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67-640: (Redirected from Precincts ) [REDACTED] Look up precinct in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Precinct may refer to: An electoral precinct A police precinct A religious precinct A shopping arcade or shopping mall A Pedestrian zone Places [ edit ] A neighborhood , in Australia A unit of public housing in Singapore A former electoral subdivision of

134-633: A county , township , or city council district is typically subdivided into precincts and each address is assigned to a specific precinct. Each precinct has a specific polling station where its residents go to vote; however, more than one precinct may use the same polling station. A 2004 survey by the United States Election Assistance Commission reported an average precinct size in the United States of approximately 1,100 registered voters. Kansas had

201-450: A 2010 movie Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Precinct . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Precinct&oldid=1239299624 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

268-445: A citizen of the United States for at least seven years, and be a (legal) inhabitant of the state they represent. Senators must be at least 30 years old, a citizen of the United States for at least nine years, and be a (legal) inhabitant of the state they represent. The president and vice president must be at least 35 years old, a natural born citizen of the United States, and a resident in the United States for at least fourteen years. It

335-461: A few local elections. Following the 2020 United States presidential election , amidst disputes of its outcome , as a rationale behind litigation demanding a halt to official vote counting in some areas, allegations were made that vote counting is offshored . Former Trump Administration official Chris Krebs , head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) during

402-645: A joint ticket and in some states separately, some separately in different electoral cycles. The governors of the territories of American Samoa , Guam , the Northern Mariana Islands , Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands are also elected. In some states, executive positions such as Attorney General and Secretary of State are also elected offices. All members of state legislatures and territorial jurisdiction legislatures are elected. In some states, members of

469-466: A particular political party. The United States Constitution has never formally addressed the issue of political parties. The Founding Fathers such as Alexander Hamilton and James Madison did not support domestic political factions at the time the Constitution was written. In addition, the first president of the United States , George Washington , was not a member of any political party at

536-580: A party candidate in advance, electors that vote against the popular vote in their state are called faithless electors , and occurrences are rare. State law regulates how states cast their electoral college votes. In all states except Maine and Nebraska , the candidate that wins the most votes in the state receives all its electoral college votes (a "winner takes all" system). From 1972 in Maine, and from 1996 in Nebraska, two electoral votes are awarded based on

603-550: A party may vote in that party's primary elections ( see below ). Declaring a party affiliation is never required. Some states, including Georgia , Michigan , Minnesota , Virginia , Wisconsin , and Washington , practice non-partisan registration. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections. As of 2024, 7 state constitutions specifically state that "only" a citizen can vote in elections at any level in that state: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Ohio. Voter ID laws in

670-496: A precinct feel about candidates and issues, and encourage people to vote. Elections in the United States [REDACTED] [REDACTED] In the politics of the United States , elections are held for government officials at the federal , state , and local levels. At the federal level, the nation's head of state , the president , is elected indirectly by the people of each state , through an Electoral College . Today, these electors almost always vote with

737-502: A referendum on the sitting president or incumbent party's performance. Ballot access refers to the laws which regulate under what conditions access is granted for a candidate or political party to appear on voters' ballots. Each state has its own ballot access laws to determine who may appear on ballots and who may not. According to Article I, Section 4, of the United States Constitution, the authority to regulate

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804-427: A signed application. Usually such agents are family members or persons from the same residence. 13 states neither enable nor prohibit ballot collection as a matter of law. Among those that allow it, 12 have limits on how many ballots an agent may collect. Americans living outside the United States, including active duty members of the armed forces stationed outside of their state of residency, may register and vote under

871-527: A single day throughout the country; Article I established that elections for Congressional offices, however, can be held at different times. Congressional and presidential elections take place simultaneously every four years, and the intervening Congressional elections, which take place every two years, are called midterm elections . The constitution states that members of the United States House of Representatives must be at least 25 years old,

938-459: A specific local office may be held at the same time as either the presidential, midterm, or off-year elections. Many Native American tribal governmental positions, including executive and legislative positions, are typically filled by election. In some cases, tribal citizens elect council members who elect from among their body a chief executive. The number of positions and titles used vary from one tribal government to another, but common titles for

1005-443: A two-year term in single-seat constituencies . House of Representatives elections are held every two years on the first Tuesday after November 1 in even years. Special House elections can occur between if a member dies or resigns during a term. House elections are first-past-the-post elections that elect a Representative from each of 435 House districts that cover the United States. The non-voting delegates of Washington, D.C. , and

1072-423: A voter must request an absentee ballot before the election occurs. In Colorado , Hawaii , Oregon , Utah and Washington state , all ballots are delivered through the mail; in many other states there are counties or certain small elections where everyone votes by mail. As of July 2020, 26 states allow designated agents to collect and submit ballots on behalf of another voter, whose identities are specified on

1139-789: Is a formal process where voters can cast their ballots prior to the official Election Day. Early voting in person is allowed in 47 states and in Washington, D.C. , with no excuse required. Only Alabama, New Hampshire and Oregon do not allow early voting, while some counties in Idaho do not allow it. The earliest voting in the US was through paper ballots that were hand-counted. By the late 1800s, paper ballots printed by election officials were nearly universal. By 1980, 10% of American voters used paper ballots that were counted by hand, which dropped below 1% by 2008. Mechanical voting machines were first used in

1206-459: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Electoral precinct In elections in Canada , the area is called a polling division . Canadian political parties do not have elections for positions representing the voters in a polling division, although parties may assign volunteers to canvass a poll, or to be an outside scrutineer pulling

1273-449: Is highly decentralized. While the U.S. Constitution does set parameters for the election of federal officials, state law, not federal, regulates most aspects of elections in the U.S., including primary elections , the eligibility of voters (beyond the basic constitutional definition), the method of choosing presidential electors, as well as the running of state and local elections. All elections—federal, state, and local—are administered by

1340-415: Is involved). Candidates formally manage the campaign and fund raising organization independent of the party. The primary elections in the main parties are organized by the states, who also register the party affiliation of the voters (this also makes it easier to gerrymander the congressional districts). The party is thus little more than a campaign organization for the main elections. However, elections in

1407-696: Is the responsibility of state legislatures to regulate voter eligibility. Some states ban convicted criminals, especially felons , from voting for a fixed period of time or indefinitely. The number of American adults who are currently or permanently ineligible to vote due to felony convictions is estimated to be 5.3 million. Some states also have legacy constitutional statements barring those legally declared incompetent from voting; such references are generally considered obsolete and are being considered for review or removal where they appear. About 4.3 million American citizens that reside in Washington, D.C. , Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories do not have

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1474-400: Is the responsibility of state legislatures to regulate the qualifications for a candidate appearing on a ballot paper, although in order to get onto the ballot, a candidate must often collect a legally defined number of signatures or meet other state-specific requirements. The president and the vice president are elected together in a presidential election. It is an indirect election , with

1541-539: The Federal Election Campaign Act , has the responsibility to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of U.S. presidential elections. Voting in the United States is currently voluntary only at the federal, state and local levels. Efforts to make voting mandatory have been proposed. A number of voting methods are used within

1608-514: The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 . The financing of elections has also long been controversial, because private sources make up substantial amounts of campaign contributions, especially in federal elections. Voluntary public funding for candidates willing to accept spending limits was introduced in 1974 for presidential primaries and elections. The Federal Election Commission , created in 1975 by an amendment to

1675-492: The Twenty-third Amendment . While the federal government has jurisdiction over federal elections, most election laws are decided at the state level. All U.S. states except North Dakota require that citizens who wish to vote be registered . In many states, voter registration takes place at the county or municipal level. Traditionally, voters had to register directly at state or local offices to vote, but in

1742-485: The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). Almost half the states require these ballots to be returned by mail. Other states allow mail along with some combination of fax , or email ; four states allow a web portal. A significant measure to prevent some types of fraud has been to require the voter's signature on the outer envelope, which is compared to one or more signatures on file before taking

1809-462: The state supreme court and other members of the state judiciary are elected. Proposals to amend the state constitution are also placed on the ballot in some states. As a matter of convenience and cost saving, elections for many of these state and local offices are held at the same time as either the federal presidential or midterm elections. There are a handful of states, however, that instead hold their elections during odd-numbered " off years ." At

1876-622: The wards of the City of London that elected a Common Councilman A Texas electoral district that elects a member of a commissioners' court or a Texas constable A minor civil division in certain US states including Nebraska and Illinois See List of precincts in Illinois Precinct, Missouri Upper and Lower Precinct, a pedestrianised shopping area in Coventry , England Arts [ edit ] The Precinct ,

1943-447: The 1970s, the final major voting technology for the US was developed, the DRE voting machine . In 1980, less than 1% of ballots were cast with DRE. Prevalence grew to 10% in 2000, then peaked at 38% in 2006. Because DREs are fully digital, with no paper trail of votes, backlash against them caused prevalence to drop to 33% in 2010. The voting equipment used by a given US county is related to

2010-506: The Democratic Party. State law and state constitutions , controlled by state legislatures regulate elections at state level and local level. Various officials at state level are elected. Since the separation of powers applies to states as well as the federal government, state legislatures and the executive (the governor) are elected separately. Governors and lieutenant governors are elected in all states, in some states on

2077-658: The House, combined with the general deficiencies of the first-past-the-post voting system, and divisions inherent in the design of the Senate and of the Electoral College, result in a discrepancy between the percentage of popular support for various political parties and the actual level of the parties' representation. In particular, gerrymandering has been found to benefit the Republican Party more than it does

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2144-598: The President. As the redistricting commissions of states are often partisan, districts are often drawn which benefit incumbents. An increasing trend has been for incumbents to have an overwhelming advantage in House elections, and since the 1994 election , an unusually low number of seats has changed hands in each election. Due to gerrymandering , fewer than 10% of all House seats are contested in each election cycle. Over 90% of House members are reelected every two years, due to lack of electoral competition. Gerrymandering of

2211-510: The Senate seats that is up for election during a given year is known as a " class "; the three classes are staggered so that only one of the three groups is renewed every two years. Until the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913, states chose how to elect Senators, and they were often elected by state legislatures, not the electorate of states. The House of Representatives has 435 members, elected for

2278-475: The U.S. to implement measures to remediate the high number of unregistered citizens. In many states, citizens registering to vote may declare an affiliation with a political party . This declaration of affiliation does not cost money, and does not make the citizen a dues-paying member of a party. A party cannot prevent a voter from declaring his or her affiliation with them, but it can refuse requests for full membership. In some states, only voters affiliated with

2345-477: The US Constitution. It is a highly decentralized system. In around half of US states, the secretary of state is the official in charge of elections; in other states it is someone appointed for the job, or a commission. It is this person or commission who is responsible for certifying, tabulating, and reporting votes for the state. Americans vote for a specific candidate instead of directly selecting

2412-577: The US in the 1892 elections in Lockport, New York . The state of Massachusetts was one of the first states to adopt lever voting machines, doing so in 1899, but the state's Supreme Judicial Court ruled their usage unconstitutional in 1907. Lever machines grew in popularity despite controversies, with about two-thirds of votes for president in the 1964 United States presidential election cast with lever machines. Lever machine use declined to about 40% of votes in 1980, then 6% in 2008. Punch card voting equipment

2479-524: The United States Constitution (1804), the runner-up in a presidential election became the vice president. Electoral College votes are cast by individual states by a group of electors; each elector casts one electoral college vote. Until the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution of 1961, citizens from the District of Columbia did not have representation in the electoral college. In modern times, with electors usually committed to vote for

2546-672: The United States are laws that require a person to provide some form of official identification before they are permitted to register to vote , receive a ballot for an election , or to actually vote in elections in the United States. Proponents of voter ID laws argue that they reduce electoral fraud while placing only little burden on voters. Critics worry the costs to voters without IDs will outweigh unclear benefits it would have on real or perceived fraud. Voters unable or unwilling to vote at polling stations on Election Day may vote via absentee ballots , depending on state law. Originally these ballots were for people who could not go to

2613-470: The United States often do become de facto national races between the political parties. In what is known as " presidential coattails ", candidates in presidential elections usually bring out supporters who then vote for his or her party's candidates for other offices, usually resulting in the presidential winner's party gaining seats in Congress. On the other hand, midterm elections are sometimes regarded as

2680-431: The ballot out of the envelope and counting it. Not all states have standards for signature review. There have been concerns that signatures are improperly rejected from young and minority voters at higher rates than others, with no or limited ability of voters to appeal the rejection. For other types of errors, experts estimate that while there is more fraud with absentee ballots than in-person voting, it has affected only

2747-431: The candidates in order of preference rather than voting for a single candidate. Under this system, if no candidate achieves more than half of votes cast, then the lowest polling candidate is eliminated, and their votes are distributed to the next preferred candidates. This process continues until one candidate achieves more than half the votes. In 2016 , Maine became the first state to adopt instant-runoff voting (known in

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2814-400: The constable system, constables are elected from individual electoral precincts. In a political party, individuals, known by various titles such as precinct committeeman , precinct captain, or Precinct Committee Officer, are elected by ballot or county party executive committee, to represent precinct residents in every level of party operations. They report to the party on how the voters in

2881-408: The county's historical wealth. A county's use of punch cards in the year 2000 was positively correlated with the county's wealth in 1969, when punch card machines were at their peak of popularity. Counties with higher wealth in 1989 were less likely to still use punch cards in 2000. This supports the idea that punch cards were used in counties that were well-off in the 1960s, but whose wealth declined in

2948-401: The creation of political parties, as the first-past-the-post electoral system was kept. Candidates decide to run under a party label, register to run, pay filing fees, etc. In the primary elections , the party organization stays neutral until one candidate has been elected. The platform of the party is written by the winning candidate (in presidential elections; in other elections no platform

3015-612: The discretion of the individual state and local governments; presidential primaries in particular have historically been staggered between the states, beginning sometime in January or February, and ending about mid-June before the November general election. The restriction and extension of voting rights to different groups has been a contested process throughout United States history. The federal government has also been involved in attempts to increase voter turnout , by measures such as

3082-749: The election, said in a December 2020 interview that, "All votes in the United States of America are counted in the United States of America." One documented trend is that in-person votes and early votes are more likely to lean to the Republican Party , while the provisional ballots, which are counted later, trend to the Democratic Party . This phenomenon is known as blue shift , and has led to situations where Republicans were winning on election night only to be overtaken by Democrats after all votes were counted. Foley did not find that mail-in or absentee votes favored either party. Early voting

3149-479: The individual electors). The winner of the election is the candidate with at least 270 Electoral College votes. It is possible for a candidate to win the electoral vote , and lose the (nationwide) popular vote (receive fewer votes nationwide than the second ranked candidate). This has occurred five times in US history: in 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016. Prior to ratification of the Twelfth Amendment to

3216-540: The individual states, with many aspects of the system's operations delegated to the county or local level. Under federal law, the general elections of the president and Congress occur on Election Day , the Tuesday after the first Monday of November. These federal general elections are held in even-numbered years, with presidential elections occurring every four years, and congressional elections occurring every two years. The general elections that are held two years after

3283-430: The local level, county and city government positions are usually filled by election, especially within the legislative branch. The extent to which offices in the executive or judicial branches are elected vary from county-to-county or city-to-city. Some examples of local elected positions include sheriffs at the county level and mayors and school board members at the city level. Like state elections, an election for

3350-854: The mid-1990s, efforts were made by the federal government to make registering easier, in an attempt to increase turnout. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (the "Motor Voter" law) required state governments that receive certain types of federal funding to make the voter registration process easier by providing uniform registration services through drivers' license registration centers, disability centers, schools, libraries, and mail-in registration. Other states allow citizens same-day registration on Election Day. An estimated 50 million Americans are unregistered. It has been reported that registering to vote poses greater obstacles for low-income citizens, racial minorities and linguistic minorities , Native Americans , and persons with disabilities . International election observers have called on authorities in

3417-686: The polling place on election day. Now some states let them be used for convenience, but state laws still call them absentee ballots. Absentee ballots can be sent and returned by mail, or requested and submitted in person, or dropped off in locked boxes. About half the states and territories allow "no excuse absentee," where no reason is required to request an absentee ballot; others require a valid reason, such as infirmity or travel. Some states let voters with permanent disabilities apply for permanent absentee voter status, and some other states let all citizens apply for permanent status, so they will automatically receive an absentee ballot for each election. Otherwise

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3484-472: The polling station for that district may for practical reasons be located in a neighbouring district, sharing polling place with that district's polling station. The UK polling districts are usually the same, regardless of type of election. In the United States , an electoral precinct or voting district is the smallest unit into which electoral districts are divided. A larger geographic unit such as

3551-568: The popular vote of their state. All members of the federal legislature, the Congress , are directly elected by the people of each state. There are many elected offices at state level, each state having at least an elective governor and legislature . There are also elected offices at the local level, in counties , cities, towns, townships, boroughs, and villages; as well as for special districts and school districts which may transcend county and municipal boundaries. The country's election system

3618-476: The presidential ones are referred to as the midterm elections . General elections for state and local offices are held at the discretion of the individual state and local governments, with many of these races coinciding with either presidential or midterm elections as a matter of convenience and cost saving, while other state and local races may occur during odd-numbered " off years ". The date when primary elections for federal, state, and local races occur are also at

3685-423: The proceeding decades. Counties that maintained their wealth from the 1960s onwards could afford to replace punch card machines as they fell out of favor. The United States has a presidential system of government, which means that the executive and legislature are elected separately. Article II of the United States Constitution requires that the election of the U.S. president by the Electoral College must occur on

3752-414: The same level of federal representation as those that reside in the 50 U.S. states. These areas only have non-voting members in the U.S. House of Representatives and no representation in the U.S. Senate. Citizens in the U.S. territories are also not represented in the Electoral College and therefore cannot vote for the president. Those in Washington, D.C. are permitted to vote for the president because of

3819-721: The smallest average precinct size with 437 voters per precinct, while the District of Columbia had the largest average size at 2,704 voters per precinct. The 2020 survey by the United States Election Assistance Commission found a total of 176,933 precincts or precinct equivalents in the United States, of which 175,441 were in the 50 states plus the District of Columbia and 1,492 were in overseas U.S. territories. Electoral precincts usually do not have separate governmental authorities, but there are limited exceptions in some states. In Ohio ,

3886-469: The state as ranked-choice voting) statewide for its elections, although due to state constitutional provisions, the system is only used for federal elections and state primaries. The eligibility of an individual for voting is set out in the constitution and also regulated at state level. The constitution states that suffrage cannot be denied on grounds of race or color , sex , or age for citizens eighteen years or older . Beyond these basic qualifications, it

3953-424: The territories of American Samoa , Guam , the Northern Mariana Islands , Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands are also elected. House elections occur every two years, correlated with presidential elections or halfway through a president's term. The House delegate of Puerto Rico, officially known as the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico , is elected to a four-year term, coinciding with those of

4020-487: The time of his election or throughout his tenure as president. Furthermore, he hoped that political parties would not be formed , fearing conflict and stagnation. Nevertheless, the beginnings of the American two-party system emerged from his immediate circle of advisers, with Hamilton and Madison ending up being the core leaders in this emerging party system. Due to Duverger's law , the two-party system continued following

4087-421: The tribal government's chief executive terms include president, governor, principal chief, chair, and chief. These elections may be held in conjunction with federal, state, or local elections, but are often held independently under the authority of the tribe's office of elections. In the US, elections are actually conducted by local authorities, working under local, state, and federal law and regulation, as well as

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4154-506: The various jurisdictions in the United States, the most common of which is the first-past-the-post system, where the highest-polling candidate wins the election. Under this system, a candidate who achieves a plurality (that is, the most) of vote wins. The State of Georgia uses a two-round system , where if no candidate receives a majority of votes, then there is a runoff between the two highest polling candidates. Since 2002, several cities have adopted instant-runoff voting . Voters rank

4221-571: The vote (i.e. reminding supporters to go to vote) on Election Day or an advance polling day, or to be an inside scrutineer in the polling station noting who has come to vote so that can be communicated to an outside scrutineer. In elections in the United Kingdom , this subdivision is known as a polling district . It is typically a subdivision of a ward and the polling station for the voters within that polling district can be found within it. However, in urban areas where distances are short,

4288-521: The voters within a precinct may vote on liquor control laws that will apply only within that precinct (called "local option elections"). When precinct boundaries are redrawn during redistricting , the result of the vote continues to bind the areas that were formerly inside the precinct's boundaries, although it does not bind any areas that have been newly added to the precinct since the vote. In addition, in Alabama, in those counties that have not abolished

4355-472: The winner being determined by votes cast by electors of the Electoral College . In modern times, voters in each state select a slate of electors from a list of several slates designated by different parties or candidates, and the electors typically promise in advance to vote for the candidates of their party (whose names of the presidential candidates usually appear on the ballot rather than those of

4422-471: The winner of the statewide election, and the rest (two in Maine and three in Nebraska) go to the highest vote-winner in each of the state's congressional districts. Congress has two chambers : the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 100 members, elected for a six-year term in dual-seat constituencies (2 from each state ), with one-third being renewed every two years. The group of

4489-607: Was developed in the 1960s, with about one-third of votes cast with punch cards in 1980. New York was the last state to phase out lever voting in response to the 2000 Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which allocated funds for the replacement of lever machine and punch card voting equipment. New York replaced its lever voting with optical scanning in 2010. In the 1960s, technology was developed that enabled paper ballots filled with pencil or ink to be optically scanned rather than hand-counted. In 1980, about 2% of votes used optical scanning; this increased to 30% by 2000 and 60% by 2008. In

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