US Election explained via video for anyone else who is a little lost like me...

I have no idea how the US election system works. So I found a rather neat little video on YouTube from the UK Parliament that explains it.

Although I am still a little lost.

My question is could it be more complicated?

Apparently so according to this video...

a reply to: MrsNonSpecific

The electoral college.

-Sarcasm font- Best. Thing. Ever. -End sarcasm font-

a reply to: frostie

Why did it evolve into such a complicated system? Is it something to do with the fact you have a federal system, or it's just evolved as the countries evolved?

I may have to consult google and YouTube a little bit more.

a reply to: MrsNonSpecific
Perhaps you can think of the electoral college as a disguised version of our own system in which we vote for M.P.'s who have committed themselves to a party leader.

The real oddity is the "primary" system, which is about voters deciding who the party candidate is going to be.
In our system, we leave that decision to the parties. That's why American politics is so expensive, because they have to spend a fortune just to get selected to run in the election proper.