The United States has a presidential system, and presidential elections are held every four years. The American presidential election system is complex and the process is long. The main procedures of the election include pre-selection, holding a national congress of all parties to determine the presidential candidate, presidential candidate election, national voters voting for the "elector", the establishment of an electoral college by the "elector" to formally elect the president and the inauguration ceremony of the elected president.

According to the American electoral system, the president of the United States is elected by the electoral college, not directly by voters. Those who get more than half of the electoral votes are elected president. When voters cast their votes on election day, they not only have to choose among presidential candidates, but also choose 538 electors representing 50 states and Washington, D.C., to form an electoral college.

Most States and Washington, D.C. implement the "winner takes all" rule, that is, all electoral votes in a state or a special zone are given to the presidential candidate who has obtained a relatively large number of electoral votes in a state or a special zone. ..

Extended data

There are 538 electoral votes in the United States, which is the total number of senators (100), representatives (435) and representatives (3) from Washington, DC. Senators are distributed by state, and each of the 50 States has 2 senators; Members of the House of Representatives are elected according to the population, and about 500,000 people choose one. For example, new york has a population of over 65,438+06 million, so there are 365,438+0 members of the House of Representatives and two senators, making a total of 33 electoral votes.

With the exception of Maine and Nebraska, if any presidential candidate wins the majority of the votes in this state, he will win all the electoral votes in this state, which is called "winner takes all". According to the electoral college system, the candidate won more than half of the 538 electoral votes (270) in each state and was elected president.

Due to the winner-takes-all calculation method, there may be a phenomenon that a candidate wins the national popular vote per head, but loses the general election because the electoral votes are less than half.