US ELECTION FAQ

All Your Questions Answered

The voting for the 2024 US Presidential elections will take place on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. 

Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic Presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump is the Republican Presidential nominee.

Democratic Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota and Republican Senator JD Vance of Ohio are the Vice Presidential nominees.
 

President Joe Biden gave in to pressure from the Democrats and ended his bid for re-election after a debate performance against Donald Trump raised concerns about his age and mental acuity.

On election day, voters will also determine the makeup of Congress and state governments. After the newly elected members of the House of Representatives and the Senate are sworn into office, Congress will convene in a joint session to officially count and certify the results of the presidential election on January 6, 2025.

The President and Vice President will take their oaths on January 20, 2025.

Registered US citizens aged 18 and older can vote.

Each state has its own voter ID rules, with most requiring voters to bring an ID to vote in person. If you are a registered voter and have a voter registration card, you are not required to bring it when you vote. Your state may require you to show a photo ID like a driver's license, state ID, or passport. You might be required to present other forms of ID like your birth certificate or Social Security card.

You might be able to vote even without an ID. Some states may ask you to sign a form affirming your identity. Other states will let you cast a provisional ballot when there is a doubt about a voter's eligibility. Your provisional ballot will be kept separately until your eligibility is investigated. You might have to return to show an acceptable ID within a few days or the ballot will not count.

Majority of voters live in states that allow voting by mail. Some states require a valid reason, such as travel, work or illness, to receive a ballot. Several states have deadlines to request mail ballots that are less than two weeks before the election day.

Starting in September, voters can visit a polling location and cast their absentee ballots in person in states that allow one or both methods.

Primaries and caucuses are two ways by which people help states and political parties choose presidential nominees.

Most states hold primaries around 6 to 9 months before a presidential election. Primary voters choose their preferred candidate anonymously by casting secret ballots. The state where the primary is held takes the results of the vote into account to award delegates to the winners.

The caucuses are meetings run by political parties that are held at the county, district, or precinct level. Some caucuses choose candidates by secret ballot. Others require participants to divide themselves into groups according to the candidate they support. Each candidate's group gives speeches and tries to get others to join their group. At the end, the number of delegates given to each candidate is based on the number of caucus votes they received.

More than 158.4 million people voted in the 2020 US Presidential Election, amounting to 62.8% of people of voting age, according to Pew Research Center.
 

The President and Vice President are elected through a weighted voting system known as the Electoral College, not by the popular vote. It is a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the President and Vice President. The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A presidential candidate must secure 270 electors to win.

Each state has the same number of electors as it has members in its Congressional delegation- one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators.
 

If neither candidate is able to secure the required 270 electoral vote threshold, the election for President is decided in the House of Representatives, with each state delegation having one vote. In this case, a majority of states, 26, is needed to win. Senators would elect the Vice-President, with each Senator having a vote. A majority of Senators, 51, is required to win.

There have been 19 elections in which the winning candidate did not receive a majority of the popular vote. The first such case was John Quincy Adams in the election of 1824 and the most recent was Donald Trump in the 2016 elections.

Swing states are where both Democratic and Republican Parties have similar levels of support among voters. These states are crucial as they have the potential to sway the outcome of the elections.

Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and Pennsylvania.