Who are Americans voting for this week?
Tuesday 3 November 2020 is a big day in the United States with a massive amount of balloting going on.
Everyone knows that Americans will be electing the next President and Vice-President for a four-year term. The choice is between Donald Trump and Mike Pence for the Republicans and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for the Democrats.
But there’s a lot more going on.
All 435 members of the House of Representatives are up for election for a two-year term. Currently the Democrats have a majority in the House.
One third of the 100 members of the Senate are up for election for a six-year term. In fact, this year 33 seats are up for election on the normal routine with two more seats to be filled as special elections, making 35 in all. Currently the Republicans have a narrow majority in the Senate.
But that’s not all.
There are 13 Governor posts up for election – 11 in states and two in territories.
There are 86 state legislature elections too (all states – except one – have bicameral legislatures).
That’s still not all.
Arizona, South Dakota and Montana are voting on legalising recretaional marijuana; Maryland is voting on legalising sports betting; Mississippi is voting on a new flag; and Puerto Rico is holding a non-binding referendum on statehood (for the fifth time).
That’s far from all – but you get the idea …
And campaigning in these elections doesn’t come cheap – especially when effectively there are no limits on what can be legally spent, This year’s election campaigns will spend a total of nearly $14 billion.