Essay About Federal Election Commission And United States

How Voting Works in Usa
Essay title: How Voting Works in Usa
How voting works
In the United States, voting is a local issue. The Federal government certainly
has a lot of say about voting through the Federal Election Commission, but
in the end, its state and local officials who administer elections. In most
states, the secretary of states office runs an elections office that sets rules and
administers statewide elections.
The actual elections themselves are usually the purview of the county clerk.
Moreover, counties and municipalities bear the majority of the cost of
managing elections. In 2000, the total county election expenditures were
estimated at over $1 billion, or about $10 per voter.
Voting is more complicated than simply tallying votes. In fact, most of the
work in an election occurs long before the voter ever steps into the booth.
Voter registration requires large databases of voters, their addresses and
geographic calculation of precinct and district information. Ballot preparation
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is a long process that is complicated by myriad rules and regulations. The
election itself must be administered, usually with the help of a large,
volunteer workforce that gets to practice about once per year. All of these
activities, in addition to vote tallying, are part of a voting system.
After the election of 2000, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act
(HAVA). The act changes the voter registration system, requires that all
punch card systems be replaced, and calls for electronic voting methods that
will enable disabled citizens to vote without assistance. These mandates and
some Federal money have resulted in a large-scale replacement of old voting
systems. HAVA also increased the role that the Federal Elections
Commission plays in state and county administered elections.
While