美國快要選總統了，但是具體要怎樣選出來呢？就看一看英國人怎樣講解美國選舉的方法︰英國廣播公司美加板（BBC US & Canada），題為「美國選舉2016︰它是如何運作的？」（US election 2016: How does it all work?）
Technically, to run for president, you only need to be "a natural born" US citizen, at least 35 years old, and have been a resident for 14 years. Sounds easy, right? In reality, however, every president since 1933 has been a governor, senator, or five-star military general. ...
技術上而言，要選總統，閣下只需要是一個「生於國土」的美國公民、不少於35歲及已在美國居住滿14年。聽來容易，對嗎？事實上，自1933年起，每一位總統都有當過州長、參議員或五星上將的經驗。
共和及民主兩黨均提名一人作為總統選舉的代表。由二月開始，各州及海外屬地會進行一連串選舉，定出由誰當上兩黨的官方總統候選人。這一輪黨內競爭名為初選（primary）和預選（caucus）。兩黨的勝利者需取得一定數目的「黨代表」-授權投票的黨員，在7月的全國黨員大會揀出正式確定的候選人。
The candidate with the most votes in each state becomes the candidate which that state supports for president. It's all down to a system called the electoral college, a group of people who choose the winner - 538 of them, in fact. Just half of them - 270 - are needed to make a president. But not all states are equal - California, for example, has more than 10 times the population of Connecticut, so they don't get an equal say. Each state has certain number of these "electors" based on their population in the most recent census (it so happens that it's the same number of districts in a state, plus two senators).
在大多數州份，獲票最多的候選人，便可奪得該州的全部支持。在此要介紹一個名為選舉人團的制度︰簡單來說就是由一群人揀取勝利者（事實上，他們共有538人），只需得到當中半數人（270人）支持，就能當選總統。但是所有州並非是一模一樣的-例如加利福尼亞州的人口比康涅狄格州多10倍，所以他們的「話事權」也不同。每一州獲有某個數額的「選舉人」，那是基於最近一次普查的人口數目（真巧合，那是每個州的眾議院選區分區數目再加上各州均有的參議院兩席）。（待續）■林健根 會計師
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