1 Announce your candidacy

Who can run for president?

Anyone who meets the criteria:

d to the White House oa R

How to become President of the U.S.
at least years old

IN MINUTES

News and events visually

2 Go to the national convention

Delegates won from State X Delegates won from State X Delegates won from State Y Delegates won from State Z

Campaign to win the partys leadership

Borne in th . U.S

35

U.S reside nt for 14 years

After all the primaries and caucuses are done, everyone heads to their national convention to choose the partys presidential candidate.
Delegates vote, state-by-state, for the candidate of their choice. The rst candidate to receive a preset majority number of delegate votes becomes the partys presidential candidate.
Delegates won from State X Delegates won from State Y Delegates won from State Z

Is it a primary or a caucus?

This is the selection process that Democrats and Republicans use to choose their nominee for president of the U.S.
Vote t ballo

All the primaries and caucuses weve been watching this year have been Republican. Democratic Barack Obama has no threatening challengers.

R1

Delegates won from State Y Delegates won from State Z

R2

R3

Won 42 delegates

Won 14 delegates

Won 16 delegates

Primary
Usually set up like a general election

Caucus
Like a town meeting Involves discussion/ debate among voters. Party members try to sway the voting decision. This process can last a few hours.

wins the party nomination Winner: R1

Voters are given ballots; make their selection behind a closed voting booth. Takes only a few minutes.

Pick your partner

Your running mate (the vice presidential candidate) should be strong in any areas where you are lacking.

Delegates are the people you will be taking to the national convention. They will vote for you there.

Win lots of delegates

Delegates can be awarded in one of two ways, depending on the party and the state.

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Campaign to become president

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Winners get a proportion of delegates

gets 14 delegates R1 won 70% of votes

Winners take all delegates

gets all 20 R1 won 70% delegates of votes

PR FO ES R IDE NT
$

$
Spend millions of $$$ campaigning state-by-state with your running mate.

State X Primary
20 delegates

R2 20% R3 10%

gets 4 delegates

State X Primary
20 delegates

R2 20% R3 10%

On election day

OR E F NT EM E OT ESID V R P $
$

gets 2 delegates

Always held on the Tuesday after the rst Monday in November. Eligible U.S. citizens go to a polling station and cast their vote for the candidate they want to become president. Each state counts the votes and the winner will receive the number of electoral votes allocated for that state.

Win big on Super Tuesday

(Thats the Tuesday in February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primaries or caucuses.)

Every state holds a primary or caucus. The number of delegates awarded in that state is dependant upon the population.

Get a majority of electoral votes

VT MA PA
receives 8 million votes in California (winner) receives 5 million votes in California (loser) 55 12 7 6 11 4 6 3 3 9 5

ND ID IL CA OK TX OH TN GA VA

Each state has a number of electors equal to the number of its U.S. senators plus the number of its U.S. representatives. There are 538 electoral votes up for grabs. 3 3 5 6 7 38 10 6 4 10 10 16 29 20

12 March 20

States holding primaries/caucuses this Super Tuesday States with 5 largest populations

wins 55 electoral votes

FL
A candidate must receive an absolute majority of electoral votes (currently 270) to win the presidency.

20 11 18 13 8 15 11 6 9 16 6 9 8 29

SUSAN BATSFORD, GRAPHICS EDITOR, TWITTER @SBATS1; INFOGRAPHIC BY TARA CORRAN, SUSAN BATSFORD/QMI AGENCY