us presidential elections, simplified
TRANSCRIPT
US Presidential Elections
Who can be President?Technically, to run for President, you only need to be "a natural born" U.S. citizen, at least 35 years old, and have been a resident for 14 years. Nearly every President since 1933 has been a governor, senator, or five-star military general. In this 2016 election, at one stage there were 10 governors or former governors and 10 who are or were senators, although many have since then dropped out. One person is nominated to represent the Republican and Democratic parties in the Presidential election.
Why is it Donald Trump v Hillary Clinton?A series of elections are held in every state and overseas territory, starting in February, which determine who becomes each party's official Presidential candidate. The winner of each collects a number of "delegates" - party members with the power to vote for that candidate at the party conventions held in July, where candidates are formally confirmed. The more state contests a candidate wins, the more delegates will be pledged to support them at the convention. Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump were the clear winners in 2016 and were officially nominated at their party's conventions in July. At the conventions, the parties also officially unveiled their Vice-President picks - Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia for Mrs. Clinton, and Indiana Governor Mike Pence for the Republicans.
Who won the debates?
New Yorker Trump landed some blows on Clinton on trade deals, her emails and the Middle East, framing her as a political insider who had achieved nothing after three decades of public life. But after a shaky start, she controlled the evening and he failed to stay disciplined about his message.
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Described as one of the nastiest Presidential debates, repeated attempts at character assassination dominated. Mrs. Clinton homed in on the 2005 video of Mr. Trump's lewd comments about women. It showed, she said, "exactly who he is". The scandal over Mrs. Clinton's use of a private email account for official business when she was secretary of state should land her in jail, the Republican candidate said. No knock-out blow from Clinton, says North America reporter Anthony Zurcher, and it was probably a draw.
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The most remarkable moment came when moderator Chris Wallace asked Mr. Trump whether he would support the election results, no matter who won. Mr. Trump refused to do so, going against a longstanding American tradition that the winner is recognized and congratulated by their rival. Instead, Mr. Trump accused the media of poisoning people's minds and said Mrs. Clinton should not have been allowed to run for president. At that point, the headlines were written and the debate results were locked in, said Zurcher. It was not a good night for the Republican.
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VP DEBATEThe Republican Vice-Presidential nominee's primary job - really his only job - was to stop the bleeding and give the campaign an opportunity to regroup after Mr. Trump's poorly received first debate. Mr. Kaine's goal was to keep him from doing that. Mr. Pence succeeded. Mr. Kaine, while unloading a crate of opposition research on Mr. Trump, failed, says Zurcher.
How does the vote in November work?The candidate with the most votes in each state becomes the candidate which that state supports for President. It's all down to a system called the electoral college, a group of people who choose the winner - 538 of them, in fact. Just half of them - 270 - are needed to make a President. But not all states are equal - California, for example, has more than 10 times the population of Connecticut, so they don't get an equal say. Each state has certain number of these "electors" based on their population in the most recent census (it so happens that it's the same number of districts in a state, plus two senators). When citizens vote for their preferred candidate, they're actually voting for the electors, some of which are pledged to one candidate, some for another. But here's where it gets interesting. In almost every state (except Nebraska and Maine), the winner takes all - so the person who wins the most electors in New York, for example, will get all 29 of New York's electoral votes. In the race to get to the magic number - 270 - it's the swing states that often matter most.
What are swing states?So, we've got two candidates, both in a race to get to 270 electors by winning whole states at a time. Both parties think they can bank on certain states, big and small. Republicans will count on Texas, and not waste their money campaigning to a great extent there. Similarly, California is likely to sit in the Democrats' column. The others are known as "swing states" - where it could go either way. Florida in particular, with its 29 votes, famously decided the 2000 election in favor of George W. Bush, who lost the popular vote nationally but, after a Supreme Court case, won the Electoral College. Other swing states include: Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, North Carolina, Nevada.
Why is the election on Tuesday, November 8? The election is in November because America was a predominantly agrarian society and November was the quietest for rural workers. It is always traditionally on a Tuesday to allow people living in rural areas time to travel to towns and cities to vote, removing the need to travel on a Sunday. It is always the first Tuesday after the first Monday to avoid the election falling on November 1st. This was to avoid clashing with All Saints Day and the day when businessmen traditionally did their accounting from the previous month.
What happens on Election Day itself?Polling booths will open in all 50 states and in Washington DC across six time zones. Timings vary for each state - voting either opens between 6am and 7am and closes between 7pm and 8pm (in Iowa and North Dakota polls are open till 9pm). More than 120 million Americans are expected to cast votes.
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