Who Represent Me

Who represent me and who are on the ballot for election?

Balletpedia maintains a good resource center that can help you find out the current elected officials (incumbent), positions and candidates that are up for election: https://ballotpedia.org/Who_represents_me

Below is a brief description of these positions.

-Federal Positions

Apart from US President, Vice President who are up for election every 4 years in the presidential election, such as in the 2020 election, each state also has 2 senators in the US Senate, and a number of Congressional Representatives in the US House of Representatives (typically called Congressman or Congresswoman). The number of House Representatives in each state vary by state population. You can read about the US Congress in an intro Wikipedia article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress

You can find who represent you on the federal level from the US Congress website: https://www.congress.gov/members?q={%22congress%22:116}&searchResultViewType=expanded

-State Positions

Each state determines how its legislative chamber or assembly is organized and operated. For some states, this legislation chamber may also consist of state Senate and House, two separate entities.

There are also other important positions up for election in each state, including legislative positions (such as the House and Senate members of the state level), executive positions (such as the state governor), judiciary positions (such as state Supreme Court judges), and others.

The number of these positions and each of its representing district (geographic area) can be very different, and therefore, can be confusing to voters. For example, the district for state senator, versus state representative, versus state judges, can be completely different.

You can find who represent you and who are on the ballot on the state level by visiting your state legislation chamber website, and also, by find these positions on your sample ballot, available from your county election office, or Secretary of State website.

-County-Level Positions

In addition to the above, you may find other county-level positions up for election, depending on how your county is managed and operated. Often, these may include legislative, executive, and judiciary positions.

Each county is also divided into smaller units. The smallest voting district in each county is called "Precinct". A county may have a number of such precincts so that votes in them can be counted to allow proper management of the electoral process. For example, each precinct may contain approximately 5000 voters to make up the entire county.

Each political party may have a "Precinct Chair" to manage that precinct. "Precinct Chair" is the lowest elected position, in each political party.

The positions on the lower part of your ballot are called "down-ballot" positions. Because they don't attract attention as much as top ballot positions such as the US President, "down-ballot" candidates always encourage voters to vote all the way down to the ballot, as local positions are just as important as other positions that affect local areas and policies.

You can find out who are the precinct chair in your precinct and who are up for election on county-level positions by contacting your county political parties, and visit their offices or websites.

-Local Non-Political Positions

City council, school boards, and other local positions may not be related to political parties. They can be non-political positions that are included in your ballot, or they may have separate election dates. These are all depending on how your state and city decide local elections and how these positions are filled. You can visit your local school district, city, and other relevant websites to find more details about these positions.

Again, we recommend using Ballotpedia Who Represents Me website to find out more details on your ballot, or visit your county election office to download the sample ballot before the election. You can also google directly "Who Represents Me" to find more information of elected officials in your local area.