Watching US election coverage can be tricky. You're likely to be flooded with maps, detailed state analyses, and intricate data. So, how do you make sense of it all? 1News explains.
The big day is almost here: the US presidential election, the culmination of a chaotic campaign that saw a few attempted assassinations of one candidate and the incumbent dropping out of the race.
On November 6 (NZT), millions of Americans will head to the polls and cast their votes for Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, as well as their choice of state senator and member of Congress.
When watching coverage, you're likely to be bombarded by footage of maps, talk of swing states and incredibly specific data.
With a wildly different system from New Zealand's voting process, it can take time to understand how the US elects its leaders. Let's break it all down.
How does America decide its President?
The US uses a unique system, the Electoral College, to decide its president.
It sees voters in each state choosing electors who then vote for the president.
Each state has a certain number of electors based on the number of seats it has in Congress' House of Representatives, plus its two senators.
For example, the state of California has 52 seats in Congress and two senators, so it has 54 electoral votes.
All 54 of those electoral votes will then go to whoever wins the state. This means that if 63.5% of Californians vote for the Democratic candidate and 34.3% vote for the Republican (like they did last election), all 54 electoral votes will go to the Democratic candidate.
This is called the "winner takes all" rule and is practised in 48 states, except Maine and Nebraska, which allow their electors to vote for more than one candidate.
There are 538 electors across all states, meaning a presidential candidate must secure at least 270 to win. In the 2020 election, Joe Biden won 306 electors, while Donald Trump won 232.
The election results are then certified at a joint session of Congress, where the vice president presides over the vote and announces the winner.
Usually a boring formality, this was what insurrectionists supporting Donald Trump were attempting to stop when the Capitol was stormed on January 6, 2021.
What are battleground, swing, and safe states?
When you tune in to US election coverage on November 6, you'll likely hear the states described as "swing states" or "battleground states".
These are states where the race is likely to be close and are crucial for winning the presidency.
The previously mentioned California is not a swing state, as it's a Democrat stronghold, meaning it will likely go to the Democrats on election night. It's what's known as a "safe state", or more specifically, a “blue state”. Meanwhile, Texas, traditionally a Republican stronghold, is a safe "red state" for example.
Then you have swing states like Florida.
Florida is a big state with 30 electoral college votes that has traditionally swung between the two parties. The state was the final decider in the 2000 election between George W Bush and Al Gore, with just 537 votes separating the two.
After a lengthy court battle over recounts, Bush was eventually ruled the winner. He didn’t have as many votes as Gore overall, but he had secured the Electoral College, sending him to the White House.
Jack Tame reports after 75 million voters have cast their ballots on the final Sunday of the US election. (Source: Breakfast)
A similar situation happened in 2016, when Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but still lost the election because Donald Trump won more swing states and took the Electoral College.
During the last election, swing states like Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan were crucial to Joe Biden's win.
This means the election is less about securing more votes than the other candidate and more about mustering the swing states. This is why presidential candidates spend most of their time campaigning in a small set of swing states rather than across the whole country.
How is the rest of the government elected?
It won't just be the president on the ballot in November, but also every seat in the House of Representatives and some Senate seats.
Unlike in New Zealand, where our MPs serve three years and are all elected at the same time, representatives in the House of Congress serve two-year terms, going up for re-election at the same time as the presidential election and during midterm elections.
The House of Representatives has 435 members, so a party needs at least 218 to control the House.
In the Senate, the upper house, senators serve six-year terms, meaning that not all seats will be up for grabs on election day.
Senators are divided into three "classes" of 33 or 34 seats, whose elections are staggered over six years to ensure a different group is contested each election cycle.
Regardless of size, each of the 50 states has two seats in the Senate – making up a house size of 100. A minimum of 50 seats, plus the vice president as a tiebreaker, is needed to control the Senate.
Follow all the latest from the US Election with 1News.co.nz and watch in-depth coverage on TVNZ+
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