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The Path to Presidency - Coggle Diagram
The Path to Presidency
1) Nomination
2) The Primaries
3) National Convention
4) Campaigning
5) General Election Day
6) The Electoral College
7) If no candidate receives a majority of votes
If no candidate receives the majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives elects the President from the 3 candidates who received the most votes - eat state delegation has one vote
The Electoral College was established by Article II Section 1 of the Constitution, and today the Electoral College includes 538 electors with a proportionate amount for each state, and a candidate needs 270 votes to win.
The Elector's votes represent the State's popular vote, so a Democratic popular vote means all of the State's electoral votes will go to the Democratic candidate, which is a winner-takes-all system
General election day is the Tuesday following the first Monday in November every 4 years, and millions of voters go to the polls in all 50 states
This is called the popular vote, and the nation usually knows who has won by the end of the day, though the President is not formally elected until the Electoral College casts its votes.
Campaigning is extremely important, and very costly, as voters are bombarded by speeches, tours, press conferences, public rallies, newspaper, radio, and television ads, billboards, websites and emails
Campaigns often focus on "swing" states rather than states which have historically always voted strongly for one party, and candidates give speeches directed towards specific groups to win their vote
The two major parties hold their convention after the primaries, where the delegates vote to pick their presidential and vice-presidential candidates
The goals of these conventions are to name the party's candidates for president and vice president, bring the various factions on the party together for a common purpose, and adopt the party's platform
The major political parties choose their presidential nominees through primary elections, where voters choose a party's ballot and vote which candidate they want to run in the general election
There are two types of primaries, open and closed, open being that you can choose whichever ballot you want, and closed meaning you may only vote on the ballot of the party you are registered in
If an incumbent President wishes for another term, they almost always get the nomination with not a lot of opposition from their party
Up to a dozen contenders may attempt to win the nomination if a President is not in the field, most of which are Governors or Senators