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[Music]

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it's that time again

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the united states presidential election

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is around the corner

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every four years the american people

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decide whether a

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democrat or a republican gets to live in

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the white house for the next four years

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but how exactly does the united states

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presidential election

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work well to understand this we have to

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take a closer look at the entire

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election year it all starts with

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the primaries in which democrats and

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republicans

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each decide who is going to be their

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presidential candidate

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how the primaries work and who is

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eligible to vote in them

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varies from state to state in some

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states

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every registered voter is allowed to

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vote

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in others only voters registered with a

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particular

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party can cast a ballot in that party's

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primary

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even the dates the primaries are held

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are different in each state

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although there are some cluster primary

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dates

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for example super tuesday on super

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tuesday

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multiple states hold their primary

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and it gets even more complicated than

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that because the people don't actually

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elect the presidential candidate

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directly with their vote they are

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technically electing

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delegates who in turn will support a

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certain candidate

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in a primary each candidate is awarded a

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certain amount of delegates

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or representatives based on the amount

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of votes they receive

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those delegates will later vote for

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their assigned candidate

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once the delegates from the various

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primaries have been awarded

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you can already get a good sense of who

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will become the presidential candidate

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however the delegates don't officially

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vote for their candidates

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until the national convention in the end

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a candidate must receive over half of

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the delegate votes to win the party's

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nomination

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if no candidate receives over half of

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the delegate votes at the convention

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the party renegotiates its entries into

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the presidential race

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additionally sometimes candidates will

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end their presidential bids

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and then the delegates will have to vote

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again

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in that case the delegates don't

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necessarily have to vote for

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their candidates again but are now free

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to choose whomever they like

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this procedure continues until a

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presidential candidate has been found

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once the two parties have officially

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chosen who is going

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head-to-head in the presidential race

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the actual

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general election is held on the tuesday

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after the first monday

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in november registered voters over 18

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get to vote for their president on that

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day

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however similar to the primaries the

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president

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is not elected directly here either

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the vote tally for each candidate

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determines how many

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electors are awarded to that candidate

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these electors will then elect the

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candidate

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each state has a different number of

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electors depending on how many people

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live in that state

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but the electors cannot simply vote for

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the candidate they wish

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in 48 of the 50 states the elector tally

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is awarded

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winner take all this means the winner of

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that state

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gets all the votes from that state let's

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say a state has

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10 electors if at the end of the voting

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day

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the tally awards six electors to the

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democratic candidate

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and four to the republican the democrat

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has won the election in this state

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and gets all 10 votes while the

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republican

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gets nothing the winner takes all

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this is why in so-called swing states

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states in which both parties have an

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equally high chance of taking the win

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candidates are campaigning harder than

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in other states

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it is hard to predict the electoral

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outcome pre-election

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in these states there is a total of 535

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electors the candidate who can secure

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more than half of the electoral vote

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has won the election this is why

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electors from the swing states

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are especially important once the

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electors have been awarded

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it is basically clear who will be the

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next president of the united states

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while officially the decision is only

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made by the electoral college

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which is the body made up of the awarded

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electors

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this is usually 41 days after election

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day

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on that day the electors vote in their

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states

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these votes are then counted in congress

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around the beginning

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of january and it is in congress too

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where the next occupant of the white

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house is later

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officially announced finally

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the inauguration of the next president

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takes place on january 20th

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to formally end the election year