LibGuides: Election 2016: The U.S. Election System

Federal Elections: How Do They Work?

The Constitution established the following guidelines for federal elections:

House of Representatives: Members serve for 2 years; they are elected by popular vote.
Senate: Members serve for 6 years. These terms are staggered so that one-third of Senate seats are open for election every 2 years. Article I directed that senators be selected by state legislatures. The 17th Amendment, which was ratified in 1913, transformed this process to direct election by voters, the same system used to elect members of the House.
President: The chief executive is limited to two 4-year terms. Although people vote for their preferred candidate, the winner is actually determined by the Electoral College, which is explained in another box. Each party selects a presidential and vice presidential candidate who run as a team, a system that emerged following the ratification of the 12th Amendment in 1804.

Although the Constitution established the foundations for federal elections, specific laws and rules that shape the actual voting process and determine who is eligible to vote are created by the individual states. However, the federal government can challenge and sometimes overrule state election policies that it considers unconstitutional.

The following links and video provide more detailed explanations of federal elections.

U.S. Presidential Elections A web page from The History Channel that provides an overview of all presidential elections from 1789-2008, along with videos and photos.
2016 House of Representatives Election An overview of the House elections, with an interactive electoral map.
U.S. Election Resources A Library of Congress web page that lists a number of valuable print and online resources that are available to the public.

Constitutional Amendments and Elections

The Constitution created the formal structure of the federal government, and it established the original rules governing national elections. Since its ratification, however, it has been amended numerous times in ways that fundamentally affect national elections. Perhaps the most significant amendments were those that extended the right to vote to populations such as women and people aged 18-21. Other amendments altered the mechanisms by which senators are elected and limited the president to two terms.

12th Amendment Ratified in 1804, the 12th Amendment changed the Electoral College system by requiring Electors to nominate separate presidential and vice presidential candidates. Previously the two candidates who received the most Electoral votes were named president and vice president, respectively, even if they were from different parties.
15th Amendment Ratified in 1870, the 15th Amendment outlawed any policies designed to deny the right to vote to former slaves and their descendants. Along with the 13th and 14th Amendments, the 15th Amendment was one of the "Reconstruction Amendments" ratified in the years following the Civil War.
17th Amendment Ratified in 1913 during the Progressive Era, the 17th Amendment provided for direct election of U.S. senators.
19th Amendment Ratified in 1920, the 19th Amendment recognized the right of women to vote, just months prior to the 1920 presidential election.
22nd Amendment Ratified in 1951, the 22nd Amendment limits the president to a maximum of two 4-year terms. This amendment was approved following the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected in 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944. (He died in office in 1945.)
24th Amendment Ratified in 1964 as an element of the Civil Rights Movement, the 24th Amendment prohibited states from requiring residents to pay a tax or fee in order to vote in national elections. Several southern states had established a poll tax to prevent Black and low-income White people from voting, thereby circumventing the 14th and 15th Amendments. Two years later the Supreme Court extended this prohibition to all elections.
26th Amendment Ratified in 1971, the 26th Amendment lowered the legal voting age from 21 to 18. As a result, most college students are now legally eligible to vote. The first presidential election in which 18-21-year-olds could vote was 1972, when Republican Richard Nixon was reelected in a landslide victory over Democrat George McGovern, despite McGovern's popularity among young voters.