How the IOC Presentations, Voting Works

Here is how the International Olympic Committee presentations and voting works:

CHICAGO'S PRESENTATION

Chicago was drawn to go first. The Chicago presentation started around 1:45 in the morning Chicago time, and lasted for about an hour. The presentation will included speeches from politicians, athletes and other people who are important figures in Chicago. There were also some video packages shown.

Immediately after the presentation, the ten members of the presentation team, which includes President and Mrs. Obama, answered questions, in a process the International Olympic Committee calls "interventions."

The executive director of the IOC asked questions that were handed in by voting members, and the first one came from Prince Albert of Monaco.

OTHER PRESENTATIONS

The three other candidate cities will each make their presentations in the same manner.

Following Chicago will be, in this order: Tokyo, Rio and Madrid.

All four presentations will be broadcast live , in their entirety on myfoxchicago.com. Each presentation will be made in English -- except Tokyo's, which will have an English interpreter.

HOW THE VOTING WORKS

After all the presentations, there are a maximum of three rounds of elimination voting.

The city that wins must get more than 50 percent of the votes. The voting IOC members cast their votes using a secret electronic ballot. If a candidate is unable to obtain the majority in the first round, the city with the fewest votes is eliminated.

Then the voting starts all over again with the three remaining candidate cities. And again, a city must obtain more than 50 percent of the vote to win.

Since there are four candidate cities, there's a maximum of three rounds of voting before a winner can be announced.

The contest is expected to be close. It would be surprising if a city is picked in less than three rounds of voting.

Voting figures won't be released until after the IOC president announces the winning candidate. However, it will be announced when cities are eliminated in the voting rounds.

WHO'S VOTING

There are 97 votes up for grabs in the first round.

They include 11 from  Latin America, which includes the Caribbean, 10 from Asia, eight from the Middle East, 16 from Africa, five from Australia and the Pacific island nations, three from North America, and 44 from Europe.

Those numbers do not include two from the U.S., two from Brazil, two from Japan, one from Spain, and IOC chair Jacques Rogge. That's because IOC members whose country is in the running are not permitted to vote.

Also not included is one Korean IOC member who has been suspended.

THE WINNER

The winning city will be announced at 11:51 a.m. Chicago time.

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Complete Coverage of Chicago's 2016 Bid:

• How the IOC's Voting Works
• Obama Uses Personal Story to Boost Bid
• Today's Schedule of Events in Denmark
• Happening Around Chicago
• Buses Rerouted Due to City Events
• What If Chicago Really Gets Games?
• Comment: What Do You Think?
• Photos: Chicago 2016 in Denmark
• Video: Watch Chicago's Presentation
• Special Section: Chicago 2016

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