America's Electoral System (1): The Big Picture: What U.S. Elections Actually Decide
[Series note] On November 3, 2026, the United States holds its midterm elections. For Chinese readers living in America, elections are not distant television news: who controls Congress, who governs your state and who sits on your school board shapes taxes, public safety, education and daily community life. GSM's editorial desk presents a seven-part series, How America's Electoral System Works, drawn from the U.S. Constitution and official federal and state public sources, published in full. This opening chapter is the overview.
[Key points]
U.S. elections operate on three levels - federal, state and local - and a single ballot can run from Congress down to the school board
Federal elections come every two years: the one midway through a president's term is the midterm; the one that chooses a president is a general election year
States write the rules and counties run the vote, so procedures differ across the country
1. One ballot, three levels of government
An American ballot is a long document. At the top sit federal offices: the president (in presidential years), U.S. senators and U.S. representatives. Below them come state offices - governor, secretary of state, attorney general, state senators and assembly members. Then the local tier: county supervisors, mayors, city councils, sheriffs, district attorneys, judges, school boards and water district boards. Ballot measures ride along at every level, from state bond issues and tax changes to school bonds and city charter amendments.
The three tiers are not a chain of command but a federal division of power: Washington handles defense, foreign policy and national affairs; states control education, policing and elections themselves; counties and cities run everyday services. A voter is, in effect, staffing three governments at once.
2. The rhythm: a test every two years, the big one every four
Federal law sets Election Day as the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. House members serve two-year terms, so all 435 seats are contested every even-numbered year. Senators serve six years in three staggered classes, so about a third of the Senate is elected each cycle. Presidents serve four years. The result is a fixed rhythm: a nationwide vote every two years, with the election falling at the midpoint of a presidential term - 2026 is one - called the midterms, and the presidential-year vote called the general election.
Before November comes the primary season, when parties choose their nominees (Chapter Five). Vacancies can also trigger special elections at irregular dates.
3. Who runs elections: states set rules, counties do the work
There is no single national election commission running the vote. The Constitution leaves the rules for federal elections to the states: registration deadlines, early-voting windows, mail-ballot procedures and polling hours are all state law, which means fifty states and fifty rulebooks. The actual work falls to counties, whose elections offices mail ballots, staff voting sites, recruit poll workers and compile the count.
Federal agencies have narrow roles: the Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulates campaign money, not voting; the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) issues voluntary technical standards. Disputes over voting rights ultimately land in court. The practical takeaway for voters: for rules and dates, trust your secretary of state and your county elections office.
4. What the next six chapters cover
The series continues with the Electoral College (Chapter Two); how the two chambers of Congress are elected and how district lines are drawn (Chapter Three); exactly what is on the ballot in the 2026 midterms and why it matters (Chapter Four); primaries and nominations (Chapter Five); the voter's journey from registration to ballot box, using California in 2026 as the worked example (Chapter Six); and how votes are counted and certified - and how Chinese Americans move from voting to running for office (Chapter Seven).
Related: America's Electoral System (4): The Midterms: What Is on the Ballot on November 3, 2026
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国国会大厦。美国的选举从联邦到地方层层展开，国会是联邦一级的核心。John Robinette 摄／Wikimedia Commons（CC BY-SA 4.0）
- 2026-10-20America's Electoral System (1): The Big Picture: What U.S. Elections Actually DecideThis story
- 2026-10-20America's Electoral System (2): How the President Is Elected: The Electoral College and the Road to 270
- 2026-10-20America's Electoral System (3): How Congress Is Elected: Senate, House and Redistricting
- 2026-10-20America's Electoral System (4): The Midterms: What Is on the Ballot on November 3, 2026
- 2026-10-20America's Electoral System (5): Primaries and Nominations: How Candidates Are Chosen
- 2026-10-20America's Electoral System (6): How Voters Cast Ballots: California in 2026 as an Example
- 2026-10-20America's Electoral System (7): Counting, Certification, and a Path into Public Office
