Antiquated but decisive - how America votes

There is something satisfying about an election process that sees people vote and find out who their new leaders are on the same day.

Most European elections are not so clear cut - the proportional or preferential voting systems tend to result in several days of counting followed by days or weeks of tense negotiations as party bosses try to cobble together a governing coalition.

But in the US case, the (usually) decisive end-product is the result of a bewilderingly intricate syst...