What time do polls open, how does voting work, and what happens after November 3?

What is the date of the 2020 US election and can Trump postpone it?

The election will take place on Tuesday, November 3rd.

Donald Trump Floated late, In a tweet, suggested that the rule changes make it easier for us voters and that postal votes in many states could lead to “tough elections”.

Although Mr. Trump has used it in the past, he has argued that mail-in voting is too open to fraud. As Mr. Trump says, most election experts have questioned whether postal voting can lead to widespread fraud, but point out that problems can arise as postal voting is expected.

The date of the election is not written in the US Constitution, so the delay is technically possible, but the Constitution outlines the date for the inauguration of the newly elected president in January.

However, the US Congress has the power to change the date of the election, with the Democrats holding the majority in the same chamber, the House of Representatives, which is unlikely to have approved a delay.

read more: Joe Biden vs Hillary Clinton: How the polls compare in the week before the US election

Briefly the American election

U.S. presidential elections are always held on Tuesdays after the first Monday in November.

Americans vote for the so-called “voters” in their state and support the candidate they want to be president – this process is called electoral college.

The more people live in a state, the more voters there are for that state. For example, in California, with a population of 38.8 million, there are 55 votes – Delaware, (population 936,000), only three votes.

There are currently 538 voters In total, there are 435 delegates (Congress men and women) and 100 senators, and three additional voters from the District of Columbia. The Constitution prohibits any federal official, elected or appointed, from being a voter.

The candidate with the most voters wins all the electoral college votes in the state and becomes the first candidate to win the presidency by winning enough states to receive 270 electoral votes.

How does the Election College function?

All 50 U.S. states and Washington D.C. have a certain number of “voters” in the Electoral College – approximately proportional to the size of each state.

Each state receives at least three electoral votes, equal to the total number of senators and delegates in the US Congress. Washington D.C. receives three Electoral College votes, making up a total of 538 electoral college voters.

The largest state, California, has 55 electoral votes. Texas, The next largest, gets 38. New York and Florida There are 29 each.

All but two states, Maine and Nebraska, use a winner-take-all system, so if you get the most votes in one state, you take its entire electoral college vote.

The candidate for president must win a majority of 538 voters – 270 voters.

Although the Constitution does not mandate that voters follow the popular vote, many U.S. states have laws that require them to do so. These laws have been challenged by voters voting for someone else, but in July the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states that pass such legislation must follow the popular vote.

The electoral college system generally reflects popular votes – presidents have won election votes just five times in American history after losing the popular vote. The most recent event was in 2016, when Donald Trump won election college, but his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, won the popular vote.