Election 2020: 89 articles to teach you about how American elections really work

<span class="caption">How did the U.S. political system get the way it did?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="link " href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/bronze-eagle-with-flag-royalty-free-image/172183035" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:jsmith/iStock/Getty Images Plus;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas">jsmith/iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span>

Editors’ note: In a world transformed by a pandemic, few of the fundamentals in Americans’ lives – schools, jobs, even how to shop for groceries – have remained the same. The same is true with the election, where the most basic of the institution’s elements – how, where and when to vote, among them – have changed.

When The Conversation US’s politics editors met to figure out how to provide readers with coverage that would be useful and informative, the approach was clear: a civics lesson. Over the course of roughly 100 articles, our scholars have explained how the U.S. election system works, retold the history of how it got that way and examined what effects and significance those mechanisms have for the nation today.

Here, our team has collected all of these articles, divided thematically, from the very beginning of campaigning through what happens after Election Day itself.

A candidate elbow-bumping a voter in a restaurant
A candidate elbow-bumping a voter in a restaurant

Campaigning

Basic elements of political campaigning

Campaigning in a pandemic

Campaign tactics

A graphic showing text notifications.
A graphic showing text notifications.

Political conventions

Money in politics

Candidates’ debates

Media and public perception

President Elizabeth Keane, played by actress Elizabeth Marvel, stands at a podium in an episode of 'Homeland.'

Polling

Vice presidential and Cabinet picks

International perspectives

A man stands at an outdoor voting booth.
A man stands at an outdoor voting booth.

The process of voting

History of voting

Voter suppression

Many voters face obstacles

Specific voting groups and blocs

Asian Americans leave a polling palce
Asian Americans leave a polling palce

How to vote

A polling place in a public building with booths and voters.
A polling place in a public building with booths and voters.

Voting in person

Voting by mail

Mailed ballots sit in a box.
Mailed ballots sit in a box.
A woman looks at papers.
A woman looks at papers.

Aftermath

Electoral College

Election integrity

A white sign with red text that says 'Every Vote Counts.'

Potential for violence

Who decides the outcome?

The floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1993.
The floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1993.

How it all ends

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

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