 States control election procedures (reserved power)  Help America Vote Act (2002): requires states to update the election process

 Tuesday after the 1 st Monday in November during even # years.  Midterm elections occur during years when the president isn’t elected ◦ Governors, House, Senate ◦

 House – 2 year terms  Senate – 6 year terms  continuous body, which means 1/3 up for election every 2 years

 Primaries: contest between candidates within a party

 Closed – only those registered with the party can vote  Open – anyone can vote for either party, no affiliation necessary; must choose which party ballot at the poll  Blanket – choose candidates from any party, don’t have to choose one party (Alaska and Washington only)

 If no candidate gets majority in the primary, then the top 2 face off in another primary. ◦ Example: 2014 GA Senatorial Race; David Perdue and Jack Kingston were top 2 Republican candidates from primary  Perdue won runoff election, so he went up against Michelle Nunn in general election)

 Georgia has open primaries, but you can only vote in a runoff for the party you originally voted for.

 Contests between candidates of opposing parties  Once a party chooses the candidate in a primary, each state holds a general election

 ONLY AT STATE/LOCAL LEVEL: ◦ Recall – citizens can remove a corrupt official ◦ Referendum – people vote on a measure passed by legislature ◦ Initiative – people can get proposed legislation directly on the ballot