人们把大部分注意力都放在总统选举上，但2016年11月8日，美国选民也将选出数以千计的联邦、州和地方官员。他们会以和平的方式进行选举。获胜者将会庆祝，而落败者也会很有风度地承认竞选失败……并为下一次选举做准备。

在联邦层面上，选民将选出第115届国会的大多数议员。2016年，参议院三分之一的席位和众议院的全部席位都将改选。这是美国宪法（The U.S. Constitution ）所规定的。确立这个制度是为了让选民能促使众议院有迅速的改变，同时也保持参议院一定的稳定性。

控制国会参众两院多数席位的政党对国会的运作方式有很大影响。这意味着选出各委员会主席、决定就哪些议案进行表决，以及其他关键事项。

联邦法官不是由美国人民投票选出的，而是由总统提名并需要参议院的批准。因此，在美国人选举自己的国会议员和总统的同时，他们的选择也会影响政府的司法分支。

与日常生活息息相关

这意味着州一级的选举是非常重要的。多数与日常生活有关的法律——比如如何解释商业合同、开车的时速限制或可以在哪里造房子——都由各州或州政府授权的地方政府制定。

与许多其他国家不同，美国实行联邦制。联邦政府或称国家政府，只拥有宪法明文赋予的权力。任何其他权力都属于州政府或美国人民。

每个州都有自己的宪法。这些州宪法详细规定了每个公职的权力。有些州赋予他们的州长的行政权比总统所掌握的联邦行政权还要多，而其他一些州则不是这样。例如，一些州赋予他们的州长“单项否决权”，使其可以只否决法案的一个部分——例如，减少对特定项目的拨款——而不是否决整个法案。

2016年，美国50个州中有12个州要选举州长，所有的州都要选举州议员，还有许多州要选举法官。在地方层面，选民将选出的公职人员包括市长和学校董事会成员。在马萨诸塞州（Massachusetts）、佛蒙特州（Vermont）和内布拉斯加州（Nebraska），选民还要选出“围栏视察员。”（这个职位专门负责检查围栏，以确保它们保持良好的状况并不侵占邻居的地产。）

无论职位高低，所有的公职人员都有一个共同的责任：尽最大努力当好选举他们任职的公民的代表。

Much more than the presidency is at stake this year

The presidential race gets most of the attention, but on November 8, 2016, U.S. voters will also choose thousands of federal, state and local officials. They’ll do it peacefully. Winners will celebrate and losers will concede graciously … and plan for the next election.

On the federal level, voters will choose most of the new 115th Congress. Up for grabs in 2016 are one-third of Senate seats and the entire House of Representatives. The U.S. Constitution sets that formula. It’s designed to permit voters to force rapid change in the House while preserving a measure of stability in the Senate.

The party that controls a majority of seats in either part of Congress has great influence over how it runs. That means selecting committee chairmen, deciding which bills get voted on, and other key matters.

While Americans do not vote for federal judges, the president nominates them and the Senate confirms each appointment. So even as Americans choose their legislators and chief executive, their selections will shape the judicial branch of government as well.

Closer to home

That means state elections are very important. Most of the laws governing everyday life — laws about how to interpret a business contract, how fast you can drive, or where you can build your house — are made by states, or by local governments under authority delegated by states.

Unlike many other nations, the United States has a federal system. The federal, or national, government possesses only those powers the Constitution specifically grants it. Any others belong either to the states or to the American people.

Each state has its own constitution. These spell out the powers of each office. Some states afford their governors more executive power than the president possesses at the federal level, others not so much. For example, some states afford their governor a “line item veto” that allows her to block just one part of a bill — say, by reducing the amount of money appropriated to a particular program — without vetoing the entire bill.

In 2016, 12 of the 50 states are electing governors, all are choosing legislators, and many are selecting judges. On the local level, voters will decide races for offices including mayor, school board member and, in Massachusetts, Vermont and Nebraska, “fence viewer.” (That’s someone who inspects fences to assure they remain in good repair and don’t encroach on a neighbor’s property.)

No matter how grand or humble the office, all officeholders have a shared responsibility: to represent the citizens who selected them to the very best of their ability.