1. The Voting Process

2. What is voting? The process of making a decision between two or more candidates A candidate is a person who is running for a position of power, such as president, senator, representative or sheriff

3. Constitutional Right Our right to vote is guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution The U.S. Constitution is a set of laws and rules that describe what kind of government we have The U.S. Government must follow the rules set forth by the U.S. Constitution as it is not above the law

4. Constitution The U.S. Constitution not only explains the rules that our government must follow, but it also defines what kind of government the U.S. will have The formal title of our governing system is a “republic”

5. The branches of our Government Our Constitution states that the government shall be divided into three branches (groups) The three branches are Judicial (Supreme Court), Legislative (Congress) and Executive (President)

6. How? Both the Executive (President) and Legislative (Congress) branches are voted into their offices by the American people

7. Our Representatives The President and Congress are considered representatives of the American People and are expected to run the U.S. according to what the people want If a person wants to become a member of Congress or President, they must run in an election The process of running for election is called campaigning

8. Campaigning! When a person decides that he/she wants to run for a position he/she will need to start a campaign The purpose of a campaign is to get the person’s name out in the public (the person running is also called an candidate) This is also the opportunity for the candidate to meet the people he/she wants to represent and explain what he/she will do in his/her position should he/she win Often, the candidate will also be running against another person, or even several other people

9. Election Day After campaigning is completed, there will be a day where everyone will vote for who they want to be elected into the office This is called Election Day and the process of voting is called an election People will vote using a ballot (this means their vote is secret, nobody will know who or what they voted for)

10. Winning… and losing After the election, the voting cards will be counted to see who got the most votes The winner of the election will be given the position that they were running for The loser wins nothing and does not get a position

11. How Do YOU Vote? To be able to vote, you must meet the qualifications which are: 1. Must be a U.S. Citizen 2. Must be 18 or older

12. WHY Vote? As an individual it can be hard to get your ideas heard, especially when there is so many people Instead of having each person voice their opinion, a Representative is assigned to a specific area- this is the person YOU vote for Their job is to make sure your concerns and ideas are being brought to discussion in the government A good representative will make sure his/her people’s needs are being met.

13. Different Ideas Sometimes people will have different ideas on how things should be done or run on the government level This is where voting becomes important. You will need to make sure you vote for the candidate (person) whose ideas and vision fits yours This is why we often see two or more candidates competing for the same position

14. VOTE! In closing, the voting process can be summarized as the below: 1.A Government position is open 2.A person decides to run for the position, becoming a candidate 3.He/she starts campaigning for the position, meeting the public, explaining his/her vision/plan and getting their name out 4.The public cast their ballot (secret vote) on Election day 5.The results are announced and the winner is elected to the government position