Kentucky Elections
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The
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
holds its federal elections on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
is elected to a four-year term. Each of the 435 seats in the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
are elected to two-year terms. The 100 members in the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
are elected to six-year terms, with one-third of them being renewed every two years. Because of when these federal offices are up for election, the election years are commonly classified into the following three categories: *
Presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pr ...
: Elections for the U.S. President are held every four years, coinciding with those for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, and 33 or 34 of the 100 seats in the Senate. *
Midterm elections Apart from general elections and by-elections, midterm election refers to a type of election where the people can elect their representatives and other subnational officeholders (e.g. governor, members of local council) in the middle of the term ...
: They occur two years after each presidential election. Elections are held for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, and 33 or 34 seats in the Senate. As a result, the membership of these two legislative chambers changes near the midpoint of a president's four-year term of office * Off-year elections: These are elections during odd-numbered years. Only special elections, if necessary, are held to fill vacant seats in the Senate and House of Representatives, usually either due to incumbents resigning or dying while in office. The years in which elections are held for U.S. state and local offices vary between each jurisdiction. The vast majority of races held during off-year elections are at the city and local level, but many other city and local governments may instead hold their elections during even-numbered years to coincide with either the presidential or midterm elections.


List of elections by year


1788–1879

Each state originally set their own separate date for their congressional elections, whether in the even-numbered year before and in the odd-numbered year when a Congress convened. Before the
Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Twentieth Amendment (Amendment XX) to the United States Constitution moved the beginning and ending of the terms of the President of the United States, president and Vice President of the United States, vice president from March4 to January ...
was ratified in 1933, which fixed Congressional dates, the date on which a Congress usually began was in early March of the odd-numbered year, meaning that states could schedule congressional elections into January or February.


1880–1911

By 1880, every state had started to hold their regular U.S. House elections only during a single (even) year, with special elections only in odd years. Each state's regular senate elections continued to be held in either the even-numbered year before and in the odd-numbered year when a Congress convened.


1912–present

Starting in 1913, all regular U.S. Senate elections were held only during a single (even) year, with special elections only in odd years, coinciding with the U.S. House elections. The ratification of the
Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Seventeenth Amendment (Amendment XVII) to the United States Constitution established the direct election of United States senators in each state. The amendment supersedes Article I, Section 3, Clauses 1 and2 of the Constitution, under wh ...
established the
direct election Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are cho ...
of senators, instead of having them elected directly by
state legislature A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...
s.


Other


External links


Election Statistics
(by state within year) at the Office of the Clerk; als
here

Presidential Elections
{{U.S. Elections by State