How the US Elections Work | Learn English Conversation | Go Natural English

11,143 views ・ 2016-11-02

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Hello and welcome to Go Natural English. I'm Gabby, coming to you
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for a very special lesson today from the Oval Office
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set in the White House in the District of
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Columbia, Washington, D.C. In this special
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lesson we're going to talk about how the Presidential Election
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process works in the United States.
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It all starts with with the individual voter.
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On November 8th, I get to vote for who
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I want for president. I am a US
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citizen. I'm over 18 years old. That means
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that I can vote for president on that special day.
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You might imagine that we count up every single vote
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from every single person who votes in the United States and that
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will determine our president, but it's actually not that simple.
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It's not that we directly elect the president. What happens is
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each state determines
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their vote. Let me break it
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down a little bit more. I'm going to vote in New York. I live in New
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York City. And in New York we
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have 29 electoral
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votes. We have 29 electors. And each
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state is different. It depends on the number of districts
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plus senators. There's always two senators for each
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state. New York has 27 districts
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plus 2 senators. So that means that we have
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29 electoral votes. So, everybody
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in New York who votes is going to show the
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total number is going to show which candidate New York
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as a state prefers and then that preference is sent
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on through our electors. New York will
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give our 29 votes for whichever candidate
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the people of New York prefer. I'm using New York as an example
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because that's where I live but each state has this process
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as well and it's the same for every state except for Nebraska and Maine.
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They're a little bit special.
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Washington, D.C. also has three
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electoral votes. OK, so now we know
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how the voting process works. The electoral
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college suggests or votes for
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the president based on how the state's
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people vote. Now, we need
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a majority of 583 total
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electoral votes in order to become the President-Elect on November
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8th. So we need at least 270 votes.
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That's putting a candidate in the majority. Then, whoever
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has at least 270 or more votes will become the President
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Elect and on January 20th will become
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officially sworn in as the next President of the
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United States of America. So it's an interesting
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process and I'd love to know how elections work in your
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country. Who can vote for president? When do you vote for president?
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How does the election system work? Please share
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with me in the comments. I'd love to know! Thanks for watching
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and make sure if you can vote, if you are a US
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citizen and you're over 18, to make your vote count.
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Thanks for watching, bye for now!
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