Elections

Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter with his wife, Rosalynn, and their daughter, Amy, exit the Baptist church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, in 1976.

An Interview With 'Playboy' Magazine Nearly Torpedoed Jimmy Carter’s Presidential Campaign

The pious Georgia Democrat spoke earnestly of his views on sex, a bridge too far for an emerging behemoth voting bloc: conservative Christians

John F. Kennedy addresses the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles after being nominated for President.

The Top 10 Political Conventions That Mattered the Most

As the two parties shift their conventions to be mostly virtual, we look at those conventions that made a difference in the country’s political history

When Geraldine Ferraro accepted the Democratic party's nomination on July 19, 1984, she became the first woman to be a major party's candidate for vice president.

How Geraldine Ferraro's 1984 Campaign Broke the Vice-Presidential Glass Ceiling

The charismatic congresswoman from Queens forged a path for women in American politics

The League of Women Voters led registration efforts across the country.

What the First Women Voters Experienced When Registering for the 1920 Election

The process varied by state, with some making accommodations for the new voting bloc and others creating additional obstacles

Margaret Chase Smith sworn in on June 10, 1940 to fill the vacancy left by her husband, Rep. Clyde Smith. Left to right in the picture: Margaret Chase Smith, Speaker William Bankhead and Rep. James C. Oliver, Republican of Maine, who sponsored Mrs. Smith

The History of Wives Replacing Their Dead Husbands in Congress

This tradition was one of the main ways American women gained access to political power in the 20th century

In 1836, both camps in the so-called Bank War—supporters of U.S. president Andrew Jackson, and supporters of the Second Bank of the United States president Nicholas Biddle—lobbed accusations of conspiracy to sway Americans to their sides.

Conspiracy Theories Abounded in 19th-Century American Politics

Rumors of secret alliances, bank deals, and double-crossings were rampant in early American elections

The advantages of gear-and-lever voting machine, c. 1898, over the ballot box were many, including that it kept a running count, thus speeding up the reporting of results.

When Pulling a Lever Tallied the Vote

An innovative 1890s gear-and-lever voting machine mechanized the counting of the ballots so they could be tallied in minutes, not hours or days

The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site in Indianapolis

Why Museums Should Be Proud Polling Sites

The head of the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site calls upon his colleagues to engage with their community by opening their doors to voting

Debs campaigning for the presidency before a freight-yard audience in 1912.

When America's Most Prominent Socialist Was Jailed for Speaking Out Against World War I

After winning 6 percent of the vote in the 1912 presidential election, Eugene Debs ran afoul of the nation's new anti-sedition laws

A cartoon entitled "At the Polls," depicting an election day brawl, that appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1857.

Why Are There Laws That Restrict What People Can Wear to the Polls?

A new Supreme Court ruling changes the course of a century-long debate over speech and conduct when voting

A voting sign from the 2008 election.

For a Few Decades in the 18th Century, Women and African-Americans Could Vote in New Jersey

Then some politicians got angry

Researchers say a voting message campaign by Facebook sent an estimated 340,000 people to the polls in 2010.

How A Facebook Experiment Increased Real World Election Turnout

On Election Day 2010, a message displayed on Facebook news feeds drove 340,000 Americans to the polls, according to a new study

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