50 Fun Facts About Voting and Elections

How many electors are in the US Electoral College?

435 representatives plus 100 senators plus three for Washington, D.C.

How many electoral votes does a US presidential candidate need to win outright?

Without a majority, the House of Representatives chooses the president under the Twelfth Amendment.

Which two states split their electoral votes by congressional district instead of winner-take-all?

Maine has done so since 1972 and Nebraska since 1992.

Which state has the most electoral votes?

It has 54; Texas has 40, Florida 30 and New York 28.

Which amendment gave Washington, D.C. its three electoral votes?

It was ratified in 1961; the district gets no more electors than the least populous state.

What is a member of the Electoral College who votes against their pledged candidate called?

Thirty-three states plus D.C. have laws against them, first enforced after 2016.

US federal Election Day is defined as the Tuesday after the first what in November?

The rule pins it between November 2 and 8; November 1 was avoided as All Saints' Day.

Why was Tuesday originally chosen for US elections?

Wednesday was market day, so voting had to be done before then.

In what year did Congress set a uniform national date for choosing presidential electors?

The new telegraph meant results in one state could influence another.

Elections held two years after a US presidential election are called what?

All House seats and a third of the Senate are contested.

US senators serve terms of how many years?

Terms are staggered so a third of the Senate is elected at each general election.

Which amendment recognised American women's right to vote?

Congress passed it in 1919 and Tennessee provided the decisive 36th ratification in August 1920.

Which state cast the decisive 36th ratification of women's suffrage in 1920?

It passed the state House by 50 votes to 49 on August 18.

The 1848 convention that first called for women's suffrage in the US was held where?

Its Declaration of Sentiments demanded equality between the sexes.

Which was the first US state, on becoming a state in 1890, to have full women's suffrage?

Colorado gave women school-board votes in 1893 and Idaho full suffrage in 1896.

Which country was the first to give all women the vote in national elections, in 1893?

The campaign was led by Kate Sheppard; the final petition carried nearly 32,000 signatures.

Who led the campaign that made that first country enfranchise women in 1893?

Elizabeth Yates became mayor of Onehunga the same year, a first in the British Empire.

In which year could women in France first vote?

The UK reached equal suffrage in 1928 and the US in 1920.

Which country granted women the vote for the first time in its 2015 local elections?

Bhutan's women first voted in its 2008 national elections.

The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, barred denying the vote on account of what?

It was the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments.

Which president signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965?

The Justice Department calls it the most effective civil rights law ever enacted.

Which 2013 Supreme Court case struck down the Voting Rights Act's preclearance formula?

Brnovich v. DNC in 2021 further weakened Section 2.

Which amendment banned poll taxes in US federal elections in 1964?

Five states still had a poll tax at the time: Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia.

What did the Twenty-sixth Amendment do in 1971?

Its slogan: 'Old enough to fight, old enough to vote', from the Vietnam draft.

What was the US voting age before the Twenty-sixth Amendment?

Young men could be drafted at 18 but had no say in the war until 21.

Which country was the first to let 16- and 17-year-olds vote in national elections, in 2007?

Brazil had set 16 in its 1988 constitution; Austria's teens first voted nationally at the 2009 European election.

Which is the only country with a voting age of 25?

Most nations use 18; a few go as low as 16.

Anonymous voting on paper slips in a sealed box is nicknamed after which country?

Tasmania appears to have used it first, on 7 February 1856.

Which was the first US city to adopt the Australian-style anonymous vote?

It was drafted by Lewis Dembitz, uncle of future justice Louis Brandeis.

Which country has the oldest surviving compulsory voting law, from 1893?

Women were included from 1948; Australia made voting compulsory in 1924.

In which year did the country that gave the secret ballot its nickname make voting compulsory?

Turnout before that ran between 47 and 78 percent of eligible voters.

As of 2026, roughly how many countries have compulsory voting laws?

Enforcement varies from severe penalties to none at all.

The word 'gerrymander' combines salamander with the name of which politician?

As Massachusetts governor in 1812 he signed a bill creating a salamander-shaped district near Boston.

In gerrymandering, what is 'packing'?

'Cracking' is the opposite tactic of diluting them across districts.

The word gerrymander first appeared in print in which newspaper in 1812?

The famous cartoon was most likely drawn by engraver Elkanah Tisdale.

Which state traditionally holds the first major contest of the US presidential primary season?

Its caucuses are party meetings rather than state-run primaries.

What is 'Super Tuesday'?

Roughly a third of all convention delegates can be won that day.

A 'Super Tuesday' of Southern primaries was organised in which year to boost the region's clout?

Alabama, Florida and Georgia picked the second Tuesday of March and lobbied others to join.

What is a US state that could reasonably be won by either major party called?

Also known as a battleground, toss-up or purple state.

What is a survey of voters taken as they leave the polling station called?

Dutch sociologist Marcel van Dam claims to have run the first in February 1967.

In ancient Athens, citizens voted to banish a person for ten years using what?

The shards were called ostraka, which gives us the word ostracism.

For how many years was an ostracised Athenian banished?

He had ten days to leave; returning early meant death, but his property was kept.

Which slogan is most associated with universal suffrage?

The right to vote is 'active suffrage'; the right to be elected is 'passive suffrage'.

What name is given to a US voting sheet listing dozens of contests at once?

Voters sometimes face as many as 37 separate contests on one sheet.

Which five US states elect their governors in odd-numbered years?

Everyone else votes for governor in even-numbered years, mostly at the midterms.

Which Swiss institution still votes publicly by show of hands in open-air assemblies?

Public voting lets every citizen observe the outcome.

What is the argument that a rational voter's costs exceed their expected benefits called?

Supporters of compulsory voting say it solves this for disadvantaged voters.

How many times has the US Constitution's Electoral College abolition passed the House?

That 1969 amendment died in the Senate; more amendments target the Electoral College than any other part.

As of 2026, how many states plus D.C. have joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact?

Together they hold 222 electors, 82 percent of the 270 needed for it to take effect.

Voting by shouting aye or no rather than by ballot is called what?

Voting can also be done by raised hands or by moving to one side of a room.