US Election Day – What You Need To Know

The day the world has anticipated for the past several months is finally upon us. In less than 24 hours a new president of the United States will be elected and ultimately change the world as we know it. After months of speeches, promises and campaigning both Clinton and Trump close out this election strong.

With all the drama that the election can bring to the average person, it is common for one to be lost in all of the controversy. I put together a list of important points to try to make sense of this election and what are the stakes are.

Donald Trump – Trump is a 70 year old businessman, entrepreneur, author, and billionaire. He is most popular for his part in the reality TV show, The Apprentice. He is chairman and president of The Trump Organization.

Hillary Clinton – Clinton is a 69 year old politician and a powerful female politician in US history. She was the first lady while former president Bill Clinton was in office, as well as a former secretary of state and a former senator.

Republican – Also referred to as the GOP (Grand Old Party), the Republican party is usually the right wing party of the United States. Their views tend to be anti gun control, anti immigration and anti abortion. They believe in a smaller government. Donald Trump is running for the Republican party.

Democrat – Democrats are generally the left wing party of America. They are in favor of taxes to fund large government projects and are for gun control, universal healthcare, and the right to abort. Hillary Clinton is running for the Democrat party.

The campaign has seen a roller coaster of ups and downs with both parties being victims. Some of the major issues that were being addressed was the US economy, creating jobs, immigration, racism and terrorism. Major controversy shadowed Clinton through her campaign involving an email scandal that took plays years earlier. Donald Trump was also popular in controversial conversation with his colorful personality included racist and sexists comments made to women and immigrants.

Voting times begin at 6:00 on the east coast or at 11:00 here in Ireland. Voting ends late Tuesday night after the western states close their booths. The lowest age to cast your vote in the United States is 18 and any legal citizen is allowed to cast one vote. While the populous vote gives a rough idea of how the race will play out, the electoral college holds more of a say. The electoral college is made up of representatives from each state based on size and population. The magic number you want is 270. If you can get 270 votes in the electoral college plus the majority vote in swing states (undecided states) then you have a good shot of becoming the next president.

The results of the election will be announced once the west coast closes the polls. Besides Hawaii and Alaska, all the major states have cast their votes and usually have enough votes to declare a winner. This race has been neck and neck the entire way. This may lead to a recount similar to what occurred during the 2000 presidential race between George Bush and Al Gore.

Once the winner is announced the new president will have a couple months before they are sworn into office and move into The White House. This will occur at a ceremony on the 20th of September 2017. From there they will be in charge of all the policies and work together with the other two branches of government to run the nation.

I hope this outline helped you understand and learn a little bit about the US election. Please feel free to check out other articles on Babylon Radio for the latest Irish and World News.