Find out what the voting ballot looks like in the United States elections

Until November 5th, millions of United States citizens will go to the polls to decide who will be the new commander of the most powerful and richest nation in the world. However, the ballots that voters will encounter will be different depending on the state where they reside.

The vote does not just decide who will be the next US leader or head of state. The population will also be able to choose 34 members of the Senate, all 435 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, state Supreme Court judges, governors, in addition to being able to respond to referenda on local issues.

THE CNN Brazil had access to a model from the state of New York and made a translated adaptation. See below:


In it, you can see that there are only two different options for presidential candidates. Donald Trump (Republican) and Kamala Harris (Democrat). However, the voter has the option of writing the name of another preferred candidate in a column to the right. This space is normally reserved for politicians from smaller parties, such as the Independents, Libertarians or the Green Party.

It is also possible to notice that the names of Trump and Kamala appear linked to other party names. These are smaller, local parties that can support Democrats or Republicans. Even so, votes are counted in the same way.

In some states, the ballot may contain instructions in languages ​​other than English. U.S. federal law mandates that election administrators (those who organize elections in cities and counties across the country) provide the document in other languages ​​when a percentage of the population in a given jurisdiction does not speak English as their first language. These same administrators are also instructed to formulate the ballot in the clearest and simplest way possible. Some states do not use ballots, but voting machines. In this case, it is the responsibility of these election officials to ensure that everything is running smoothly.

On the same ballot (or voting machine), voters will also be asked about other decisions that must be made locally. In 2024, the election also encompasses the entire renewal of the entire House of Representatives (equivalent to a Chamber of Deputies) with 435 seats, 34 Senate seats (⅓ of the total), some governors and state Supreme Court judges.

In the case of New York (example above), voters are asked in this part about choosing local senators and judges.

The US election is also an opportunity for residents to decide on local issues in referendums, such as changes to state or city legislation. In the case of New York, the population is asked about equal treatment of citizens and urban cleaning.


With the exception of the presidential election, in which the Electoral College actually decides who will be president, elections for other public offices use a simple majority system by direct popular vote, and in some states, legislation provides for a second round when none of the candidates reaches more than 50% of the valid votes.

This content was originally published in Find out what the voting ballot looks like in the United States elections on the CNN Brasil website.

Source: CNN Brasil

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