Carole Said:

How many days after election day is the winner of the Presidential election announced?

We Answered:

It varies from state to state from 1 day to 7 days for the count to be termed "official" and certified by the state government. However, the winner can be determined long before the count is required to be certified. All it takes is for one candidate to get half the votes cast plus 1. Mathematically, at this point, there are not enough uncounted votes to change the result. Consider a simple case of 10 votes. I can stop and determine the winner when I have 6 votes for one candidate and it does not matter what the other 4 votes are. This is how they declare winners in races where the vote is not completely counted. The real case is slightly different than this simple example. The real case involves the difference between the leading and second place positions. When the remaining uncounted votes is less than that difference, it again is mathematically impossible for the second place candidate to win even if all remaining uncounted votes are for the second place candidate. Say candidate A has 1000 votes and candidate B has 500 votes. If there are less than 500 uncounted votes left to count, there is no way for candidate B to win and thus, candidate A is declared the winner even though the count is not completed. When the polls close, the state officials know the total vote count and then start looking for that point where they can declare a winner. Anything before that point in the count where it becomes mathematically impossible to change the outcome, is simply trend analysis and a prediction. In the special case of the president, the popular vote made by the people determines how electoral college votes are cast and it is the electoral college which actually elects the president which is why when Truman ran against Dewey, Dewey was declared the winner based on the popular vote when in fact Truman had the electoral votes to win. There is a famous picture of Truman holding up a newspaper with the bold headline "Dewey Wins!" The thing about electoral votes is it is all or nothing. Each state has a number of electoral votes based on population. In a big state like California, the popular vote can be very close and the winner, if even by only one vote, gets ALL of the electoral votes. Florida became the pivot point for Bush/Gore. When the recount was stopped and the Supreme Court declare Bush the winner, he got the electoral votes which made him president even though the popular vote was for Gore.

Pedro Said:

Is there a Presidential election held every year or is it every other year?

We Answered:

Presidential elections only seem like every year although they are actually held every 4 years. There's the 1)rumors and speculation year 2) the pre-campaign year 3) the campaign year, and then 4) the election year. Repeat as necessary -or in the case of incumbent running for President, substitute years 1 and 2 with whining.

Floyd Said:

What would happen if the week before the presidential election one of the candidates were murdered?

We Answered:

Good question and I've wondered that myself. I think the party would come up with another candidate rather than having the VP candidate take the lead. Perhaps an extension to the election would be made since the new President doesn't officially take office until January.

Ken Said:

How important is race in this presidential election?

We Answered:

Not very important...not as important to me, that is. There are lots of people who have expressed their opinions about the race of the candidates, but I'm more concerned about whether I'll have a job, income, a place to live and food to eat...stuff like that.

Geraldine Said:

What happens if a Presidential election candidate dies during the general election?

We Answered:

The party chooses another candidate.