Election Day, November 3, is a big day for American voters. They won't be electing a new President, but they will be choosing other people who will make the laws and help run the country. Voters will elect 36 Governors, 34 U.S. Senators, all 435 members of the House of Representatives, and many local officials.

But how many Americans will exercise their right to vote? Ever since the 1960s, voter turnout has been dropping. In the most recent presidential election, in 1996, fewer than half of all citizens who could have voted actually made the effort to go and vote.

Leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties are working hard this week to get voters to care. Said President Clinton: "I hope that every American will go out and vote in the election."

Daily News from TIME for Kids

November 6, 1998 World Report