The U.S. General Election is held every year on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Every four years, the General Election is also a Presidential Election. In general elections, you vote for federal, state, and/or local officials:
Elected federal officials to Congress are U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives.
Elected state officials are Governor, Lieutenant Governor, General Assembly, Attorney General, Auditor General, and State Treasurer.
Elected local officials can includecounty and city officials, judges, and magisterial district judges, etc.
In odd numbered years, such as 2025, general elections for electing local officials are also called municipal elections because there are no federal or state officials being elected.
Article 1, section 4 of the U.S. Constitution gives individual states the right to decide when and how elections are conducted. As a result, every state has different dates for their elections and follow different rules.
Primary Elections
The Primary Election is an election by the political parties to nominate their candidates for the General Election ballot. No one is elected in a Primary election; candidates are nominated. A primary election allows voters to decide which political party candidate will be on the General Election ballot. If a candidate wins the nomination then they are able to race in the General Election.
Special Elections
In special elections, you can vote for a candidate to replace an official who is no longer able to serve. In other words, if an elected official has resigned, died, or has been removed from office, you can vote for a new official. Special elections may be held either during a general election or primary election, or on a completely different date assigned by the elections office. Everyone who lives in the district can vote in that election.
Federal elections, also known as congressional elections, occur every 2 years. Congressional elections determine who represents your statein the federal government and which political party will hold a majority in each chamber (U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate) for the next two years within the legislative branch, also referred to as the U.S. Congress. During every federal election, every seat in the House of Representatives is up for election, as well as one third of the seats in the Senate.
House of Representatives (Serve a 2-year term): The number of representatives per state are based on U.S. Census population data
Senate (Serve a 6-year term): Each state is given 2 senators regardless of population
The Presidential election happens during every other federal election (every 4 years). Federal election years when the president is not up for election are referred to as midterms.
State and local elections can take place in any year and at various times throughout the year. Many state and local governments are organized similarly to the U.S. government with legislative, executive, and judicial officials. But how the government works and who and what you can vote for depends on your state, county, or city.
Legislative officials make local or state laws and can include:
Representatives in the state legislature which acts as the state's law-making body similar to the U.S. Congress
County council members who make laws and policies that affect local budgets, zoning, land use, tax rates, and other local initiatives
Executive officials generally enforce the laws and policies that legislative officials make. State and local executive officials can include:
State governors
County Executives
City Mayors
Judicial officials can include state or local judges
You may also be able to vote on proposed state or local laws and policies known as ballot measures. Ballot measures that are created by citizen groups are called ballot initiatives
U.S. presidential elections occur every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November. When you vote for a Presidential candidate you are actually voting for your candidate's preferred electors.The president-elect is sworn into office the following January 20.
Most states hold primaries 6-9 months before a presidential election.
Primary voters choose their preferred candidate anonymously by casting secret ballots. The state where the primary is held takes the results of the vote into account to award delegates to the winners.
The number of delegates awarded to each candidate is based on a complex set of rules which vary by state, and are set by the political parties at both a national and state level.
In most cases, the people chosen to be delegates are active party members, leaders, or early supporters of one of the candidates.
Once delegates are selected, they go on to represent their state at national party conventions.
