1. Road to Presidency

2. STEP 1: Meet formal requirements
Formal Requirements: Constitutional requirements for presidency
35 years or older
Natural Born Citizen
U.S. Resident for 14 years
Informal Requirements: unofficial criteria that have mattered to the American voting public.

3. Step 2: Pre-Candidacy process
Establish exploratory committees
Form PACS/Super PACS

4. STEP 3: Register with the FEC
Registration is required once a candidate has received $5000 worth of contributions.

5. Step 4: The Invisible Primary
The period between a candidate’s announcement that they are running for president and when the first primary votes are cast. “Also known as the campaign trail”
Begin building an organization team
Begin fundraising and campaigning
Develop “winning” strategy
Town Hall Meetings
Seek endorsements
Debates

6. Invisible Primary Debates

7. Step 5: The Primary Season
Primary season helps to narrow down list of candidates to 1 Democrat and 1 Republican in preparation for the General Election.
Usually begins in late January and lasts until mid June.
Calendar: Iowa caucus, New Hampshire Primary, South Carolina Primary
Super Tuesday: a big group of states vote on super Tuesday.

8. Step 5 cont’d: Different types of elections during primary season
Caucus: a meeting of voters who vote for the candidate of their choice by straw poll.
Open Primary: Voters select party ballots once they arrive at the polls.
Closed Primary: Voters have to pre-registered with a given party to vote.
Blanket primary: Voters are not required to identify with a particular party and can make choices without regard to party lines.

10. Step 5 cont’d: Why do some states split electoral votes differently?
It’s because of the way most Democratic primaries are structured.
Elections in most Democratic systems can be:
Winner-take-all: The Winner takes the entire prize
Proportional: The winners proportionally share the prize
Winners are then chosen by either…
Plurality: the person who wins is the person who gets the most votes
Majority: the person who wins is the person who gets the majority of the vote (51%)
Can you guess how elections work in the United States?

12. Step 6: The Nominating Convention
A big national pep rally for each of the base supporters.
Vice-President is usually chosen by then.

13. Step 7: General Election
Continue fundraising and campaigning
Campaign Rallies
Get out the vote operations
TV interviews
Debates: 3 presidential, 1 vice-presidential