Step 1 :primaries and caucuses During primaries and caucuses people pick delegates. Delegates are members of a political party who nominate, or choose, the party’s official candidate at their convention.

Step 2 :national conventions Each party’s delegates officially choose one candidate for president and one candidate for vice president. They also decide on a platform—which states exactly where their party stands on important issues like education and the environment.

Now the race is really on! The candidates campaign almost around the clock from August to November. They visit state after state, give speech after speech, and appear in dozens of TV, radio, and internet ads.

Step 3 presidential debates The Democratic and Republican presidential candidates face off in three televised debates. The vice presidential candidates meet in one debate. Debates give voters the chance to see how a candidate responds under pressure. A poor performance can doom a candidate’s chances of becoming president.

Step 4 : election day In November, millions of voters head to polling places, such as schools, libraries, and government buildings, to cast ballots for president and vice president. (They also vote for members of Congress and for state and local officials.) The outcome on Election Day is known as the popular vote—but it is not the end of the election process. A group

Step 5 :the Electoral College A group called the Electoral College really elects the U.S. president about six weeks after Election Day. The votes that Americans cast for president on November 8 aren’t technically for the candidates themselves. They’re for people known as electors.

They’re for people known as electors They’re for people known as electors. The electors have promised to vote for a particular candidate at a meeting of the Electoral College. On December 19, the electors meet and cast their votes for president and vice president.

Step 6 :declaring a winner On January 6, Congress officially counts each state’s electoral votes in the final step of the Electoral College. The current U.S. vice president officially announces the results and declares which candidates have been elected president and vice president.

Step 7 : Inauguration January 20th marks the start of the new president’s four-year term. The new commander-in-chief takes the oath of office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. He or she promises to preserve, protect, and defend the U.S. Constitution. Then the new president gives a speech called the inaugural address, describing what he or she plans to accomplish while in office.