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Election

Election

An election is an organized system of arriving at representatives to operate the government in a representative democracy such as the United States. On November 2, 2010 the United States held an election which brought the Republicans a majority of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Democrats maintained their majority in the Senate.

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About Election

On November 2, 2010 US citizens of voting age took part in the 2010 Midterm Elections. Midterm elections take place halfway between Presidential elections, and are often seen as a referendum on the President and the current majority party.

Although all states took part in the vote, in each state the ballot differed. In all, 37 of the 100 Senate seats were up for grabs, including all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 39 different races for governor of US states or territories, many state legislatures, and innumerable citizen referendums.

In the 2010 Midterm election for the Senate, 19 Democrat and 18 Republican seats were open; and with the Senate sitting 57 Democrats and 41 Republicans it was possible but unlikely that Republicans would gain the majority in the Senate.

In U.S. elections, a local election office is responsible for gathering all the candidates and races and questions on a ballot that applies to a specific geographic area. All US citizens eligible to vote are required to register using their current residence, and depending on local rules voters will be informed of where to go to vote locally or receive a mail-in ballot in the mail prior to Election Day. The ballot is complete when the voter makes their choices on the different races and questions, chooses the government officials they support, and then hands (mails) their ballot to the election committee.

While the actual numbers of Democrat, Republican, and Independent voters vary from area to area, and from year to year, elections are most often won by the party or candidate or issue that makes voters most likely to show up on election day to support it/them. While a Presidential election will usually attract at least 50% - 60% voter turn out, Midterm elections usually have lower turn out. Also, the groups most energized to vote are usually those unhappy with the current majority party or President.

Related Images

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A election official count presidential elections' ballots at the Taipei City Election Commission on January 13, 2012. Taiwan's election is being watched anxiously in Washington, where policymakers are eager to preserve a rare area of calm in relations with China but face charges of showing favoritism as Taiwan, long a source of friction in US-China talks, has been relegated to perfunctory reiterations of policy since Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou and his Kuomintang party won the elections in 2008.

WEST DES MOINES, IA - JANUARY 3: Bob DiGregorio, a supporter of Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, leaves a caucus training session held at the Sheraton January 3, 2012 in West Des Moines, Iowa. After months of campaigning by candidates, Iowan voters throughout the state prepare to participate in the first caucus of the 2012 presidential election.

A local election commission officials count votes at a polling station in Moscow, on December 4, 2011. Russia's ruling party was leading the country's legislative elections with 45.9 percent of the vote based on over 17 percent of the precincts reporting, the central election commission said today.

An election poster for Egypt's hardline Salafist Al-Nur party hangs on a pole outside Saint Peter's Church in Cairo on December 4, 2011. Islamist parties have won 65 percent of votes for party list seats in the first round of parliamentary elections, according to official figures obtained by.

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Election