Election Day in the United States is November 5 this year and election officials across the country are already hard at work setting up polling places and processing mail in ballots. Even if you鈥檙e not old enough to vote, you can be part of the process. You can watch voting machines be tested, observe the polling places on Election Day, or even watch votes be counted once the polls close. (Sometimes there are livestreams so you can watch from the comfort of your own home!) For this episode on how voting works, But Why stopped by the South Burlington City Hall on the day vote tabulators were being prepared. Plus we meet Vermont鈥檚 top election official, Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas. Have you asked an adult to take you to the polls yet?
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- Election Day in the United States is always the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. (So it always falls between November 2 and November 8.) This year it鈥檚 November 5.
- US elections are open to the public. As long as you are peaceful and don鈥檛 interfere, you can sit in a polling place and observe the voting.
- Other parts of the election process are open to the public as well. You can watch poll workers set up and test voting tabulators and often you can watch the votes being counted. (Sometimes you can watch via livestream.)
- Most polling places use optical scanners as vote tabulators (counters). These machines simply count the votes on a ballot and print out a receipt. The paper ballots are kept in case they are needed for a recount, and they are sometimes used in post-election audits of the results.
- Vote tabulators are not connected to the internet.
- Poll workers don鈥檛 check the results of the vote while the polls are open or while early voting is in process.
- Each state has a secretary of state who is the state鈥檚 top election official. They also have other duties that vary by state.
- If someone is caught intentionally voting twice or voting under someone else鈥檚 name, they can face severe consequences. In Vermont, the punishment is up to 15 years in prison and $10,000 fine.
- Researchers have found that there are only a few cases of voter fraud in the US each year, never enough to change the results of an election.
- Voter suppression, however, where voters are discouraged from voting or where it is made hard to be able to vote, is much more of an issue.
- In the United States, only two-thirds of eligible voters cast ballots each election, so many election officials are working to make it easier for people to vote.
