Election 2024: Voting in America
To help make sense of the way America picks a president, this special series is examining and explaining the ins and outs of U.S. elections.
(7) updates to this series since Updated
An uncommon system of voting could be central to which party controls the U.S. House this fall — or even the presidency.
"This decentralized nature of the elections is itself a deterrent," said Republican Trey Grayson, a former Kentucky secretary of state and the advisory board chair of the Secure Elections Project.
The few counties that have attempted the massive task to count ballots by hand have found the process more time-consuming, expensive and inaccurate than expected.
Voting machines have been at the center of a web of conspiracy theories, with false claims that they were manipulated to steal the presidency from Donald Trump.
So you want to cast a ballot on Election Day? Or maybe vote by mail? It helps to know the rules.
Roughly 50 years ago, about 95% of voters cast their ballots in person on Election Day. That number has fallen gradually as states have provided Americans with more options.
It can be tough to make sense of everything before Election Day, so here's a guidebook, of sorts, to American democracy as it nears its 250th birthday.
The Associated Press has created a series of videos explaining how elections work in the United States.