United States House of Representatives Elections

United States House Of Representatives Elections

The United States has a federal government, 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, 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. 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 and cities. It is estimated that across the whole country, over one million offices are filled in every electoral cycle.

State law regulates most aspects of the election, 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 federal elections are held, in Article One and Article Two and various amendments. The federal government has also been involved in attempts to increase voter turnout, by measures such as the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

The financing of elections has always been controversial, because private sources make up substantial amounts of campaign contributions, especially in federal elections. Voluntary public funding for candidates willing to accept spending limits was introduced in 1974 for presidential primaries and elections. The Federal Elections Commission, created in 1975 by an amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act has the responsibility to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of U.S. presidential elections.

United States
This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
the United States
Federal government
  • Constitution
  • Taxation
Legislature
  • Congress
    • House
      • Speaker
      • Party leaders
      • Congressional districts
    • Senate
      • President pro tempore
      • Party leaders
Executive
  • President
  • Vice President
  • Cabinet
  • Federal agencies
Judiciary
  • Federal courts
    • Supreme Court
    • Courts of Appeals
    • District Courts
Elections
  • Presidential elections
  • Midterm elections
  • Off-year elections
Political parties
  • Democratic
  • Republican
  • Third parties
Federalism
  • State government
    • Governors
    • Legislatures (List)
    • State courts
  • Local government
  • Other countries
  • Atlas

Politics portal

Read more about United States House Of Representatives Elections:  Comparison of Recent and Upcoming Election Years

Famous quotes containing the words united states, united, states, house and/or elections:

    An alliance is like a chain. It is not made stronger by adding weak links to it. A great power like the United States gains no advantage and it loses prestige by offering, indeed peddling, its alliances to all and sundry. An alliance should be hard diplomatic currency, valuable and hard to get, and not inflationary paper from the mimeograph machine in the State Department.
    Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)

    Television is an excellent system when one has nothing to lose, as is the case with a nomadic and rootless country like the United States, but in Europe the affect of television is that of a bulldozer which reduces culture to the lowest possible denominator.
    Marc Fumaroli (b. 1932)

    Nullification ... means insurrection and war; and the other states have a right to put it down.
    Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)

    O, if you raise this house against this house
    It will the woefullest division prove
    That ever fell upon this cursed earth.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    In my public statements I have earnestly urged that there rested upon government many responsibilities which affect the moral and spiritual welfare of our people. The participation of women in elections has produced a keener realization of the importance of these questions and has contributed to higher national ideals. Moreover, it is through them that our national ideals are ingrained in our children.
    Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)