Every four years, Americans choose a President and Vice President through a process called the electoral college. Each state has a number of electors equal to its representation in Congress plus two (the District of Columbia is not a State). After the general election, the states’ “electors” meet in their capitals to cast their votes for President and Vice President. If a candidate receives the majority of electoral votes, that person is declared president.
Throughout the year, candidates for President form political parties and campaign through a series of events called primaries and caucuses to win delegates who will represent their party at the national convention. In the end, people with similar ideas select a single candidate for their party to represent them in the presidential race.
Polling errors and other factors can sometimes affect the outcome of a Presidential election, but it is extremely rare for an electoral college winner to lose the popular vote. This has happened five times: Andrew Jackson in 1824 (to John Quincy Adams); Samuel Tilden in 1876 (to Rutherford B. Hayes); Grover Cleveland in 1888 (to Benjamin Harrison); and Al Gore in 2000 (to George W. Bush).
The Commission on Presidential Debates sponsors and produces debates between the major parties’ presidential nominees during the election cycle, as well as engages in research and public education activities related to the presidential elections. The organization is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan corporation. Its board of directors is chaired by former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson, and its members include elected officials, scholars, journalists, business leaders and citizens who have a wide range of experience with the presidential campaigns.