Lately, the USA is focusing on their president election. There are many unfamiliar candidates for the 2016 election. America has a different election procedure than Korea which many people can’t understand, even some Americans don’t know about it well. The USA is divided in to 50 states with their own government organizations and they also have different laws. As an ally of the USA it’s essential for Korea to be concerned about who is going to be the next president of the United States. The upcoming Election Day is scheduled for November 8, 2016.

When the USA picks their president, they not only choose a head of state but a head of government and a commander in chief of the largest military in the world. How does the most powerful nation’s election process work? They start with casting ballots for a set of members of the U.S. Electoral College, also known as electors. The whole procedure of voting is an indirect election in which electors from all fifty states and Washington, D.C. do the voting. The number of electors each state is awarded is based on the state's population according to the most recent census. The candidate who receives a huge majority of electoral votes for President or Vice President is elected. If no one gets enough electoral votes, the House of Representatives chooses the President and the Senate chooses the Vice President. These presidential elections occur every four years similar to Korea. Since early times when the Presidential Elections started, it was established on the first Tuesday in the month of November because of the factors involved like weather, harvests and worship. Mostly, the entire presidential campaign takes almost two years. Furthermore, when citizens vote for their candidate, they’re actually voting for the electors some of which are pledged to one candidate, some for another.

Do you know what “swing states” are? Republicans will win in Texas and don’t waste their money or time that much; California is likely to be counted in the Democrats’ column. "Swing States" are states that could go wither way. There are six different swing states, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, North Carolina, Nevada, and Florida.

Who can be the presidential candidate? To be president of the USA the person should be “a natural born” US citizen. They must be at least 35 years old and have been a resident for 14 years. They should start running their own campaign before turning 35 years old and must keep the residency requirements before Inauguration Day.

So who is running for president this year? The most popular party is the Democrats and they have Hillary Clinton (former secretary of state) and Bernie Sanders (United States senator). The opposite party (the republicans) candidate is Donald J. Trump, the issue maker. During one stage of the 2016 election, there were 10 governors or former governors and 10 who are or were senators, although many have since dropped out. The democrats started with four candidates and they still have two of them, but the Republicans used to have 17 candidates. Now there is only one candidate who is the most powerful candidate “Donald J. Trump” On May 3rd, at the Indiana Primary Ted Cruz (United States senator) dropped out with his last word. “We are suspending our campaign. But hear me now, I am not suspending our fight for liberty.” The USA 2016 Presidential Election hasn’t even started yet. This summer from July to August will be the most competitive days to choose who will be the next president.

Now, there are only three candidates left, Trump, Hillary and Bernie. Most of you must have heard about gossip related to Donald Trump. Many Koreans are worrying about him being president. The most interesting part is each candidate is criticizing the others through media and during the campaign. Also there was news that Bernie has criticize to Trump’s actions and words. This time Republicans settled on ‘Anger’ as their signature emotion for the election. This Presidential Election will be the most energetic and enthusiastic ever.

I can’t imagine who will be the next president of the USA but I hope it is a person with a warm heart, quick solutions, and a better health care policy. I want to keep our good relations between Korea and the USA.

L.L.F Editor-in-Chief
Min-joo Cho