Here is a brief introduction as to how the election process works.

The primaries:

The primaries included three different types of candidates: presidential, congressional and representative. The Illinois primary was held on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Political science professor Barbara Burrell said some states required the voter to be registered with a political party.

“It all varies by state,” Burrell said. “Some states need to be registered as a Democrat or Republican to vote [in the primaries].”

Burrell said the candidate must go to the State Board of Elections and meet certain requirements to get on the primary ballot.

“You need to pay a certain amount of money and get so many signatures to run for the primary and get on the ballot for Democrats or Republicans,” Burrell said.

General election ballot:

Sharon Holmes, DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder, said at the Oct. 14 Candidates Night that after the February primaries, representatives from all the political parties participated in a lottery that determined the order of the names listed on the general election ballot.

The parties are listed on the ballot in the order of Democrat, Green, Republican, Libertarian, New, Constitution Party of Illinois and Independent.

Polling locations:

DeKalb County has 42 different polling places, and the voter’s polling location that he or she is suppose to vote at is listed on his or her voter registration card, Holmes said.

A provisional ballot can be requested if the citizen is not listed as a registered voter or voted at the wrong polling location, said Matthew Streb, associate political science professor.

Streb also said the vote will not be counted until the county can figure out what went wrong, for example voting in the wrong precinct or clerical errors in the registration process.

“If you are registered to vote, they will make sure your vote gets counted,” Streb said. “[But] that only applies to different precincts within the county. You can’t be registered in Cook County and try to vote in DeKalb.”

Voting machines:

Voters in DeKalb County will use an optical scan process come Nov. 4.

“The votes are counted on the scanner, then the memory cards and scanners get uploaded into the computer and the results are posted on the DeKalb County Web site,” Holmes said.

Streb said some people panic thinking their vote will not be accurately counted because of

mechanical errors.

“The overall numbers of people who won’t get their vote counted are going to be incredibly small,” Streb said.

Holmes said the optical scanning process is very accurate because you have a paper ballot that you can count by hand if it was necessary.

Holmes also said there will be enough paper ballots to last on Election Day for all precincts.

Electoral College:

In the U.S., there are 538 electors. The state of Illinois has 21. In order to win the presidency, a candidate must have the majority, at least 270 electors.

Candidates spend more time campaigning for the vote in battleground states such as Ohio or Florida, Streb said.

“Non-competitive states essentially get ignored,” Streb said. “The people who live in battleground states get all the attention.”

Streb said voter turnout might be lower in noncompetitive areas like Illinois.

“People made the argument the electoral college lessens voter turnout,” Streb said. “Your vote is likely to be less than if you live in a competitive state.”

Burrell said it is possible for the presidential candidates to not win the necessary 270 electoral votes because it depends on the political status of the state representatives.

“By the [U.S.] Constitution, it goes to the House of Representatives and each state gets one vote for each state’s delegation in the House,” Burrell said.

Burrell said the electors within the electoral college are generally chosen by political parties.

“It depends on each state, usually political parties decide who the electors would be,” Burrell said. “They do not get elected [by citizens].”