Election Day is almost here in the United States! Very soon, people will be lining up to vote—some may have already done so! The votes cast by Tuesday will determine who will be the 47th president and who will join them in Congress to create laws.
You might have heard discussions on the radio, TV, or even at home about who might win and why. But the reality is that nobody truly knows yet!
And they won’t know until the American people make their choice. Here’s a quick overview of how the voting process works.
Why Is Voting Important?
Voting is the way Americans express their opinions. It’s also how we choose our elected officials. Essentially, the president is our employee! So when we go to cast our vote, we decide who will represent us or who will lose their position.
Not everyone in the world has the right to vote, which is why many Americans view it as a privilege. Living in a democracy gives us the chance to shape the laws that govern us and choose those who create those laws.
How Does the Election Process Work?
While the U.S. is a democracy, it’s not a direct democracy, meaning the winner isn’t simply the one who gets the most votes. For example, in both 2016 and 2000, the candidates who won the presidency did not receive the majority of the popular vote.
Citizens don’t vote on every single law. Instead, they elect representatives to handle that task.
The presidential election also follows this approach. The U.S. employs an Electoral College system to select a president. Each state has a specific number of “electors,” matching the number of representatives it has in Congress. Generally, these electors vote for the candidate who gets the highest number of votes in their state.
Maine and Nebraska have a unique system where they divide their electoral votes, making the process a bit more complex since not all votes go to the leading candidate statewide.
To secure victory in the Electoral College, a candidate needs 270 electoral votes.
What Are the Two Main Political Parties?
This is a trick question—there are actually many political parties! The Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and even the Communist Party all have a presence in the U.S.
However, the two dominant parties are the Republicans and the Democrats. Every U.S. president elected since the late 1800s has come from one of these parties.
That’s why, during election night, maps are shown with states marked in red for Republicans or blue for Democrats, depicting which party’s candidate has won in that area.
Why the Donkey and the Elephant?
Besides the colors red and blue, Republicans and Democrats are represented by the elephant and the donkey, respectively. These animal symbols originate from the 19th century. As reported by The History Channel, in 1828, adversaries of candidate Andrew Jackson insultingly referred to him as a term for a donkey. Instead of being offended, Jackson embraced the label and featured a donkey in his campaign materials.
Later, the cartoonist Thomas Nast popularized the donkey for the Democratic Party in the 1870s.
The elephant didn’t gain popularity until Nast depicted it in a cartoon for Harper’s Weekly in 1874, as documented by The History Channel.
What Is Congress?
Congress refers to both the Senate and the House of Representatives, which are parts of the federal government’s legislative branch.
Each state has two senators, some of whom, like Kamala Harris this year, are seeking reelection. The number of representatives a state has is determined by its population, and all 435 representatives will be on the ballots this election year.
Who Is Running for President?
This year, it’s likely that either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will emerge victorious in the presidential election.
