The presidential election is one of the most important elections that occur in a country. This is because the president is in charge of running the entire country and its government. The president also sets the political tone for America and the world.
When a candidate wants to run for president they must form a political party. Then they must start campaigning. They will travel across the country in an attempt to win over voters. The main part of the presidential campaign are a series of events called primaries and caucuses. These events will decide the delegates that will go to the national conventions. Once delegates are selected they must support the nominee of their party.
Once the two major parties have chosen their candidates it is time for the general election. During the general election in November people will vote for whom they want to be president. The winner is the person with the most electoral votes. The electoral college is made up of 538 people each state gets one vote for the president and vice president. Usually the two main candidates will win their states but there have been a few times when there was a tie between the candidates.
If there is a tie in the electoral votes the House of Representatives will choose the next president. This happened in the election of 1800 when Aaron Burr received the same number of electoral votes as Thomas Jefferson. This was because of the system established by Article Two of the Constitution.