00:00Welcome back to From the South, and now let's begin with our special segment with our colleague
00:17Belén de los Santos.
00:18Hi, Belén.
00:19Thank you, Alejandra, and welcome to this special segment dedicated to follow all the
00:26latest in the days leading up to the U.S. presidential elections of 2024.
00:31My name is Belén de los Santos.
00:32I'm from the Televisual Studios in Caracas, Venezuela.
00:35Stay with us.
00:47And we begin with the information.
00:49With six days until 2024, election voters in the U.S. are already casting their ballots,
00:54as early voting is underway in some states.
00:57According to the election lab at the University of Florida, as of Wednesday afternoon, more
01:02than 57.5 million U.S. citizens have voted, with over 30 million exercising their right
01:10early in person, and about 27 million doing so via early mail.
01:16The numbers come in a context where Kamala Harris' campaign has pushed for Democratic
01:21voters to utilize early voting more aggressively, while Donald Trump has been critical of this
01:27modality.
01:35And the candidates are intensifying their campaign event to get the undecided vote in
01:40key states.
01:41Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump are in the final stretch of their presidential
01:46race, and fully immersed in the battle to win votes ahead of the November 5th polls.
01:51During her closing arguments in Washington's ellipse, the site of Trump's January 6, 2021
01:57rally, Kamala Harris focused on a final plea against the Republican candidate, urging the
02:03country to move beyond violent divisions.
02:06The Democratic nominee, who has been running for only three months in a compressed campaign
02:11launched after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, aimed her closing rally at
02:16undermining Trump's character and leadership, strategically focusing on the divisiveness
02:22of his speech.
02:29Meanwhile the presidential candidate Donald Trump visited Allentown in Pennsylvania on
02:34October 29th, after an escalation in controversies over Puerto Rico remarks.
02:40The former president returned to Pennsylvania after a comedian at Trump's Madison Square
02:45Garden rally sparked controversy among the U.S. Latin American community.
02:50The visit to Allentown, where the Hispanic population makes up to 55% of the total, was
02:56an opportunity for the former president to appeal to Latinos after different groups denounced
03:02the racist and disrespectful jokes made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto
03:08Rico a floating island of garbage at his New York rally.
03:29In this context, dozens of Latinos protested in the streets of Allentown, Pennsylvania,
03:34in rejection of the racist comments made by Hinchcliffe.
03:37Pennsylvania is one of the key states to determine the outcome of the U.S. elections due to the
03:42strong presence of Hispanic residents, 450,000 of whom are from Puerto Rico.
03:49In the face of the controversy, dozens of Puerto Rican artists spoke out on social networks,
03:54repudiating the comments made by Hinchcliffe and, in turn, expressing their support to
03:59Kamala Harris in the upcoming polls.
04:07And with November 5th fast approaching, we analyzed the Electoral College to dissect
04:12just how does this cornerstone of the U.S. election process works.
04:16Let's see.
04:17The Electoral College is a sort of intrigue for some who don't understand how it works.
04:26Since its creation, this form of indirect election of the president is not a physical
04:31place.
04:32It is a process that begins with choosing the electors who cast their votes for president
04:37and vice president, as well as the counting of votes for Congress.
04:42The Electoral College is composed of 538 electors, each state having several electors equal to
04:50its seats in Congress.
04:52That is, one of each of its members in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
04:57Each state chooses its electors in a different way, but generally, they are still led by
05:02political party of the presidential candidate in that state.
05:05Although each state is allowed to regulate how the electoral system works, most states
05:11implement a winner-take-all system, where all electors' votes are awarded to the candidate
05:17who wins the state's popular votes.
05:21The electoral process begins with the general election, which is held every four years of
05:26the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
05:29By voting for a presidential candidate, the U.S. citizens are voting for the candidate's
05:33preferred constituency.
05:35On election day, a prior winner is usually announced on the evening of the same voting
05:39date, according to the government's website.
05:42After the general elections, the state executives prepare a certificate of assertment that lists
05:47the names of the designated electors and the votes each individual receives.
05:51This certificate is sent to the National Archives to become part of the official record of the
05:56presidential election.
05:59The meeting of the electors takes place on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday
06:04in December, and electors vote for president and vice presidents on separate ballots.
06:09These votes are recorded on a certificate of votes, which is sent to the Congress and
06:13to the National Archives.
06:15The electoral votes of each state are counted at a joint session of Congress on January
06:206.
06:21The process concludes with a joint session of Congress at which, under the office of
06:25the Vice President of the United States, the votes of the electors are counted and the
06:30new president-elect is officially declared.
06:33According to the United States National Archives, the president-elect is sworn in as president
06:37of the nation on January 20 of the year following the general elections.
06:45And that's all for today in this special segment in which we analyze the latest on
06:49the road to the U.S. election day.
06:51Stay tuned for Tell Us Your English as we continue bringing you the latest updates and
06:56join us next week for our special media coverage, U.S. Decide 2024.
07:00Back to you, Alejandra.
07:05Thank you, Belén.
07:06We were listening to our colleague Belén de los Santos with an overview of the upcoming
07:10general elections in the United States.
07:13And with this special segment that will be live also on Thursday, October 31st, 8 p.m.
07:19Caracas time, we have come to the end of this news brief.
07:22But you can find this and many other stories on our website at tellusoreenglish.net and
07:26join us on social media.
07:28We are on Facebook, X, Instagram, Telegram, and TikTok as well.
07:32For Tell Us Your English, I'm Alejandra García.
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