Legislative power

Administer & regulate elections

States run federal elections, choosing the 'Times, Places and Manner', but Congress may 'make or alter' those rules for congressional races. American elections are decentralized by constitutional design: there is no single national election authority.

Article I, Section 4

Read the clause itself, verbatim and in plain language, in the in-app Constitution.

Held by

The states, subject to congressional override for federal elections

U.S. Representative U.S. Senator

How it works in practice

State legislatures set registration, ballot, and counting rules, administered by state and countyThe main administrative subdivision of most states, running courts, jails, elections, property records, and often health and social services.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) officials. Congress has used its override sparingly but decisively: a uniform Election Day (1845), the Voting Rights ActThe 1965 law banning racial discrimination in voting. Section 2 forbids practices that deny or dilute the vote; Section 5 preclearance is dormant after 2013.Read the full definition (opens a new tab)'s protections, the Help America Vote ActThe 2002 law passed after the 2000 Florida recount. It funded new voting equipment, created the Election Assistance Commission, and required provisional ballots.Read the full definition (opens a new tab)'s standards, and the Electoral Count Reform ActThe 2022 law rewriting how Congress counts electoral votes: the Vice President's role is ministerial, and objections need one-fifth of each chamber.Read the full definition (opens a new tab)'s certificationThe official act of finalizing election results: local canvass, state certificate, and, for President, the congressional count on January 6.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) rules. Constitutional amendments (15th, 19th, 24th, 26th) bound both layers.

The answering checks

CongressMay override state rules for federal elections and enforce the voting amendments.

The courtsPolice both layers against constitutional violations, from one person, one voteThe rule that legislative districts must hold nearly equal populations, so a vote in one district carries roughly the same weight as a vote in another.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) (one person, one vote) to racial discrimination.

See it in the app

Source

Constitution Annotated, Elections Clause

Terms to know: apportionmentThe once-a-decade division of the House's 435 seats among the states by census population. Redistricting is the states then drawing the district lines.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) · certificationThe official act of finalizing election results: local canvass, state certificate, and, for President, the congressional count on January 6.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) · general electionThe binding November election among the parties' nominees (and independents). Federal law fixes it on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.Read the full definition (opens a new tab)

Plain-language civic education, not legal advice. The live boundaries of this power are set case by case; the sources above and the constitutional text control.