat. Despite receiving more votes at the national level, he lost the presidential elections. Photo: Jewel Samad / AFP Photo / NTB
The winner takes it all
The candidate with the most votes gets all the voters. This is the case in every state in the US, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska, which operate with proportional representation and distribute voters based on support.
Therefore, few votes can make a big difference in the outcome of the elections.
This looked good in Florida, for example, during the 2012 election. After counting the votes for several days after the election, Barack Obama was declared the winner in the state with 50 percent of the votes.
Opponent Mitt Romney, who had 49.1 percent support, did not get any of Florida’s 29 voters. There were 74,000 votes that separated the two candidates.
EVERY VOTE COUNTS: Barack Obama took victory over Mitt Romney in 2012, but by a slim margin. Photograph: M. Spencer Green / AP Photography / NTB
Tilt states
In most states in the US, the result is given in advance. The battle for the presidency is, therefore, in a handful of states where there is equality between the candidates, as in Florida. It is the results in these states that tilt the election result in favor of Trump or Biden.
Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, and Arizona are considered the top changing states this year.
STATES OF ROCK: The battle for the presidency is in a few states, where both candidates have a chance to win. Photo: Reuters / ALEXANDER DRAGO
States that are oscillating states can change over time. Changes in the composition of the population will affect, for example, which candidate is stronger.
Texas and Arizona are two states that are about to change, according to Bergersen.
– In ten years, it is estimated that these states will be lost to Republicans, because then there will be such a large multi-ethnic population there, he says.
Post votes
Around one in four voters typically cast their vote by mail, but as a result of the crown pandemic, up to three in four voters are expected to do so this year.
The possibility that it takes a long time to count the huge number of votes by mail has led to political unrest and legal proceedings.
POST VOTE DISPUTES: A Mason, Michigan resident clearly expresses his views on the postal vote by having this display in his yard. Photo: AP / Matthew Dae Smith
Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that voting by mail will lead to large-scale voter fraud, unable to prove the allegations.
– It is not difficult to believe that Trump’s opposition is related to the fact that there are more Democrats than Republicans who choose to vote by mail. There will probably be chaos and it will take time. But we are in the middle of a pandemic and there is no basis for saying that voting by mail leads to cheating, Bergersen says.
Several states have expressed concern that the delays could result in voters not receiving ballots or registration documents on time. The postal service also warned that ballots may be delayed.
Not just presidential elections
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate are also available for election.
Today, Republicans have a majority in the Senate, while Democrats have a majority in the House of Representatives.
– Democrats are well placed at the polls and now have a chance to win the Senate and get a majority in all of Congress, says Bergersen.
The composition of Congress has a great impact on the political impact of the president.
– If Joe Biden wins and the Democrats also get a majority in Congress, they can overcome a number of problems. Then they will probably try to overcome some important social reforms, says Bergersen.
Do you wonder more? Here’s a super simple guide to the words and phrases used about American politics.
