Election Policy

• Fiscal policy
  • Budgets
    • Budget and finances by state
    • Tax policy by state
    • State Budget Terms
    • State government tax collections by source
    • Total state expenditures
    • State spending by function as a percent of total expenditures
    • State debt
  • Finance
    • Financial regulation in the United States
    • Dodd-Frank Act
    • Federal Reserve
  • Pensions
    • Pension policy by state
    • Public pension health by state
    • Pension reform in San Jose and San Diego
    • Pension Terms and Definitions
    • Public pensions
• Civil liberties
  • Affirmative action
  • Campaign finance
  • Nonprofit regulation
• Education
  • Public education by state
  • School choice by state
  • Charter schools by state
  • Higher education by state
  • Education policy in the United States
  • Public education in the United States
  • Education statistics
    • Education statistics in the United States
    • Education spending per pupil
    • Number of schools by school type in the U.S.
    • Demographic information for all students in the United States
    • Public school system expenditures in the United States
    • Public school system revenues in the United States
    • Public school teacher salaries in the United States
    • Graduation rates by groups in state
    • Public high school dropout rates by state
    • ACT and SAT scores in the United States
    • NAEP scores by state
  • Major terms
    • Blended learning
    • Charter schools
    • Common Core
    • Dropout rate
    • Progressive education
    • Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate
    • School vouchers
    • Teacher merit pay
  • United States education agencies
• Elections
  • Voting policy
    • Voter identification laws by state
    • Online voter registration
    • Early voting
  • Ballot access
    • Ballot access for presidential candidates
    • Ballot access for major and minor party candidates
    • List of political parties in the United States
    • Political party designation
  • Redistricting
    • State-by-state redistricting procedures
    • Majority-minority districts
• Energy and Environment
  • Energy Policy by state
  • Fracking
    • Fracking information by state
    • Fracking
    • Fracking in the United States
  • Energy policy in the United States
  • Energy use in the United States
  • Oil and gas on federal lands by state
  • Energy terms and definitions
  • Agencies and legislation
  • Environmental Policy by state
  • Endangered Species Policy
    • Endangered species policy by state
  • Environmental policy in the United States
  • Environmental statistics
  • Endangered species statistics
  • Glossary of environmental terms
  • Glossary of endangered species terms
• Healthcare
  • Healthcare policy by state
  • Medicaid spending by state
  • Effect of the Affordable Care Act by state
  • Healthcare policy in the United States
  • Affordable Care Act
• Immigration
  • Immigration in the United States
  • Immigration by state
• Index

• 

  Voter identification laws by state

  Learn more about voter ID laws in each of the states.

• 

  Redistricting

  Learn more about redistricting and its impact.

• 

  Voting policies in the United States

  Learn more about primary elections in the United States.

Learn about election policy in your state

Click your state

Choose your state...AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWashington, D.C.West VirginiaWisconsinWyoming

http://ballotpedia.org/Election_policy_in_STATE

Featured issue: Electoral systems in the United States

United States Capitol.

The term electoral system can refer to the method by which elections are conducted (e.g., whether officials are elected in single-winner versus multi-winner systems) or the method by which votes are tallied to determine the outcome of an election (e.g., plurality systems, majority systems, ranked-choice voting systems, etc.). In the United States, most federal and state-level officials are elected via plurality vote in single-winner elections, although some jurisdictions (e.g., cities, school boards, etc.) employ alternative electoral systems. To learn more about electoral systems in the United States, see this article.

Learn more

Want to know more?

Learn about the Public Policy Project on Ballotpedia.

Welcome to the Election Policy Project, where you will find information about electoral policy in the 50 states. Our coverage includes ballot access laws, state voting procedures, redistricting and more. We endeavor to highlight the various trade-offs that governments and officials must consider when establishing election policy.

For a list of all electoral policy articles on Ballotpedia see here.

Voting laws

Voting booth circa 1971

Laws governing hot-button electoral issues, including early voting, absentee voting and voter identification requirements, are set by the states. Consequently, voting regulations differ significantly from state to state. To learn more about the voting laws in your state, click here

Redistricting

Redistricting is the process by which new congressional and state legislative district boundaries are drawn. All United States representatives and state legislators are elected from political divisions called districts. Redistricting is a closely contested issue, primarily due to gerrymandering, the practice of drawing district lines to favor one political party, individual, or constituency over another. To learn more about redistricting, click here.