The voting procedure in the US is a hodge-podge of various procedures, and the electoral college has been expertly explained above. However, for every other position there is the "one person, one vote" procedure. For the senate each resident gets to vote for his/her candidate on a statewide basis. That is, a senator has to carry the majority of votes in her/his entire state. A senator's term is 6 years, and they are set up in such a way that at no time does both senatorial positions in one state come up for election in one year. The terms in the House of Representatives are (forgive me if I err here) two years in length and the congressmen/women are up for election every election cycle, every two years. They are elected from "districts" set up within a state. For example, in New Mexico there are three congressional districts. One, in the south, is largely held by Republicans. Another, in the north, is consistently held by Democrats. The third, primarily in the middle, is closely contested every year. Each person can only vote for one candidate in the district in which they live.

There has been some Republican bashing going on here in terms of gerrymandering. Let's remember, folks, that in states with local legislatures held by Democrats that the exact same process is going on to guarantee that no Republican is ever elected in their districts/precincts. I use New Mexico as another example, where in the local state legislature it is virtually assured that we will never have a Republican majority because all the Republican leaning areas are gerrymandered into separate districts. These "super-Republican" districts elect Republicans, for sure, but because of the way the lines are drawn there will never be a majority of Republicans elected. I am not saying this to say the Democrats are evil. I'm just saying that both political parties draw the lines in a way such as to guarantee the continuation of their political power. As Art Brooks says above, it has absolutely no impact on the Presidential elections.

Incidentally, NM usually splits its senatorial team - we have had one Democrat and one Republican for quite a while now. The vote for governor tends to alternate - we get fed up with a Democrat, elect a Republican for a term or two, and then get fed up with the Republicans and elect a Democrat for a term or two. They don't call our state capitol the "Roundhouse" just because of its geometrical design. ;-)

Freightdawg