The President must be

a natural-born citizen

at least 35 years old

at least 14 years resident in the USA

The term of office of a President is 4 years.

No President can be elected more than twice.

The date of the Presidential election is fixed by law as the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November every leap year.

The new President is inaugurated on January 20th of the following year.

On election day people can vote for their preferred candidate in a secret ballot.

Barack Obama

John McCain

Americans can join a political party in their state.

The main parties are the Republicans and the Democrats.

You can take part in State Primaries, where you can choose the person you want to be the party’s candidate for President.

State Primaries take place from January to June in election year.

You can vote for or be chosen as the state party’s delegate to the party’s National Convention.

At the National Convention, you can help to choose the party’s candidate for President.

The Democrats have their Convention in July, and the Republicans in August.

Denver, Colorado 25-28 August 2008

Minneapolics-Saint Paul, Minnesota

1-4 September 2008

Who raised and spent what in 2008?

Candidate (Party)      

Amount raised      

Amount spent      

    Average spent per vote      

Barack Obama (D)

$532,946,511 $513,557,218 $7.39

John McCain (R)

$379,006,485 $346,666,422 $5.78

Source: Federal Election Commission

The total amount spent by all 148 candidates throughout the election campaign was

Party members can help their candidate by

handing out leaflets, stickers and badges

attending party campaign rallies

Party members can help their candidate by

telephone voters to persuade them to vote for their candidate

attending fundraising events

Citizens can stand as candidates for elections.

They can try to be elected as President to local dog-catcher.

At FEDERAL level, people can vote for

At STATE level, people can vote for

At COUNTY level, people can vote for

Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York, 2002 -

1986-1988

At COUNTY level, people can vote for

Cal Henderson, Sheriff of Tampa, Florida, 1993-2004

At COUNTY level, people can vote for

Sarasota County School Board, Florida

At COUNTY level, people can vote for

As well as voting for candidates, people can vote on issues at the same time.

These are often called Ballot Measures or Propositions.

In 2004, Alaska voted against legalising marijuana, but Montana voted for its use for medical purposes.

In 2008, California voted to ban same-sex marriage.