T E c a P c Name:

I ’ E c T !
E er fo r ears, o r co ntr holds a presidential election. The
candidates debate, hit the road talking to oters, and p t
ad ertisements on tele ision, radio, and the internet. All this hard
ork act all starts months or e en ears before Election Da in
No ember. So hat does it take to go from a hopef l candidate to
a ictorio s president?
The first p blic step a candidate has to take is to c a to the
nation that he or she ants to be the president. Then candidates
m st get s pport for their campaign, raise mone , and get the
attention of the leaders of his or her political part .
Barack Obama speaks at the Democratic
National Con ention in 2012.

Na F
Candidates for the larger political parties are chosen at part
meetings called c . The parties hold con entions at the
local, state and national le els. There are t o main a s the states
send people to the national con ention: the ca c s and the
primar . Both methods res lt in a set of a ho ill attend
the national con entions. The delegates pledge that hen the
attend the con ention, the ill ote for the candidate the state
political part s pports.

Ca c S P a E c

Meetings here Elections host a

part leaders and secret ballot and people
s pporters select Part delegates from ote for the candidate
candidates thro gh each state are sent the ant to represent
disc ssions and to the national their part in the
consens s. con entions to select national election.
the nominee.

(less common) (more common)

A N ...
Each part holds its national con entions in h ge arenas ith
balloons, confetti, f nn looking hats, and lots of media co erage.
Delegates chosen from each state disc ss and debate the
candidates, listen to speeches, and help create the part platform.
Near the end of the m lti-da con ention, the delegates cast their
otes for the part s ho ill r n in the national election.
The presidential and ice presidential nominees each make an
acc a c c that is m eant to bring the part
together to s pport the nominees and forget abo t the months of
debate and arg ments that led p to their nomination. This is the
first major step in getting the national campaign for president p
and r nning.
Mitt Romne at the 2012 Rep blican
National Con ention

Reading p.1
T E c a P c Name:

O Ca a T a
Millions of dollars are spent in the months leading p to the national
con entions, b t that is j st the beginning! Once the field is narro ed to
the t o main part candidates, f ndraising becomes e en more
important. There are onl a fe months before the general election, and
each candidate needs to get his or her message o t to the American
p blic. The parties in each state help the candidates ith pa ing the bills
and organi ing s pport.

G W O !
A political ca a is the process of gathering
p blic s pport for a candidate. The goal of a
campaign is to deli er as m ch information
abo t the candidate and the part s platform to
as man people as possible. Candidates
campaign in a ariet of a s.

E c Da !
All of these efforts lead p to Election Da in No ember. People across
the nation go to the polls and select hich candidate the ant for the
ne t president. As polls close from state to state, the ne s media reports
ho is getting the most otes. The ne t morning, the media anno nces a
inner of the a , hich is a tall of all the otes cast. B t that
is j st one step in the process of electing the president…

T E c a C
The U.S. Constit tion req ires an e tra step in the process of electing the
president. This step is called the E c a C . Each state has a gro p
of people called c ho cast the act al otes for president. When
o ote for a presidential candidate, o re reall oting to decide hich candidate the electors in o r
state ill ote for.
In December after the election, the electors meet in their state capitols and cast their ballots. E en
tho gh o cast one ote for a president/ ice-president team, electors cast t o otes one for each
office. After the electors ote, president of the Senate collects the otes and co nts them. There are 538
electors, and in order to in, the presidential and ice-presidential candidates m st ha e an ab
a of otes. That m eans m ore than half the otes at least 270. Then, on Jan ar 20, the
President-elect and Vice President-elect take the oath of office and are ina g rated.
B t hat if there s a tie? Or hat if no candidate gets 270 otes? In
that case, the Ho se of Representati es otes to decide hich
candidate ill become president. If the ha en t done that b the
time Ina g ration Da rolls aro nd, then the ice president-elect acts
as president. The Senate decides ho that ill be b oting to choose
one of the ice-presidential candidates. And if that s a tie, too? Then
the c rrent Speaker of the Ho se becomes president. That s ne er
happened, b t the elections of 1800 and 1824 both had to be
resol ed b Congress.

Reading p.2