What American Ballots Look Like?

Photo: Jenny Kane The Canadian Press An official ballot for the 2024 presidential election in the United States

Mathilde Beaulieu-Lépine

Published at 0h00

• United States

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Would it be possible to see an example of an American ballot paper? ? It would be easier to understand how voters go about electing their leaders.

— Martin G. Gendreau

In the United States, each state is responsible for organizing elections for its residents. Because of this decentralization, the appearance and content of ballots differ from one place to another.

In all states, voters will find at the top of the ballot paper the names of the presidential candidates as well as the names of their respective running mates. A blank space also allows them to vote for a “write-in candidate“, or a candidate whose name is not on the list.

“If they want, Americans can stop there,” explains Rafael Jacob, associate researcher at the Raoul-Dandurand Chair. “It's not because they don't answer the other questions that their ballot will be considered invalid.”

The first section of the Nebraska voters' ballot presents the presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

After choosing their presidential candidate, voters are sometimes asked to vote for representatives of other levels of government.

On the ballot paper that includes the names of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, citizens can be asked to vote for a senator, a secretary of state, a state supreme court justice or even a local sheriff. “The lower you go in the questions, the lower you go in government,” says Jacob.

In Bennington County, New Hampshire, voters can vote for 12 elected officials from different levels of government.

“Some states also take the opportunity to include referendum questions,” adds Ruth Dassonneville, professor in the Department of Political Science at the Université de Montréal. These proposals (“ballot measures» in English) differ from place to place and can be linked to all sorts of issues, from the legalization of marijuana to access to abortion in the state.

Adding these questions does several things. First, it surveys the population on issues that directly affect them, a highly democratic process and “more participatory than in Canada,” says Rafael Jacob.

Second, it allows “to mobilize more people to go and vote” — at least, that’s the bet that some activists are making, says Professor Dassonneville. “There are states where several have campaigned to put a question on abortion on the ballot. It’s an issue on which the two candidates disagree and which could make people want to go and vote,” she explains.

In Florida, voters can vote on several issues, including personal marijuana use and government interference in abortion.

In some places, information must be translated into multiple languages ​​to accommodate minority groups that make up a significant portion of those eligible to vote in a particular county. Spanish is often seen, but also Tagalog or Korean.

In total, some ballots are more than 10 pages long; others fit on a single double-sided sheet. “Maybe when they get to the polls, some voters will realize that there are all sorts of questions that they haven’t thought about too much yet,” predicts Dassonneville, who doesn’t believe that the length of the ballots has any impact on voter turnout.

“I think the factor that will determine whether or not someone will vote is what they want for the presidential election. The rest is supplementary,” she adds.