20. Do Americans have direct elections of the President?

No. When American voters go to the polls to vote for president, many believe that they are participating in a direct election of the president. Technically, this is not the case, due to the existence of the Electoral College, a constitutional relic of the 18th century. Americans can elect only the members of the Electoral College who than meet and cast ballots for president and vice president.

21. What is an electoral college? What is the number of electors in the state of Rhode Island?

An electoral college is a set of electors who are empowered to elect a candidate to a particular office. The United States Electoral College is a term used to describe the 538 presidential electors who meet every four years to cast the official votes for President and Vice President of the United States.[1] The Constitution gives each state legislature the plenary power to choose the electors who shall represent its state in the Electoral College.

There are 4 electors in the state of Rhode Island.

22. What elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November? And the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December every leap year?

The date when the 538 electors are appointed based on the popular vote in each state and the District of Columbia is always the day after the first Monday of November of each leap year. In 2012, that is November 6. The date when the electors meet in each state (and D.C.) to record their votes is always the Monday after the second Wednesday of December. In 2012, thatisDecember 17.

23. When is the Inauguration ceremony held?

The inauguration of the President of the United States takes place during the commencement of a new term of a President of the United States, which is every four years on January 20. Prior to the Twentieth Amendment, the date was March 4, the day of the year on which the Constitution of the United States first took effect in 1789; the last inauguration to take place on the older date was Franklin D. Roosevelt's first one on March 4, 1933. The day a presidential inauguration occurs is known as "Inauguration Day".

24. Who was the first President of the us?

George Washington

(Feb. 22 [Feb. 11], 1732, Westmoreland county, Va. [U.S.] ~ Dec. 14, 1799, Mount Vernon, Va., U.S.)

American general and commander in chief of the colonial armies in the American Revolution (1775–83) and subsequently first president of the United States (1789–97). (Britannica)

25. Where are nominees for the president selected?

At the United States presidential nominating convention which is a political convention held every four years in the United States by most of the political parties who will be fielding nominees in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. The formal purpose of such a convention is to select the party's nominee for President, as well as to adopt a statement of party principles and goals known as the platform and adopt the rules for the party's activities, including the presidential nominating process for the next election cycle. Due to changes in election laws and the manner in which political campaigns are run, conventions since the later half of the 20th century have virtually abdicated their original roles, and are today mostly ceremonial affairs. (Wikipedia)

One important consequence of the front-loading of primaries is that the nominees of both major parties are now usually determined by March or April. To secure a party's nomination, a candidate must win the votes of a majority of the delegates attending the convention. (More than 4,000 delegates attend the Democratic convention, while the Republican convention usually comprises some 2,500 delegates.) In most Republican primaries the candidate who wins the statewide popular vote is awarded all the state's delegates. By contrast, the Democratic Party requires that delegates be allocated proportionally to each candidate who wins at least 15 percent of the popular vote. It thus takes Democratic candidates longer than Republican candidates to amass the required majority. In 1984 the Democratic Party created a category of “superdelegates,” who are unpledged to any candidate. Consisting of federal officeholders, governors, and other high-ranking party officials, they usually constitute 15 to 20 percent of the total number of delegates. Other Democratic delegates are required on the first ballot to vote for the candidate whom they are pledged to support, unless that candidate has withdrawn from consideration. If no candidate receives a first-ballot majority, the convention becomes open to bargaining, and all delegates are free to support any candidate. The last convention to require a second ballot was held in 1952, before the advent of the primary system.

The Democratic and Republican nominating conventions are held during the summer prior to the November general election and are publicly funded through the taxpayer check-off system. (The party that holds the presidency usually holds its convention second.) Shortly before the convention, the presidential candidate selects a vice presidential running mate, often to balance the ticket ideologically or geographically or to shore up one or more of the candidate's perceived weaknesses.

In the early days of television, the conventions were media spectacles and were covered by the major commercial networks gavel to gavel. As the importance of the conventions declined, however, so too did the media coverage of them. Nevertheless, the conventions are still considered vital. It is at the conventions that the parties draft their platforms, which set out the policies of each party and its presidential candidate. The convention also serves to unify each party after what may have been a bitter primary season. Finally, the conventions mark the formal start of the general election campaign (because the nominees do not receive federal money until they have been formally chosen by the convention delegates), and they provide the candidates with a large national audience and an opportunity to explain their agendas to the American public. (Britannica)