(Adjunct Professor History and Political Science)
Every four years on the second Tuesday in the month of November, the country of the United States have a Presidential Election. Under their constitution in order to qualify to run for president, a person must be 35 yrs of age and a natural born United States citizen. No naturalized citizen of the United States is qualified to run for president. To become a president the person must also win a majority of the Electoral College Vote which is now 270 not the Popular Vote.
The Electoral College Board is comprised of Electors who are appointed by each state and the Electors are allocated based on the state’s population. The larger the state’s population, the greater their Electoral College Vote is and currently that state is California with (55). The census in the United States is conducted every ten years and states make sure that their citizens are counted to increase their members of Congress and Electoral College Vote. In the last fifty years New York has lost many of its citizens to other states so their Electoral College number has decreased. While, Florida and Texas have gained many new citizens and their Electoral College numbers have increased.
Many presidential candidates in the past, have won the Popular Vote but lost the Electoral College Vote and could not become the president due to this requirement. It has happened to about three Democratic candidates. Hillary Clinton was the last person after Al Gore in 2000, to experience this when she ran against Donald Trump in 2016. Donald Trump and many other United States citizens, have demanded that the Electoral College Vote be removed as a constitutional requirement to become president. If it was removed he would not have qualified, to become the president of the United States. If he manages to win this election, he will become the first president of the United States, to be reelected by losing the Popular Vote twice.
They are still counting votes in the states of Pennsylvania (20), Too Close To Call possible Biden win, Georgia (16) Too Close To Call possible Biden win, North Carolina (15) Too Close To Call possible Trump win, Nevada (6) Too Close To Call possible Biden win and Arizona (11) Has Been Called By Some Media Outlets for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden who have 264 Electoral College Votes and need 6 more to reach 270. If he wins the state of Nevada where he is leading by a small margin he becomes the president of the United States.
The state of Nevada will be certifying their election results on Thursday, Nov. 5 and all expectations are that his lead will remain the same. Nevada voted for Hillary Clinton the Democratic candidate in the last presidential election in 2016. Donald Trump only has a total of 214 Electoral College votes and is 56 Electoral College votes short of reaching 270 Electoral College Votes. For him to get that amount of Electoral College Votes, he must win Pennsylvania and three of the other remaining states that must include Arizona.
Trump might be losing Arizona because he hated their late popular Senator John McCain, whom he attacked on several occasions during and after his death. Due to his constant attacks, the widow and daughter of John McCain have both endorsed Joe Biden for president. Joe Biden was a good friend of the late Senator. Based on the way things look at this moment with the counting in all the remaining states, it is difficult for Donald Trump to win this election. Donald Trump and his election staff, are threatening many legal challenges in the states where the votes are currently being counting. However, most legal experts agree that he has little legal basis to overturn or stop the process. If he proceeds with his threats to go to court, it will just delay the process but in the end Joseph Biden will still win the presidency and become the 46th President of the United States.
