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The president of the United States is the leader of the executive branch .
The president is the nation’s chief executive.
The president must make sure that all of the laws of the United
States are faithfully carried out.
The president has many assistants that help him carry out the laws. His main assistant is the vice-president. If the president cannot carry out his duties, the vice president becomes president.
Other assistants to the president are called advisers. They do things like gather information, answer mail, and plan schedules.

Many departments and agencies exist within the executive branch.
The men and women in the organizations carry out the day-to-day work.
The president has to know what goes on in all these departments and agencies
The final responsibility for all that happens in the executive branch rests with the president.

Staff: a group of people who advise or help
Adviser: a person who gives information, advice, or help
Agency: a division within a larger system that serves a special purpose
Organization: a group that carries out certain activities

Every four years on the Tuesday following the first Monday is
November, the people of the United
States vote for a president and vice president.
This day is called Election Day.

The Constitution says that a candidate for president must have certain qualifications:
Must be a natural-born American citizen
Must be at least 35 years old
Must be a resident of the United States for at least
14 years

Candidates campaign for many months
Candidates tell people what they believe and how they will run the country
They make speeches and political advertisements to persuade people to vote for them.

On Election Day, voters go to a polling place where each person is guaranteed the right to vote in secret.
People vote in the privacy of a voting booth; this is called a secret ballot.
Votes are counted very quickly so citizens usually know by the end of election day which candidate has won.
This is a voting booth

The 12 th Amendment to the Constitution set up the Electoral College system.
Although citizens vote for the president and vice president they are actually voting for an elector.
Each state has the same number of electors as it does senators and representatives.
For example, North Carolina has 2 senators and 13 representatives.
This means that NC has 15 electoral votes. (2+13=15)

This is a map of electoral votes for the US
The elector who wins the most popular votes will vote for that president and vice president when the Electoral College meets about one month later.
A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the election.
All the votes for a state are given to the candidate who wins the state’s popular vote.

Al Gore
• Won the popular vote nationally
George Bush
• Won the electoral votes
• All states but Florida were decided.
• Bush was only a few hundred popular votes ahead in Florida.
• The race was so close that there was a recount and it was even taken to the Supreme Court.
• In the end, Al Gore won the popular vote, but George Bush became president

• A person can serve two terms as president
• This was set by the Twenty-
Second Amendment to the
Constitution in 1951.
• Franklin Roosevelt was the only president to serve more than two terms. He was elected president four times.

• The president takes office on January 20 th at noon.
• This date and time is set by the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution
• The new president takes an oath of office with the United
States chief justice

Qualification: a skill or quality a person must have to fill a job or position
Campaign: to work on activities connected to getting elected to a political office
Polling place: a place where people vote
Secret ballot: a way of voting in private
Electoral College: a group of people chosen by political parties to vote for the president and vice president
Popular vote: the votes by citizens in a presidential election

The part of the federal government that carries out the laws of the nation is the
______________. The president is sometimes called the
_______________. The
_________becomes president if for any reason the president cannot carry out the duties of office. The president has a staff of _________.
There are many _________and
_______ to carry out the work of the executive branch.
WORD BANK
Advisers
Agencies
Chief executive
Departments
Executive branch
Vice president

1. What qualifications must a candidate for president have?
2. How often do the voters in the United States elect a president and a vice president?
3. What does it mean to vote by secret ballot?
4. How many electors does each state have?