Election day is the day set by law for the public’s elections of their officials.  It always occurs on the Tuesday right after the first Monday in November; as early as November 2, but no later than November 8.  For federal office positions, Election Day occurs only in even numbered years.  Presidential elections are every four years, House of Representative and Senate elections are held every two years.  Election Day is considered a civic holiday in nine states, so most students have off from school and parents are off from work.  Other states require workers be allowed to take time off without loss of pay (assuming they are using that time to vote).

On November 4, 2008 Barack Hussein Obama was elected as the 44th President of the United States of America; a milestone in American politics, as it broke down the racial barrier.  “As much [of] a strikingly symbolic moment in the evolution of the nation’s fraught racial history, a breakthrough that would have seemed unthinkable just two years ago” was made possible.  Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, defeated Senator John McCain of Arizona, running for presidency a second time.  McCain commented, “We both realize that we have come a long way from the injustices that once stained our nation’s reputation”.  Obama’s victory put democrats in control of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the White House “for the first time since 1995, when Bill Clinton was in office”.

A candidate needs 270 votes to win.  Obama won with 365 votes  (66,882,230; 53%) compared to McCain’s 173 (58,343,671; 46%) in 2008.  Then in 2012 Obama was reelected for a second term with 332 electoral votes (65,55,010; 51%) over Romney’s 206 electoral votes (60,771,703; 47%).  Electing  Obama as president represented the nation’s cumulative acceptance of African Americans.  It only took 143 years since slavery.

Credit to Adam Nagourney’s article, Obama Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls, from the New York Times.