A fascinated Australian's observations of the US Electoral System

Observed during the California Election.

Absentee voting

anyone can vote before the day - you just need to be registered to vote. You can either turn up at a polling place, and vote (some places had touch-screen voting), or ask for an absentee vote to be posted to you.

Voting day

all voting occurs on a Tuesday. Usually, this is the first Tuesday in November, and usually on even-numbered years. The gubernatorial election is different, as it is in October!

Polling places

as per Australia, polling places tend to be primary schools, churches, etc. Unlike Australia, as people vote on a Tuesday, you get people turning up to School voting - "Someone was voting in my seat", one student was quoted as saying.

Time off to vote

employers have to allow each employee up to two hours off work to vote!

Opening hours

from 7am to 8pm.

Countdown

on the Monday night before the election, the TV news had a countdown appearing on screen:

7:42:12 till Polls Open.

Recall Election

• The person who may be recalled must receive more than 50% of the recall votes (ie achieve the majority of "no" votes), yet those who are candidates only need a plurality (more votes than anyone else) on the second-half of the ballot. The person elected may have as few as 15% of the votes cast.
• The current Lieutenant Governor (Cruz Bustamante) is a candidate for govenor. If the current governor is recalled, and Bustamante does not win, he will still be the lieutenant governor.