Welcome to the "Introduction To American Society". In this reading you will grasp the idea of the voting election process and its basic structures. There are many topics we have to discuss, Hopefully we see you at the end of the book.

Qualifications For Voting:

1.States require voters to be resident

2.A person can have only one residence

3.Some states have provided registration qualifications that require people to have lived in a place for a certain amount of time

4.Naturalized citizens can vote once they become citizens

5.Must be 18 (Some states allow 17)

How the president is elected

During the general election, Americans go to their polling place to cast their vote for president. But the tally of those votes( the popular vote )does not determine the winner. Instead, presidential elections use the Electoral College. To win the election, a candidate must receive a majority of electoral votes. In the event no candidate receives the majority, the House of Representatives chooses the president and the Senate chooses the vice president.

Days Of The Election:

For federal offices (President, Vice President, and United States Congress), Election Day occurs only in even-numbered years. Presidential elections are held every four years, in years divisible by four, in which electors for President and Vice President are chosen according to the method determined by each state.

Symbols Of The Democrat And The Republican:

The Donkey ( Democrat )-Presidential candidate Andrew Jackson was the first Democrat ever to be associated with the donkey symbol. His opponents during the election of 1828 tried to label him a "jack**" for his populist beliefs and slogan, "Let the people rule." Jackson was entertained by the notion and ended up using it to his advantage on his campaign posters. But cartoonist Thomas Nast is credited with making the donkey the recognized symbol of the Democratic Party. It first appeared in a cartoon in Harper's Weekly in 1870, and was supposed to represent an anti-Civil War faction. But the public was immediately taken by it and by 1880 it had already become the unofficial symbol of the party.