In the American election system elections are held at fixed intervals. Congress cannot be dissolved nor the President made to resign, so any decisive changes can only be introduced by regularly staged elections. Public interest in the elections is most widespread in each leap year when the President and the Vice-President are elected. Off-year elections, for offices other than the presidency, are held every two years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Every two years (in even-numbered years because members to the first House were elected in 1800) all members of the House of Representatives are elected. At the same time voters elect one-third of the Senators. (There are 100 Senators; each Senator serves for six years). In practice most members of Congress stand for re-election.
So every four years an American votes for the President and the Vice-President, and for members of Congress. Americans today vote by secret ballot. Some states still use paper ballots, but mechanical devices whereby a voter simply pulls a lever to record his vote have been spreading. Each state is constitutionally entitled to have two seats in the Senate and at least one in the House of Representatives. As to the number of other seats for each state in the House, the US Constitution provides only that it shall be determined by the population. Thirty-five states which have more than three representatives each are divided by their state legislatures into districts with one Congressman elected in each district. This is called the single-member district system. In each district the candidate is elected by a simple majority. This means that the one who gets most votes wins – a provision more popularly known as the “winner takes all” principle. A similar system operates in Presidential elections, where the number of electoral votes is decisive.
