Lots of people dream of becoming President
of the United States.
But to officially run for office, a person
needs to meet three basic requirements established
by the U.S. Constitution (Article 2, Section
1).
A Presidential candidate must be:
A natural born citizen (U.S. citizen from birth)
At least 35 years old and
A U.S. resident (permanently lives in the
U.S.) for at least 14 years
People with similar ideas usually belong to
the same political party.
The two main parties in the U.S. are Republican
and Democrat.
Many people want to be President.
They campaign around the country and compete
to try to win their party’s nomination.
In caucuses, party members meet, discuss,
and vote for who they think would be the best
party candidate.
In primaries, party members vote in a state
election for the candidate they want to represent
them in the general election.
After the primaries and caucuses, each major
party, Democrat and Republican, holds a national
convention to select a Presidential nominee.
The party’s Presidential nominee announces
his or her choice for Vice President.
The Presidential candidates campaign throughout
the country to win the support of the
general population.
On election day, people in every state cast
their vote .
When people cast their vote, they are actually
voting for a group of people called electors.
The number of electors each state gets is
equal to its total number of Senators and
Representatives in Congress.
A total of 538 electors form the Electoral
College.
Each elector casts one vote following the
general election.
The candidate who gets 270 votes or more wins.
The newly elected President and Vice President
are then inaugurated on January 20th.
For more information, go to kids.usa.gov/president.
