Dear Kristin, I know that the first Tuesday after November 1st is election day, but it feels like every other day I hear about elections taking place. It is confusing. Help!
First, you are correct that in the U.S., the general election for federal public officials is set by law and occurs on the first Tuesday after November 1st.
That day gets a lot of attention every two years because it is when all of the Members of Congress elected to the House of Representatives are up for re-election, along with 1/3rd of our Senators. Every four years it gets even more attention because of the election of the President, in addition to the election of all Representatives and 1/3rd of the Senators. Add in elections for Governor, state-level representatives, senators, city council officials, etc., and the flood of campaign activity leading up to election day starts to make sense.
What you have been hearing about lately are primary elections. Primaries take place in each state ahead of the general election in November. These primary elections narrow down who will appear on the November ballot. You might have seen some headlines about Super Tuesday that just took place on June 5th. On that day, 8 states held their primary election. Primary dates differ because they are set by the individual states, not at the federal level.
Additionally, over the past eighteen months, several members of Congress have resigned their seats for a variety of professional, health, or personal reasons, including many Republicans who left Congress to serve in President Trump’s cabinet. Each state determines how these vacancies are filled, with some being replaced only in the general election and others holding “special,” early elections to fill the seat for the remainder of the Representative or Senator’s term. Over the past fourteen months, special elections have taken place in Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Montana, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina, among others. Two more special elections — in Texas and in Ohio — will take place before the 2018 midterm elections.
Check here to see the date of your state’s primary election, and check out what your ‘sample ballot’ looks like here: Ballotpedia Sample Ballot Lookup.
| Did you know? Elections are expensive to conduct. See an example price tag of a special election here: Wake County taxpayers, in North Carolina, paid about $599,000 for a primary election of the state’s congressional delegation and some judges. And check out the average cost of poll workers ($100-$300) and voting machines ($2,500-$100,000) here. If you want to go deep, NCSL breaks down the how states and counties share election-related costs. |
Democratic representation is strongest at the local level. Check out this post about how to find and learn about your candidates, which also gives tips on how to stay abreast of hyper-local elections taking place that impact your day-to-day life.
For more information on these topics, check out our election-related briefs on Election Integrity brief and Assessing Candidates. Do you have a question for Kristin? Send Kristin and email at [email protected] to get your election questions answered.
And be sure to sign up for the 2018 Policy Circle Leadership Summit on September 6-7 in Chicago. This this one of kind of Summit will focus on workforce readiness and what you can do to keep America a land of opportunity for all. Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, has just confirmed he will join the speaker line-up!
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