Every four years voters choose a President and Vice President to serve the nation. The person who wins the most popular votes, or a “landslide,” is considered to have a mandate to launch enduring political and economic changes. Landslides are usually marked by large electoral majorities in multiple states.
Candidates who want to be President belong to political parties that share similar ideas about how the government should work. Candidates campaign through state primary elections and caucuses to win the support of party members. The winners of these contests become “delegates” who will attend the party’s nominating convention to select the final presidential candidate to appear on voters’ ballots in November.
Each state has a set number of electoral votes based on its population. A total of 538 electoral votes are selected and the person who gets more than half (270) of these votes is elected President. The winner is sworn into office on January 20.
As the race for the White House continues to tighten, Harris holds a narrow lead in the national polls, though the margin is close enough that it could shift in either direction. Regardless, both campaigns continue to push aggressively to turn out the vote in battleground states.
As a result, the Democratic and Republican parties have created debates designed to help the voters make informed choices. Typically, each candidate is given 2 minutes to answer questions and 1 minute to offer closing remarks. Moderators use colored lights resembling traffic signals to let the candidates know when their time is nearly up.