Elections in United States

The United States is a federal republic, with elected officials at the federal (national), state and local levels. On a national level, the head of state, the President, is elected indirectly by the people of each state, through an Electoral College. Today, the electors virtually always vote with the popular vote of their state. All members of the federal legislature, the Congress, are directly elected by the people of each state. There are many elected offices at state level, each state having at least an elective Governor and legislature. There are also elected offices at the local level, in counties, cities, towns, townships, boroughs, and villages. According to a study by political scientist Jennifer Lawless, there were 519,682 elected officials in the United States as of 2012.

State law, not federal, regulates most aspects of the elections, including primaries, the eligibility of voters (beyond the basic constitutional definition), the running of each state's electoral college, and the running of state and local elections. The United States Constitution defines (to a basic extent) how the elections of federal officials are conducted in each state, in Article One and Article Two and various amendments. The restriction and extension of voting rights to different groups has been a contested process throughout the United States' history. The federal government has also been involved in attempts to increase voter turnout, by measures such as the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

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