How US President Elected ?

Elections for President and Vice President of the United States are indirect elections in which voters cast ballots for a slate of electors of the U.S. Electoral College, who in turn directly elect the President and Vice President. They occur on Election Day, the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November.The most recent election occurred on November 4, 2008, with the next one scheduled for November 6, 2012.

When a person wants to be President they announce themselves before the first primary election. The first primary is held in February the year before the actual election. Primary elections held in each state, help the individual political parties decide whom their Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates will be. Citizens who want to help the political parties decide to register as a member of a certain party and vote in that primary. For example, if somebody registers as a Democrat they only vote in the Democratic primary. The primary vote helps the parties decide who their candidates will be.
To be President, you have to be born in the United States, live in the United States for at least 14 years, and you have to be at least 35 years old.

• There is a presidential election every 4 years, when the people of the United States vote for the person they want as president for the next four years, called a term. The Constitution says that a President cannot serve for more than 2 terms, which is 8 years.
  

• In the summer of the election year, the parties hold a convention where the party chooses its candidate. It is usually the person who has won the most delegates in the primary elections and caucuses. That person chooses his or her running mate, who becomes the Vice Presidential candidate.
  

• Once the candidates are officially nominated by their parties, the race is on! All of the candidates travel around the country meeting people, making speeches, etc.Candidates also have debates about important issues to help people decide which candidate they want to vote for.

• The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November is Election Day. On Election Day people go to vote(United States citizen, at least 18 year old). A person who is in jail or is on probation for committing a felony cannot vote.
  

• Usually you find out who won the popular vote by the morning after the election. The candidate who won the popular vote is still not the President. Now they have to win the electoral vote! The citizens don't actually decide who the President is. The Electoral College decides. Each state has a number of electors depending on the population of the state. The electors usually vote the way the citizens vote. If a candidate wins the election in a state , he or she gets all of the state's votes.
  The candidate must get at least 270 electoral votes in all to win the election. Here is a map of the U.S. with each state's electoral votes.

After the electors vote we find out who the president and the vice president will be.

On January 20, the new president and vice president are sworn in into office. They make a speech and promise to do their job well.