Start with the Constitution.

The basic process of selecting the President of the United States is spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, and it has been modified by the 12th, 22nd, and 23rd amendments. Many additional steps have been added over the years, by custom and by state law -- the process has changed quite a bit over time. Who Can Run? The President and Vice-President are elected every four years. They must be at least 35 years of age, they must be native-born citizens of the United States, and they must have been residents of the U.S. for at least 14 years. (Also, a person cannot be elected to a third term as President.) How Do the Political Parties Choose Their Candidates? That's up to the political parties. Most political parties hold conventions, which are large meetings attended by "delegates." Some delegates are selected by state "primary" elections, some are selected by state caucuses (very much like primaries, except with public voting instead of secret ballots), and some are chosen for their prominence in the party. A majority of delegate votes is needed to win the party's nomination. In most cases, the delegates let their chosen presidential candidate select a vicepresidential candidate.

Candidates for President and Vice-President Run Together. In the general election, each candidate for President runs together with a candidate for Vice-President on a "ticket." Voters select one ticket to vote for; they can't choose a presidential candidate from one ticket and a vice-presidential candidate from another ticket. The Electoral College. The national presidential election actually consists of a separate election in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia; in these 51 elections, the voters are really voting for "electors" pledged to one of the tickets. These electors make up the "Electoral College." (In most cases, the names of the electors aren't written on the ballot; instead the ballot lets voters choose among "Electors for" each of the tickets, naming the presidential and vice-presidential candidates each slate of electors is pledged to.) Each state has the same number of electors as it has senators and representatives (there are two senators from each state, but the number of representatives depends on the state

population in the most recent census). The District of Columbia, although it isn't a state, also participates in presidential elections -- it currently has three electors. The People in Each State Vote for Electors in the Electoral College. In most of the states, and also in the District of Columbia, the election is winner-take-all; whichever ticket receives the most votes in that state (or in D.C.) gets all the electors. (The only exceptions are Maine and Nebraska. In these states, just two of the electors are chosen in a winner-take-all fashion from the entire state. The remaining electors are determined by the winner in each congressional district, with each district voting for one elector.) The Electoral College Votes for the President. The Electoral College then votes for President and for Vice-President, with each elector casting one vote; these votes are called electoral votes. Each elector is pledged to vote for particular candidates for President and Vice-President. In most elections, all the electors vote in accordance with the pledge they made; it is not clear what would happen in the unlikely event that a large number of electors violated their pledge and voted differently. Normally, one of the candidates for President receives a majority (more than half) of the electoral votes; that person is elected President. That candidate's vice-presidential running mate will then also receive a majority of electoral votes (for Vice-President), and that person is elected Vice-President.

If There's No Electoral College Winner, the House of Representatives Chooses the President. In the rare event that no presidential candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes, then the President is chosen instead by the House of Representatives, from the top three presidential vote-getters in the Electoral College; each state delegation in Congress casts one vote. (The Vice-President would be chosen from the top two vice-presidential vote-getters by the Senate.)

This is bizarre! Does it really work this way? Yes. There are many arguments pro and con the Electoral College, but this system does guarantee that the person elected President has substantial support distributed throughout the U.S. The Electoral College has also been a major factor in the United States' long-term political stability.

Step I: Primaries and Caucuses There are many people who would like to become President. Each of these people have their own ideas about how our government should work. Some of these people can belong to the same political party. That's where primaries and caucuses come in. In these elections, party members get to vote for the candidate that will represent their party in the upcoming general election. Step 2: National Conventions At the end of the primaries and caucuses, each party holds a national convention to finalize the selection of one Presidential nominee. During this time, each Presidential candidate chooses a running-mate (or Vice-Presidential candidate). Step 3: The General (or Popular) Election Now that each party is represented by one candidate, the general election process begins. Candidates campaign throughout the country in an attempt to win the support of voters. Finally in November, the people vote for one candidate. When a person casts a vote in the general election, they are not voting directly for an individual Presidential candidate. Instead, voters in each state actually cast their vote for a group of people, known as electors. These electors are part of the Electoral College and are supposed to vote for their states preferred candidate. Step 4: The Electoral College In the Electoral College system, each state gets a certain number of electors, based on each state's total number of representation in Congress. Each elector gets one electoral vote. For example, a large state like California gets 54 electoral votes, while Rhode Island gets only four. All together, there are 538 Electoral votes. In December (following the general election), the electors cast their votes. When the votes are counted on January 6th, the Presidential candidate that gets more than half (270) wins the election. The President-elect and Vice President-elect take the oath of office and are inaugurated two weeks later, on January 20th

Nomination Process: In the United States, there are two major political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. There are also several minor parties, usually called third parties, none of which has won a presidential election since 1848 (Lincoln's National Union Party, which won in 1864, was a short-lived coalition of Republicans and Northern Democrats rather than an independent party), although in 1912 former President Theodore Roosevelt, as candidate of the Progressive Party came in second by a wide margin.[22] Most media and public focus is on the two major parties. Each party hosts candidates who go through a nomination process to determine the presidential nominee for that party. The nomination process consists of primaries and caucuses, held by the 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The winner of each of these primary elections usually receives delegates proportional to the percentage of the popular vote that candidate received in each states. In many Republican primaries, all the state's delegates are awarded to the winning candidate. In the Democratic Party, high-ranking party members known as superdelegates each receive one vote in the convention. Whichever candidate has the majority of the delegates at the end of the primary elections is designated the presumptive nominee until he or she is formally nominated and endorsed for the presidency by his or her political party. This is done by the aforementioned delegates for each party at their respective party's national convention

How Presidential Elections Work

Elections for the presidency in the United States are indirect elections in which voters cast ballots for the state of the electors of the U.S Electoral College that in turn directly elect the president. The process is regulated by a combination of both federal and state laws. Each state is allocated a number of Electoral College equal to the number of its Senators and Representatives in the U.S Congress. Under the U.S Constitution, each state legislature is allowed to designate a way of choosing electors. The popular vote on Election Day is conducted by the various states. Once picked, the electors can vote for anyone and vote for their desired

candidate and their votes are certified by the congress. The Congress is the final judge of the electors.

Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2012

The 2012 Republican presidential primaries are the selection processes in which voters of the Republican Party will choose their nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election. The primary contest began with a fairly wide field, and is the first presidential primary influenced by the Tea Party movement. Ron Paul, who had run in 2008 on a libertarian platform, experienced considerable support in his presidential campaign, and was welcomed by Republican voters as a mainstream candidate in 2012. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who ran for president in 2008, took an early lead in polls with the support of much of the Republican establishment.[3] However, his lead over the Republican field has been precarious, due to the entry of new candidates that drew considerable media attention between April and August 2011. Support amongst Republicans for Governor Rick Perry of Texas encouraged him to join the race in August 2011; he performed strongly in polls, instantly becoming a serious contender. Following a series of poor performances in debates, Rick Perry quickly lost his momentum to Herman Cain, who is running neckand-neck with Mitt Romney at present. Cain's viability as a candidate was seriously jeopardized after a history of sexual harassment allegations surfaced in the media. Newt Gingrich, who stressed his candidacy against Barack Obama and avoided intra-party disputes, has recently made a comeback, both in polls and fundraising.