General Elections in the United States

Congressional Elections

According to the Constitution, any person whom a State allows to vote for members of “the most numerous Branch” of its own legislature is qualified to vote in congressional elections (Article I, Section 2, Clause 1). The Constitution also provides that “The Times, Places and Manner of holding [Congressional] Elections … shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations…. ” (Article I, Section 4, Clause 1). The Constitution allows only one method for filling a vacancy in the House–by a special election, which may be called only by the governor of the State involved; Article 1, Section 2, Clause 4.

Date

Congressional elections are held on the same day in every State. Since 1872 Congress has required that those elections be held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November of each even-numbered year. Congress has made an exception for Alaska, which may hold its election in October. To date, however, Alaskans have chosen to use the November date.

In that same 1872 law, Congress directed that representatives be chosen by written or printed ballots. The use of voting machines was approved in 1899, and today, most votes cast in congressional elections are cast on some type of (usually electronic) voting machine.

Off-Year Elections

Those congressional elections that occur in the nonpresidential years–that is, between presidential elections–are called off-year elections. The most recent ones were held in 2002, and the next ones are due in 2006.

Far more often than not, the party in power– the party that holds the presidency–loses seats in the off-year elections. The time line below illustrates that point. The President’s party did particularly poorly in 1974, after President Nixon resigned due to the Watergate Scandal, and in 1994, during President Clinton’s first term. The 1998 off-year elections were an exception to the rule. That summer and fall, the Republican Congress held hearings to prepare to impeach President Clinton. Public opinion polls showed weak support for the impeachment, and many believe the hearings prompted significant support for Democratic candidates for Congress.

Districts

The 435 members of the House are chosen by the voters in 435 separate congressional districts across the country. Recall that seven States now each have only one seat in the House of Representatives. There are, then, 428 congressional districts within the other 43 States.

The Constitution makes no mention of congressional districts. For more than half a century, Congress allowed each State to decide whether to elect its members by a general ticket system or on a single-member district basis. Under the Single-member district arrangement, the voters in each district elect one of the State’s representatives from among a field of candidates running for a seat in the House from that district.

Most States quickly set up single-member districts. Several States used the general ticket system, however. Under that arrangement, all of the State’s seats were filled at-large –that is, elected from the State as a whole, rather than from a particular district. Every voter could vote for a candidate for each one of the State’s seats in the House.

At-large elections proved grossly unfair. A party with even a very small plurality of voters Statewide could win all of a State’s seats in the House. Congress finally did away with the general ticket system in 1842. Thereafter, all of the seats in the House were to be filled from single-member districts in each State. Since the seven States with the fewest residents each have only one representative in the House, these representatives are said to be elected “at-large.” Although each representative represents a single-member district, that district covers the entire State.

The 1842 law made each State legislature responsible for drawing any congressional districts within its own State. It also required that each congressional district be made up of “contiguous territory,” meaning that it must be all one piece. In 1872 Congress added the command that the districts within each State have “as nearly as practicable an equal number of inhabitants.” In 1901 it further directed that all the districts be of “compact territory”–in other words, a comparatively small area.

Oklahoma lost one seat in the House following the 2000 census. One representative from southeastern Oklahoma announced he would not run for reelection and the counties he represented were divided among other districts. Why does the redrawing of district lines regularly produce sharp political conflicts in a State? ]

These requirements of contiguity, population equality, and compactness were often disregarded by State legislatures, and Congress made no real effort to enforce them. The requirements were left out of the Reapportionment Act of 1929. In 1932 the Supreme Court held (in Wood v. Broom) that they had therefore been repealed. Over time, then, and most notably since 1929, the State legislatures have drawn many districts with very peculiar geographic shapes. Moreover, until fairly recently, many districts were also of widely varying populations.

National Elections

By date:

• Elections of 1788/1789
• Election of 1792
• Election of 1796
• Election of 1800
• Election of 1804
• Election of 1808
• Election of 1812
• Election of 1816
• Election of 1820
• Election of 1824
• Election of 1828
• Election of 1832
• Election of 1836
• Election of 1840
• Election of 1844
• Election of 1848
• Election of 1852
• Election of 1856
• Election of 1860
• Election of 1864
• Election of 1868
• Election of 1872
• Election of 1876
• Election of 1880
• Election of 1884
• Election of 1888
• Election of 1892
• Election of 1896
• Election of 1900
• Election of 1904
• Election of 1908
• Election of 1912
• Election of 1916
• Election of 1920
• Election of 1924
• Election of 1928
• Election of 1932
• Election of 1936
• Election of 1940
• Election of 1944
• Election of 1948
• Election of 1952
• Election of 1956
• Election of 1960
• Election of 1964
• Election of 1968
• Election of 1972
• Election of 1976
• Election of 1980
• Election of 1984
• Election of 1988
• Election of 1992
• Election of 1996
• Election of 2000
• Election of 2004
• Election of 2008
• Election of 2012

Resources

Further Reading

• Information about General Elections in the Gale Encyclopedia of American Law.