HOW DO AMERICAN ELECTIONS WORK?| 195Determining Who Wins
Most House and Senate contests involve plurality voting: the candidate who gets
the most votes wins. However, some states use majority voting, meaning that a
candidate needs more than 50 percent of the vote to win. In these states if no can-
didate has a majority, a runoff election takes place between the top two fi nishers.
The two-step process of primary and general elections can have a similar eff ect
on the election’s outcome. Sometimes the winner of a primary is not a party’s best
candidate for the general election. For example, in the 2010 Alaska Senate Repub-
lican primary, politically inexperienced challenger Joe Miller defeated incum-
bent Lisa Murkowski. However, Murkowski won the general election as a write-in
candidate.^4
Americans vote by using a range of machines and ballots.^5 Some counties use
paper keypunch ballots, on which voters use a stylus to punch out holes in a bal-
lot card next to the names of their preferred candidates. These ballots are then
scanned, although they can also be hand-counted. Other counties use mechani-
cal voting machines that require voters to pull a lever next to the name of their
preferred candidates. Touch-screen voting machines are becoming increasingly
popular, but this type of voting is controversial because of its cost, the potential for
delays on Election Day (voters often take longer to cast their votes when using this
technology), and concerns that the machines could be manipulated to change elec-
tion outcomes.^6 However, the widespread use of touch screens in recent elections
has occurred without major problems.
Diff erent voting methods show diff erent rates of undervotes. These can happen
when a voter casts an unmarked ballot, votes in some races on the ballot but not
others, or casts a ballot that cannot be counted for some reason. And ballot count-
ing itself adds more complexities. Most states have laws that a llow vote recounts if
a race is suffi ciently close (within 1 percent or less). Even when a recount occurs, it
may be impossible to defi nitively determine who won a particular election, as the
statutes that determine which ballots are valid are often open to interpretation.
plurality voting A voting system
in which the candidate who receives
the most votes within a geographic
area wins the election, regardless of
whether that candidate wins a major-
ity (more than half) of the votes.
majority voting A voting system
in which a candidate must win more
than 50 percent of votes to win
the election. If no candidate wins
enough votes to take offi ce, a runoff
election is held between the top two
vote-getters.
runoff election Under a major-
ity voting system, a second elec-
tion held only if no candidate wins
a majority of the votes in the fi rst
general election. Only the top two
vote-getters in the fi rst election
compete in the runoff.AMERICANS VOTE IN ALL SORTS OF
places—even private homes.
Here, people vote in a garage in
Stockton, California, during the
2008 general elections.