Elections in the United States

The United States has a federal government, with elected officials at federal (national), state and local level. On a national level, the head of state, the President, is elected indirectly by the people, through electors of an electoral college. In modern times, the electors virtually always vote with the popular vote of their state. All members of the federal legislature, Congress, are directly elected. There are many elected offices at state level, each state having at least an elective governor and legislature. There are also elected offices at local level, in counties and cities. It is estimated that across the whole country, over one million elected offices are filled in every electoral cycle.

Voting

Eligibility

The eligibility of an individual for voting is set out in the constitution and also regulated at state level. The constitution states that suffrage cannot be denied on grounds of race or color (Fifteenth Amendment), sex (Nineteenth Amendment) or age for citizens eighteen years or older (Twenty-sixth Amendment). Beyond these basic qualifications, it is the responsibility of statutes of state legislatures to regulate voter eligibility. Some states debar convicted criminals, especially felons, from voting for a fixed period of time or indefinitely. The number of American adults who are currently or permanently ineligible to vote due to felony convictions is estimated to be 5.3 million. Some states also have legacy constitutional statements barring the "insane" or "idiots" from voting; such references are generally considered obsolete and are being considered for review or removal where they appear.

Voter registration

Registering to vote is the responsibility of individuals in the United States, since voters are not automatically registered to vote once they reach the age of 18. Every state except North Dakota requires that citizens who wish to vote be registered. Some states allow citizens to register to vote on the same day of the election. Traditionally, voters had to register at state offices to vote, but in the mid-1990s efforts were made by the federal government to make registering easier, in an attempt to increase turnout. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993, commonly known as "Motor Voter", forced state governments to make the voter registration process easier by providing uniform registration services through drivers' license registration centers, disability centers, schools, libraries, and mail-in registration. Idaho, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Wyoming and North Dakota are exempt. This is because in these states (except North Dakota, where no registration is required) same-day registration has been adopted, allowing voters to register to vote on the day of the election.

Absentee voting

An absentee ballot paper for Milton, New Hampshire. This ballot paper gives the voter the option to write-in a candidate and use straight ticket voting. Voters unable or unwilling to vote at polling stations on Election Day, can vote via absentee ballots. Absentee ballots are most commonly sent and received via the United States Postal Service. Despite their name absentee ballots are often requested and submitted in person. About half of all states and U.S. territories allow " no excuse absentee," where no reason is required to request an absentee ballot. Others require a valid reason, such as infirmity or travel, be given before a voter can participate using an absentee ballot. Some states, including California, allow citizens to apply for permanent absentee voter status, which will automatically receive an absentee ballot for each election. Typically a voter must request an absentee ballot before the election occurs.

A significant source of absentee ballots is the population of Americans living outside the United States. In 1986 Congress enacted the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). UOCAVA requires that the states and territories allow members of the United States Uniformed Services and merchant marine, their family members, and United States citizens residing outside the United States to register and vote absentee in elections for Federal offices. Though many states had pre-existing statutes in place UOCAVA made it mandatory and nationally uniform.

Voting equipment

Voters casting their ballots in polling places record their votes most commonly with optical scan voting machines or DRE voting machines. Voting machine selection is typically done through a state's local election jurisdiction including counties, cities, and townships. Many of these local jurisdictions have changed their voting equipment since 2000 due to the passage of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which allocated funds for the replacement of lever machine and punch card voting equipment.

Levels of election

Federal elections

The United States has a Presidential system of government, which means that the executive and legislature are elected separately. Article One of the United States Constitution requires that any election for the U.S. President must occur on a single day throughout the country; elections for Congressional offices, however, can be held at different times. Congressional and Presidential elections take place simultaneously every four years, and the intervening Congressional elections, which take place every two years, are called Midterm elections.

The constitution states that members of the United States House of Representatives must be at least 25 years old, a citizen of the United States for at least seven years, and be a (legal) inhabitant of the state they represent. Senators must be at least 30 years old, a citizen of the United States for at least nine years, and be a (legal) inhabitant of the state they represent. The President must be at least 35 years old, a natural born citizen of the United States and a resident in the United States for at least fourteen years. It is the responsibility of state legislatures to regulate the qualifications for a candidate appearing on a ballot paper. "Getting on the ballot" is based on candidate's performances in previous elections.

Presidential elections

The President and the Vice President are elected together in a Presidential election. The election is indirect, the winner being determined by votes cast by electors of the United States Electoral College. In modern times, voters in each state select a slate of electors from a list of several slates designated by different parties or candidates, and the electors typically promise in advance to vote for the candidates of their party (whose names usually appear on the ballot rather than those of the individual electors). The winner of the election is the candidate with at least 270 Electoral College votes. It is possible for a candidate to win the electoral vote, and lose the (nationwide) popular vote (receive fewer votes nationwide than the second ranked candidate). Until the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution of 1804, the runner-up in a Presidential election became the Vice President.

Electoral College votes are cast by individual states by a group of electors, each elector casts one electoral college vote. In modern times, with electors usually committed to vote for a party candidate in advance, electors that vote against the popular vote in their state are called faithless electors, and occurrences are rare. State law regulates how states cast their electoral college votes. In all states except Maine and Nebraska, the candidate that wins the most votes in the state receives all its electoral college votes (a "winner takes all" system). From 1969 in Maine, and from 1991 in Nebraska, two electoral votes are awarded based on the winner of the statewide election, and the rest (two in Maine, three in Nebraska) go to the highest vote-winner in each of the state's congressional districts. Incumbent Presidents and challengers usually seek to have a "balanced ticket" (it refers to the fact that the President and the Vice President are elected together). Usually, there is some kind of balance, for example geographical, ideological, or in terms of (especially federal) government experience. The nominated Vice Presidential candidate is called the " running mate ". Although incumbent Presidents can be challenged in the primaries, none have lost their party's nomination in recent times. The last incumbent President to not seek a second term was Lyndon B. Johnson, who stepped down after serving the remainder of John F. Kennedy's term and another full term (he was eligible for another term).

The electoral college has long been criticized, for several reasons. It has been criticized for being undemocratic by definition, since through it the President is elected indirectly rather than a direct system of election. Another criticism is that it creates inequality between voters in different states during the presidential election. Usually, only voters in swing states determine the outcome of the election and as a result, it is claimed that the vast majority of Americans, who live in non-competitive states, are largely ignored by political campaigns. If the electoral college were abolished and if the whole country were treated as one district for Presidential elections, then the result would not depend on crucial swing states. It also creates inequality in that the populations of very small states, which have a minimum of 3 Electoral college votes, are overrepresented compared with voters from larger states. For example, Wyoming has a population of 493,782 and 3 EC votes, 164,594 people per EC vote. California has a population of 33,871,648 and 55 EC votes, 615,848 people per EC vote. Abolishing the college and replacing it with a national direct system would also prevent a candidate from receiving fewer votes nationwide than their opponent, but still winning more electoral votes, which last occurred in the 2000 Presidential election. Also, the electoral college discriminates against candidates who do not have support concentrated in several states. In 1992, Ross Perot won 18.9% of the national vote, but received no electoral college votes. The electoral college would require a constitutional amendment to be abolished, and since three-quarters of state legislatures would be required to ratify an amendment that would effectively redistribute voting power from many small states to numerically fewer large states, it is thought that an amendment would fail.

House elections

The House of Representatives has 435 members, elected for a two year term in single-seat constituencies. Critics point out that the division of the country into congressional districts tends to eliminate voter choice, in many cases creating areas in which races are uncontested or uncompetitive. Redistricting of Congressional districts is done every ten years by commissions, which are often controlled by the majority party in a state legislature. As a result, much redistricting is partisan and reduces the number of competitive districts. According to The Economist, "if democracy means multi-party competition at the grass roots, America is not a full democracy in elections to the House of Representatives... More than nine in ten Americans live in districts that are, in practice, one-party monopolies." Much of the reason for this is partisan gerrymandering which is allowed to occur by state law in virtually every state. U.S. House elections are general elections to the United States House of Representatives that occur every two years on the first Tuesday after November 1 in even years. House elections are first-past-the-post elections that elect a Representative from each of (currently) 435 House districts which cover the United States. Special House elections can occur between if a member dies or resigns during a term.

House elections are usually, but not always, correlated with presidential elections. Typically, when a House election occurs in the same year as a presidential election, the party of the presidential winner will gain seats. On the other hand, there is a historical pattern that the incumbent president's party loses seats in elections that are held in the middle of a presidential term. This may be because the President's popularity has slipped since election, or because the President's popularity encouraged supporters to come out to vote for him in the presidential election, but these supporters are less likely to vote when the President is not up for election.

As the redistricting commissions of states are often partisan, districts are often drawn which benefit incumbents. An increasing trend has been for incumbents to have an overwhelming advantage in House elections, and since the 1994 election, an unusually low number of seats has changed hands in each election. Due to gerrymandering, fewer than 10% of all House seats are contested in each election cycle. The legal gerrymandering of the House, combined with the institutionalized gerrymandering of the Senate and the Electoral College, have been criticized as being antithetical to democracy and representative government.

State elections

State law and state constitutions, controlled by state legislatures regulate elections at a state level and local level. Various officials at state level are elected. Since the separation of powers applies to states as well as the federal government, state legislatures and the executive (the governor) are elected separately. Governors and Lieutenant governor are elected in all states, in some states on a joint ticket and in some states separately, some separately in different electoral cycles. In some states, executive positions such as Attorney General and Secretary of State are also elected offices. All members of state legislatures are elected, state senators and state representatives/assembly members. Nebraska's legislature is unicameral, so only senators are elected. In some states, members of the state supreme court and other members of the state judiciary are elected. Proposals to amend the state constitution are also placed on the ballot in some states.

Local elections

At the local level, county and city government positions are usually filled by election, especially within the legislative branch. The extent to which offices in the executive or judicial branches are elected vary from county to county. Some examples of local elected positions include sheriffs at the county level and mayors and school board members at the city level.