US Election 2024 Student
US Election 2024 Student
US Election 2024 Student
presidential vote
Americans will head to the polls in November to elect the next US
president. The vote will be closely watched around the world.
They will also be voting for members of Congress, who play a key part in passing laws
that can have a profound effect on American life.
The 2024 election is on Tuesday, 5 November 2024. The winner will serve a term of four
years in the White House, starting in January 2025. The president has the power to pass
some laws on their own but mostly he or she must work with Congress to pass
legislation. On the world stage, the US leader has considerable freedom to represent the
country abroad and to conduct foreign policy.
Who are the candidates and how are they nominated?
The Democrats are the liberal political party, with an agenda defined largely by its push
for civil rights, a broad social safety net and measures to address climate change.
The Republicans are the conservative political party in the US. Also known as the GOP,
or the Grand Old Party, it has stood for lower taxes, shrinking the size of the government,
gun rights and tighter restrictions on immigration and abortion.
How does the US presidential election work?
The winner is not the person who gets the most votes across
the country. Instead, both candidates compete to win contests
held across the 50 states.
Each state has a certain number of so-called electoral college
votes partly based on population. There are a total of 538 up for grabs, and the winner is
the candidate that wins 270 or more.
All but two states have a winner-takes-all rule, so whichever candidate wins the highest
number of votes is awarded all of the state's electoral college votes.
Most states lean heavily towards one party or the other, so the focus is usually on a
dozen or so states where either of them could win. These are known as the battleground
or swing states. It is possible for a candidate to win the most votes nationally - like Hillary
Clinton did in 2016 - but still be defeated by the electoral college.
Who can vote in the US presidential election?
Most US citizens who are aged 18 or over are eligible to vote in the presidential election.
Every state except North Dakota requires people to register before they can vote. Each
state has its own voter registration process and deadline. US citizens who live abroad
can register to vote and request an absentee postal ballot by
completing the Federal Post Card Application (FCPA).
All of the attention will be on who wins the presidency, but voters will also be choosing
new members of Congress - where laws are passed - when they fill in their ballots.
Congress consists of the House of Representatives, where all 435 seats are up for
election, and the Senate, where 34 seats are being contested. Republicans currently
control the House, which initiates spending plans. Democrats are in charge of the
Senate, which votes on key appointments in government. These two chambers pass
laws and can act as a check on White House plans if the controlling party in either
chamber disagrees with the president.
Usually, the winner is declared on the night of the election, but in 2020 it took a few days
to count all the votes. The period after the election is known as the transition, if there is a
change of president. This gives the new administration time to appoint cabinet ministers
and make plans for the new term. The president is officially sworn into office in January
in a ceremony known as the inauguration, held on the steps of the Capitol building in
Washington DC.