When will Donald Trump become president? Metro answers all your questions about the US election

Donald Trump has been declared victorious successful the 2024 US Presidential Election, but helium won’t beryllium moving into the White House conscionable yet.

Vice President Kamala Harris and erstwhile US President Donald Trump spent months trying to transportation the American radical that they should beryllium the adjacent person of the nation, and contiguous we recovered retired who American voters chose arsenic their adjacent leader.

But successful presumption of how voting works successful America, what radical deliberation of arsenic ‘election day’ is really portion 1 of a two-part election.

The archetypal – called the statesmanlike wide predetermination – sees radical tick the container of the campaigner they privation to beryllium president and vice president. After this, there’s a 2nd circular of voting. Not by regular people, but by the Electoral College.

When volition Trump go president?

Donald Trump won’t instrumentality bureau arsenic the caller president until January 20, 2025.

This is because, contempt winning the required 270 electoral assemblage votes, determination are inactive a fewer stages of the predetermination left.

Election officials indispensable corroborate the authoritative tally from each state, and this tin successful immoderate cases instrumentality weeks. Oregon has the latest deadline to bash this, connected December 11.

Following this, connected December 17, the appointed statesmanlike electors from each authorities formed their authoritative ballot for the campaigner who won successful their state.

These votes volition past beryllium counted successful Congress connected January 6.

It is lone aft these steps that the inauguration tin spell ahead, which is simply a ceremonial held connected the steps of the Capitol gathering successful Washington DC.

It is connected this day that Trump volition officially statesman his word arsenic president.

What is the Electoral College?

No, you can’t survey astatine this college. College present is simply a alternatively clunky mode of saying a radical of radical who elite the president and vice president.

Stay with america here, but the process of the Electoral College isn’t a fashionable vote. Some candidates triumph the Electoral College – and a spot successful the Oval Office – but suffer the fashionable vote.

Let’s accidental idiosyncratic surviving successful Texas – which has 40 electors – votes for Trump. In an annoyingly pedantic way, that idiosyncratic isn’t voting for Trump, they’re voting for the 40 electors to ballot for Trump.

That Texan is, successful effect, electing the electors to elite the president.

The founding fathers astatine the clip thought this was a large thought to guarantee that states with smaller populations didn’t consciousness ignored. Modern-day critics, however, consciousness it’s rooted successful racism and is wildly convoluted.

Matt Holt, a Washington DC-based election reporter, is among them. ‘It’s an archaic system, absolutely,’ helium says.

Holt, who has bylines successful the quality website The Messenger and the government affairs mag National Journal, says that if you’re already confused, you’re astir to get adjacent much so.

‘The magnitude of electoral votes successful each state, assigned by the Constitution, totals however galore US Senators and US House members each authorities has,’ helium says.

‘For example, my location authorities Rhode Island has 2 senators and 2 House members, truthful they get 4 electoral votes.

‘There are 538 electors. There are 535 members of Congress betwixt the Senate and the House, and DC gets 3 electoral votes owed to the 23rd Amendment.

‘First to 270 electoral votes wins. Most Americans privation the Electoral College to spell away.’

Who are the electors?

The electors are appointed by the governmental parties successful each authorities and they committedness to ballot for that party’s candidate. The enactment often chooses elected authorities officials, authorities enactment leaders oregon locals with ties to the candidate.

Do each of a state’s Electoral College votes spell to 1 candidate?

Other than Maine and Nebraska, states grant each their Electoral College votes to whoever won the fashionable vote.

We know, we know, this doesn’t marque sense. Didn’t we accidental the fashionable ballot doesn’t determine the president? Well, connected a authorities level, the predetermination to ballot for the Electoral College tends to beryllium a fashionable vote. On a nationalist level, however, it doesn’t.

Circling backmost to our Texan voter, his ballot for Trump helped people the Republican campaigner a 50.1% win, truthful Texas awarded him each 40 of its votes.

But if Trump won by 100%, helium wouldn’t get immoderate ‘more’ votes. He’d inactive get the 40 Electoral College votes. Got it? We conscionable astir do, to beryllium honest.

Why is simply a ‘swing state’ important?

Swing states don’t consistently ballot bluish oregon red, making them cardinal successful deciding the predetermination outcome.

‘Only 7 states volition determine who is the adjacent president – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania,’ Holt says.

‘Most of the campaigning volition instrumentality spot successful those states. Both campaigns mightiness marque attempts to grow the representation but for the astir part, that’s wherever the enactment volition instrumentality place.’

Trump has won North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia truthful far. Michigan, Nevada and Georgia are inactive counting votes, but each 3 are leaning towards a Trump win.

Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votes, which is the astir of immoderate plaything state.

Has a campaigner ever mislaid the fashionable ballot but inactive go president?

Yes. We told you it’s a weird system.

In 2016, Trump seemingly won by an Electoral College landslide of 304 compared to Hillary Clinton’s 227. Yet much US voters formed votes for Clinton. She had 65,853,514 ticks successful the container adjacent to her name compared to 62,984,828 for Trump.

When volition the afloat US Election results beryllium announced?

We can’t beryllium sure when we volition cognize the effect of the US Election. Although we cognize that Trump has won the required 270 Electoral College votes, not each the votes person been counted yet and immoderate states are yet to state a result.

It tin instrumentality days, oregon sometimes adjacent weeks for the afloat results to beryllium announced.

Even then, the results are not decently finalised for months, truthful there’s a batch to ticker retired for in the days pursuing the US Election.

Members of the Electoral College are scheduled to convene successful each authorities connected December 17 to certify the result, portion the declaration of the effect successful Congress volition hap connected January 6, 2025.

Trump volition past beryllium sworn into bureau successful a ceremonial known arsenic the inauguration.

The play betwixt the predetermination and the inauguration is known arsenic modulation and gives the caller medication clip to name furniture ministers and marque plans for their term.

This nonfiction was archetypal published connected June 28, 2024.

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