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‡ There are 2 basic types of elections:

primary and general
 Ú 







‡ There is a presidential election every 4
years, when the people of the United
States vote for the person they want as
president for the next four years, called a
term. The Constitution says that a
President cannot serve for more than 2
terms, which is 8 years.
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‡ The campain:
- starts before election time

‡ Preliminary elections:
- caucuses or primaries
‡ After that, each state holds a convention, where
they elect delegates±people who support their
favorite candidates. Then each party holds its
national convention when all the delegates get
together and select one candidate to nominate for
President and one to nominate for Vice-President.
These two nominees are called a ticket.
‡ After the conventions, the nominees have debates
to discuss important issues and tell voters why they
should be elected instead of the other parties¶
nominees. Finally, on Election Day, everyone who
is at least 18 years old can vote.
‡ Votes are counted by state.
‡ Electors
‡ Electoral College
‡ Technically, an American president is
not chosen directly by the people.
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‡ made up of 538 electors (435 members of the House
of Representatives, 100 members of the senate and
3 for District of Columbia).

‡ The number of electoral votes is equal to the number

of members in US Congress

‡ winner-takes-all basis.

‡ 270 Electoral College votes ±president

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‡ If no candidate earns a
majority, the decision is
taken by the House of
Representatives
_ 

 



‡ The candidate for the president,
f.e. must be a natural-born
citizien of the United States
‡ Also must be at least 35 years
old and be a resident of the
United States for at least 14
years
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‡ Barack Hussein
Obama II is the
first African
American elected
as the President
of the United
States
‡ Democratic Party
‡ Obama got 364
electoral votes to
McCain's 173
‡ Obama got 65,779,941
votes (53%)
‡ McCain got
57,677,948 votes
(46%)
‡ Obama won in
Ärepublican states³
Ohio, Iowa, New
Mexico
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