Snapshot of US Federal Government

Bangalore, Nov 4: The United States has a federal government, with elected officials at federal (national), state and local level. On a national level, the head of state, the President, is elected indirectly by the people, through electors virtually voting with the popular vote of their state. All members of the federal legislature, Congress, are directly elected. There are many elected offices at state level, each state having at least an elective governor and legislature. There are also elected offices at local level, in counties and cities. It is estimated that across the whole country, over one million elected offices are filled in every electoral cycle.

Both federal and state laws regulate elections. The United States Constitution defines (to a basic extent) how federal elections are held, in Article One and Article Two and various amendments. State law regulates most aspects of electoral law, including primaries, the eligibility of voters (beyond the basic constitutional definition), the running of each state's electoral college, and the running of state and local elections. Private sources of finance make up substantial amounts of campaign contributions, especially in federal elections. Voluntary public funding for candidates willing to accept spending limits was introduced in 1974 for Presidential primaries and elections. The Federal Elections Commission, created in 1975 by an amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act has the responsibility to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of US presidential elections.

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