Get rid of Bush.

How does the election work?

Most states hold party 'primaries' in which voters choose the parties' candidates for various public offices. The dates are set by state law, and the two parties hold their primaries on the same day. When Americans register for the vote, they are given the choice of declaring their support for a party, or for none. In most states, a registered Democrat may vote only in the Democratic primary and a registered Republican in the Republican primary.

Some states, however, have "cross-over" primaries in which voters may vote in any primary - but only in one. And a few have primaries for all candidates together. A voter registered for a party or for none is free to vote for any candidate she or he wants in the general election.

A handful of states instead choose the party candidates at conventions of party activists, including Iowa which opens the election year every February. The first primary is always New Hampshire.

In theory, voters in primaries choose delegates to the party conventions. However, the delegates are bound by law to vote for the candidate they represented in the primary, so they have no power of decision in the convention. Party conventions are held in July or August.

Traditionally the actual Presidential campaign begins in the first week of September, on Labor Day. Candidates fly around the country, attending rallies, dinners and fundraisers in important states. The object is to confirm those amongst their supporters who might not bother to vote, and to persuade doubtful voters. They concentrate their efforts on those states where their presence might affect the result.

Presidential elections are decided by votes in each of the 50 states and Washington, on a winner-takes-all system in the electoral college. Whoever gets the most votes in California, for instance, gets all that huge state's 45 electoral college votes.

The most important events of presidential elections are the televised debates between the candidates. Very many voters make up their minds on the strength of these performances. Elections are held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November every four years. The 48 states of the continental US cover four time zones and individual states close their polls at different times.

The television networks have taken a vow of silence, not to announce the results in those states where the polls close early until all the polls in each time zone have closed. But despite much public agitation, the networks refuse to wait until the whole country has voted. As soon as the last polls close in the Eastern zone, at 9pm, they start giving the results, with a fierce race between them to predict the result in each state - and to extrapolate to give a national result. Chicago is an hour behind New York, Denver two hours and California three. Voters in those places therefore know how the election is going in the East while they still have time to vote in their own states.