In a presidential election, voters in each of the fifty states and Washington, D.C., vote not directly for a president or vice president, but instead for members of the Electoral College. A candidate must win a majority of the electoral votes, or 270, to become president. Typically, voters choose a party’s nominee in primary elections. After that, delegates to the national conventions officially nominate candidates for president and vice president.
A presidential race starts well before Election Day, which is always held on the first Tuesday after November 1. Candidates usually file their statements of candidacy in the spring of the previous year and often form exploratory committees even earlier. Federal campaign finance laws require that a candidate officially declare their intention to run for the office by filing a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission.
The Constitution outlines the rules for choosing a president, but doesn’t detail how political parties should pick their candidates. Over time, however, the process of selecting a party’s presidential candidate has changed considerably. In the early 20th century, parties would hold primary elections — sometimes called caucuses — to decide who should represent their party in the presidential race. After these contests, delegates to the national party’s convention were selected by a majority vote. This ensured that a candidate had enough support to win the nomination, even if he or she wasn’t the most popular choice in a given state.
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