US federal election proceedings officially begin this week, but Americans won’t vote for president until November 5 — it sounds illogical, doesn’t it?

And yet, both things are true. 

That’s because America holds a bunch of contests to chose who’s officially running for the White House before the presidential election decides who will run the country.

Many are expecting it will come down to Donald Trump and Joe Biden — which would essentially be a rematch of the last election.

Joe Biden is virtually a certainty to be on Americans’ ballot papers in November. The Republican race is the more competitive one, but this year it’s less so than usual with Donald Trump clearly the favourite to win.

But we can’t say that for sure until we see how candidates perform in state-by-state contests over the next few months.

Compared to the way Australia picks its prime minister, the US system is complicated and confusing, so we’ve broken down what’s going to happen. 

Why are some Americans voting now?

First off, it’s important to note that voting is optional in the US so not every American is voting, only the ones who choose to — more on that later.

And they’re not voting for who will become president — remember, that’s not until November 5.

They’re voting for who will be on the voting paper on election day. 

There are two major parties in the US — the Republicans and the Democrats — and they each only nominate one candidate for president. 

Other minor parties exist and people can run for president independently but, in the end, it all comes down to the Republican and the Democratic nominees. 

And everyday Americans have the opportunity to vote for who they want those nominees to be in what’s called primary season. 

This is a big difference from Australia, where party leaders are the candidates for prime minister — and those party leaders are picked by politicians, not the wider Australian public. 

What is primary season?

It’s the period of time when the Republican and Democratic parties hold what are essentially mini elections in each of America’s 50 states and five territories.

There are also elections in the District of Columbia and the Democratic Party also holds one for its overseas members.

And how they run is decided by the parties and the states, so they’re all a bit different. 

This means they don’t all happen on the same day — the first one is in Iowa on Monday (local time) and the last ones aren’t held until June. 

More than 100 of these elections will happen between now and June. 

They’ll either take the form of what’s called a presidential primary or a caucus.

What is a presidential primary?

Presidential primaries are run in a similar way to general elections, in that voters go into a booth and cast a secret ballot at any point of the day on election day.

This is the most common form of electing candidates. 

Primaries are generally run by the state, but not always. 

What is a caucus?

Caucuses are essentially meetings run by political parties.

And they can be held at county, district, or precinct levels — so they can get pretty big. 

At the end of these meetings, participants vote for a candidate — sometimes by a secret ballot, sometimes by just physically grouping together.

Who gets to vote in primary season?

That depends on state and political party rules, USAGov’s website explains. 

So, again, it’s different across the country. 

Some primaries and caucuses are known as open, where people don’t need to be registered with a party to vote in that party’s election. 

Some are closed, where voting is restricted to registered members of that party. 

And there are also hybrid versions of open and closed primaries and caucuses.

Take what’s happening in Iowa later today as an example.

Only registered Republican voters can vote in Iowa’s Republican caucus and only registered Democrat voters can vote in Iowa’s Democratic caucus.

And, before you ask, Iowa’s laws mean people can only participate in one party’s caucus.

Iowa’s Democratic caucus will be made up of in-person meetings across the state as well as a postal vote, and we won’t know the result of the postal vote until March.

The result of Iowa’s Republican caucus, on the other hand, will be known immediately.

But primaries aren’t the final say

You might assume that, once these elections are held, the person with the most votes automatically becomes their party’s candidate. 

But that’s not how it works.

Because it’s not the amount of votes from primaries and caucuses that determines who becomes a presidential candidate, it’s the number of delegates they have, USGov explains.

Presidential candidates are chosen by delegates at their party’s national conventions — big political events which will be held later in the year.

Oh, and what are delegates, you ask?

They’re actual people who are elected to represent their state or community at their party’s national convention. 

So what’s the point of primaries and caucuses, you might wonder?

The primary and caucus results determine how delegates are allocated. 

But this isn’t straightforward, because each state and party has different rules about how they allocate those delegates.

Some states are winner-take-all, some will allocate them proportionally, and others use more complicated formulas. 

The Republican party in Iowa, for example, gets 40 delegates.

And although we might have a pretty good idea who will be the Democratic or Republican candidate well before every state has held its primary, the party conventions are where the delegate votes are cast — thus officially confirming the Republican and Democratic candidates.

Who is in the running for president?

It’s tipped to be a two-horse race between the current president  — Mr Biden — and the former president  — Mr Trump.

But that’s not set in stone. 

There are five people in the running to be the Republican candidate:

• Ron Desantis
• Nikki Haley 
• Asa Hutchinson
• Vivek Ramaswamy
• Donald Trump

And three people in the running to be the Democratic candidate:

• Joe Biden
• Marianne Williamson
• Dean Phillips 

There’s also a few other people outside of these parties who say they’re running for the role, including independents Robert F Kennedy Jnr, Jill Stein and Cornel West. 

But, again, it’s really about the Republicans and the Democrats. 

The contest against Democratic hopefuls is less interesting because, as sitting president, Mr Biden seems likely to secure his party’s nomination. 

This is why the focus is really on the Republicans. 

Mr Trump has already been president before and has quite a vocal support base.

On the other hand, he’s facing 91 criminal counts across four indictments, and not all Republicans back him. 

So there’s great interest in who will end up on the Republican ticket come November. 

What are some dates to watch for?

March 5: On this day, 15 states hold their primaries at the same time — which is a lot. Known as ‘Super Tuesday’, it’s a big deal because the results tend to influence the primaries in the following months. 

July 15 to 18: The Republican National Convention

August 19 to 22: The Democratic National Convention

November 5: Presidential Election