An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections in Sweden are held once every four years. At the highest level, all 349 members of Riksdag, the national parliament of Sweden, are elected in general elections. Elections to the 20 county councils and 290 municipal assemblies – all using almost the same electoral system – are held concurrently with the legislative elections on the second Sunday in September.
Compulsory voting, also called universal civic duty voting or mandatory voting, is the requirement that registered voters participate in an election. As of January 2023, 21 countries have compulsory voting laws. Law enforcement in those countries varies considerably and the penalty for not casting a ballot without a proper justification ranges from severe to non-existent.
Electronic voting is voting that uses electronic means to either aid or take care of casting and counting ballots including voting time.
Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud, or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of rival candidates, or both. It differs from but often goes hand-in-hand with voter suppression. What exactly constitutes electoral fraud varies from country to country, though the goal is often election subversion.
The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote buying. This system is one means of achieving the goal of political privacy.
Elections in Chile are held nationwide, including the presidency, parliament, regional offices, and municipal positions. Chilean citizens and foreign residents with legal residency of at least five years, who are 18 years or older on election day, are eligible to vote. Previously, voting was voluntary, but since 2023, it has become compulsory.
In electoral systems, voter registration is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote.
Election Day in the United States is the annual day for general elections of federal, state and local public officials. With respect to federal elections, it is statutorily set by the U.S. government as "the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November" of even-numbered years.
Voter suppression are tactics used to discourage or prevent specific groups of people from voting or registering to vote. It is distinguished from political campaigning in that campaigning attempts to change likely voting behavior by changing the opinions of potential voters through persuasion and organization, activating otherwise inactive voters, or registering new supporters. Voter suppression, instead, attempts to gain an advantage by reducing the turnout of certain voters. Suppression is an anti-democratic tactic associated with authoritarianism.
An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal voting, proxy voting and online voting. Increasing the ease of access to absentee ballots is seen by many as one way to improve voter turnout through convenience voting, though some countries require that a valid reason, such as infirmity or travel, be given before a voter can participate in an absentee ballot. Early voting overlaps with absentee voting. Early voting includes votes cast before the official election day(s), by mail, online or in-person at voting centers which are open for the purpose. Some places call early in-person voting a form of "absentee" voting, since voters are absent from the polling place on election day.
Early voting, also called advance polling or pre-poll voting, is a convenience voting process by which voters in a public election can vote before a scheduled election day. Early voting can take place remotely, such as via postal voting, or in person, usually in designated early voting polling stations. The availability and time periods for early voting vary among jurisdictions and types of election. The goals of early voting are usually to increase voter participation, relieve congestion at polling stations on election day, and avoid possible discrimination against people with work and travel schedules that may effectively prohibit them from getting to the polls during the hours provided in a single election day.
Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system.
Elections in Uruguay encompass three different types: general elections, departamental elections and municipal elections. At the national level, Uruguay elects a head of state and a legislature. Voting is compulsory and extends to all citizens aged 18 and over.
The 1986 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 30 November 1986, to elect the 3rd Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.
The 1984 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 26 February 1984, to elect the 2nd Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.
There are five types of elections in the United Kingdom: elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elections to devolved parliaments and assemblies, local elections, mayoral elections, and police and crime commissioner elections. Within each of those categories, there may also be by-elections. Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday, and under the provisions of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 the timing of general elections can be held at the discretion of the prime minister during any five-year period. All other types of elections are held after fixed periods, though early elections to the devolved assemblies and parliaments can occur in certain situations. The five electoral systems used are: the single member plurality system (first-past-the-post), the multi-member plurality, the single transferable vote, the additional member system, and the supplementary vote.
The 1985 Galician regional election was held on Sunday, 24 November 1985, to elect the 2nd Parliament of the autonomous community of Galicia. All 71 seats in the Parliament were up for election.
Non-resident citizen voting is citizens voting in elections according to their citizenship while not residing in the country of the election. As of 2020 a total of 141 countries grant non-residents such as emigrants or expatriates the right to non-resident citizen voting. There is considerable variation across countries in regard to voter eligibility, voting modalities, i.e. voting in person at diplomatic missions or other physical locations, by post or online, which elections nonresident citizens may vote in, i.e. elections of the national legislature, executive elections, referendums, or sub-national elections, and how nonresident citizen voters are represented. The number of countries enfranchising nonresident citizens accelerated significantly in the 1990s. Social scientists have advanced a number of claims about the causes and consequences of this development and debated its normative implications or pros and cons of nonresident citizen voting.
Municipal elections were held in the Dominican Republic on February 16, 2020, to elect all local governments officials in the country, including mayors, deputy mayors, aldermen, directors, deputy directors, and voices in municipalities. However, due to countless electoral polling places reporting problems with the electronic voting system within the first few hours of opening the polls, the Central Electoral Board decided to suspend the elections. The elections were rescheduled to March 15, 2020.
