The US Presidential election is due for later this year. With improved ties between India & the US, the interest in the 2020 US elections is more than ever. But how does the election for the US President take place? Here is a detailed explainer. Everyleap year not only marks the global sporting spectacle of Summer Olympics butalso is the year of United States of America’s (USA) Presidential Elections. ThePresident of USA serves for a 4-year term and barring the first election in1789, the US presidential electionscoincided with the leap year. Theglobal standing of United States and the soft power it holds makes USpresidential election a keenly watched event with considerable internationalimpact. In the last two decades, the relations between India & USA haveimproved and many Indian expats are in influential positions in the USA. Allthese developments have ensured that the 2020 US Presidential election will bea keenly watched one in India. Whilethe actual election is scheduled for 03 November 2020, there is a frenetic pre-electionactivity that is already being witnessed in the early months of this year,especially with the Democratic Primaries. The entire idea of an extensive pre-electionactivity across the country to seek party’s nomination as the Presidentialcandidate does look alien from an Indian context. So,what are the primaries? How does USA elect its president? Does it have anysimilarity with the election process in India? We explore these and related aspects regardingUS Presidential elections in this explainer. Only a natural born US citizen can become President of USA Onehas to be a natural born US Citizen to be able to become the president of USA.A natural born citizen refers to anyone who is a Citizen of USA at the time ofbirth. Two phases in the US Presidential Election cycle The presidential election process in United States takes place in two phases.The first phase of voting is to determine the party’s nominee for president.This happens through caucuses and primaries that take place across thedifferent states. The second phase is the general election, which takes placeon a designated day (03 November for this year’s election) across the country. Primaries and Caucuses determine the nominee of various parties Thepolitical landscape of United States is dominated by two political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. During the initial phase of the electoralprocess, both the parties go through Primaries and Caucuses to elect their nomineewho would be contesting on the party ticket for the post of President of UnitedStates (POTUS). Thepresident is restricted to two terms in office as per the 22nd amendment of US Constitution. Inmost cases, the current President who is serving his/her first term is theparty’s nominee to run for the president. In such a case, the primaries of that party arenot a much-contested event. Caucuses & Primaries Caucus& Primary are two ways by which different states elect the nominee for thepresidential contest. Caucuses are organized by political parties. These are held atcounty, district and precinct levels where the participants divide themselvesinto groups according to the candidate they support. Each of the group givespeeches, discuss and try to influence others in respect to the support oftheir candidates. Onthe other hand, in a primary election, individual voters are required to go torespective polling booth and cast their vote. The voting is done through asecret ballot. The way these primaries are conducted are subject to respectivestate laws and vary from state to state. Broadly there are two types ofprimaries, closed & open. Some states follow a semi-open system as well. Inthe closed ones, only the voters registered with a particular party can vote inthe primary. This deters voting by members of other party or individualunaffiliated voters. In the open primary, all the registered voters as well asunaffiliated have an option to choose the primary of any party to vote. Thefollowing table shows which of the states follow the Caucus and which onesfollow the primary model. There could be minor changes to these depending onthe party. The conduct of Primary elections varies from state to state Winningthe primary elections is a key step for any candidate to gain the nominationfor presidential election. These primaries are organized by respective statesand local authorities. Eligible candidates can nominate themselves to contest in the primary elections. The primaries are conducted on different dates with traditionally New Hampshire being the first state to conductprimaries. Based on the votes polled by each of thecandidates, delegates are awarded to thecandidates.