• Every fourth year, the American people elect their new president.

The American electoral system is complex and is different from the French system.

A president can be elected twice. He must be born  American citizen, he must be at least 35 years old and he must have lived for 14 years in the USA

• The people vote for a president and choose between 2 candidates in each state.

Each state has a certain number of electors* depending on the number of districts and inhabitants.

In California,there are 36 million inhabitants and 55 electors which is a lot! But in Kansas, there are less than 3 million inhabitants and 6 electors.

• The winning candidate in a state gets all the electoral votes. This system is called the winner-take-all.
  

That is why some states are very important.

• He must have at least 270 electoral votes in all the country to be elected because there are 538 members in the Electoral College.

• The Election day will take place next Tuesday
  

The Electoral vote (the votes of the electors) will take place on December 19th

Then the newly elected president will be inaugurated on January 20th

*elector: grand électeur- c'est une personne choisie par le parti pour représenter le candidat et voter pour lui lors de la réunion du collège électoral

• Un article sur les swing states: ici
• Diagramme explicatif:

Si vraiment vous êtes perdus, cette petite vidéo devrait vous aider: cliquez ici

Enfin, quelques explications peut-être plus claires ici