AMERICA CHOOSES PRESIDENT - Follow the elections on Patria's pages from 10 PM

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Citizens of the United States of America are electing a president this November 3rd. 

In the race for the White House seat are the current president Donald Trump (Republicans) and Joe Biden (Democrats).

The eyes of the whole world are on America, as the outcome of the US elections will determine relations worldwide. 

By electing the 46th president, American voters and electors will decide whether they want a continuation of the policy brought by Donald Trump or the radical changes offered by Democrat Biden.

Unlike elections in many other countries, the president in the US is not decided by an absolute majority of votes, but by a majority of electoral votes, according to the so-called Electoral College system. 

These are votes that a candidate receives based on winning the majority of votes in each of the 50 federal states and the District of Columbia, which covers the capital city of Washington. Federal states do not have an equal number of electoral votes; this number is approximately proportional to the size of each state, i.e., its population. The Electoral College is, accordingly, a college of electors delegated to ultimately decide the election, voting according to the results in the state they represent.

Thus, the most populous federal state of California has as many as 55 electors, i.e., electoral votes, Texas has 38, Florida and New York have 29 each, and Illinois and Pennsylvania have 20 each. The eight least populated states have 3 electors each: Alaska, Delaware, District of Columbia, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming. In the middle are, for example, Arizona, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Tennessee, with 11 electoral votes each. 

There are a total of 538 electoral votes, and a candidate in practice must win 270 or more electoral votes to be declared the winner. This system was devised by the American founding fathers, in accordance with the principle of federalism, to ensure fair representation for less populated federal states in the election outcome.

The last Democratic president was Barack Obama (2009-2017), and Biden served as Vice President during that time.

Before Trump, the last Republican to head the US was George W. Bush (2001-2009).

Many predict the race between Trump and Biden will be close, and you will be able to follow everything on the pages of the Novinska agencija Patria starting at 9 PM.