Election law

Election law governs how elections are conducted, including voter eligibility, campaign finance, ballot access, administration, and disputes over results.

Voting rights: Legal protections for the ability to vote and participate in elections. Election law determines how voting rights are defined, protected, and enforced.
Voter identification laws: Rules requiring voters to present specified forms of identification before voting. They illustrate how eligibility checks become requirements at the polling place.
Bush v. Gore: The 2000 U.S. Supreme Court case that ended Florida's presidential recount. The decision exposed the legal stakes of recount standards and equal treatment of ballots.
Proportional representation: An electoral method that allocates seats in proportion to parties' vote shares. It contrasts with winner-take-all rules often embedded in election statutes.
Voter registration: The process by which eligible people are enrolled on official lists of voters. Registration rules translate eligibility into access to a ballot.
Absentee ballot: A ballot cast by a voter who does not vote in person at a polling place. Rules govern who may use absentee voting and how ballots are returned and counted.
Shelby County v. Holder: The 2013 U.S. Supreme Court case that invalidated the Voting Rights Act's coverage formula. It sharply changed federal oversight of election-law changes in covered jurisdictions.
First-past-the-post voting: A voting system in which the candidate with the most votes wins, without requiring a majority. Its simple plurality rule can produce different outcomes from other legally authorized systems.
Campaign finance: Laws and regulations governing money raised and spent in political campaigns. Election law sets disclosure, contribution, and spending rules for campaigns.
Gerrymandering: The manipulation of electoral district boundaries to advantage a group or political party. Election law regulates redistricting and provides grounds to challenge discriminatory maps.

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