With no presidential race in the mid-term election, the big prizes are the federal offices: all 435 two-year seats in the US House of Representatives and 33 of the 100 six-year Senate seats.
The centre-right Republican Party of US President George W Bush controls Congress but is widely considered at risk of losing one or both chambers, particularly the lower House, to the centre-left Democratic Party because of growing unpopularity of the war in Iraq.
At the state level, 36 of 50 states are holding governors races. Controlling state government lends valuable political muscle to parties at the state level, and both major parties view the governorships as tests of their popularity.
Governors, especially from larger states, often become contenders in presidential politics. Four of the five US presidents since 1976 won the White House from gubernatorial platforms.
Most states also directly elect other executives, such as state treasurer, attorney general and secretary of state, who manages state records. These offices are important proving grounds for future governors and congressional candidates, and scores are being contested on November 7.
The 50 state legislatures are hotbeds of grassroots American democracy, and hold the often-overlooked keys to control of Congress. In all but a few states, the legislatures ultimately draw the maps for US House districts, which is often decisive in deciding which party captures those seats in Congress.
Democrats controlled at least a plurality of state legislatures nationwide from 1956 to 1994, and never relinquished the US House until their congressional majority was crushed in the 1994 mid-term elections. Since then, the balance of legislatures has swung back and forth between the parties.
Currently, Republicans control 21 bicameral legislatures to 17 for the Democrats, plus 11 split legislatures. One state, Nebraska, has an officially non-partisan, unicameral legislature, a relic of the reformist Progressive Movement of the 19th century.
Despite Republican control of more legislatures, Democrats hold larger majorities in their states, resulting in a virtually even split of the 7,382 state legislative seats nationwide. Nearly 84 per cent of those seats are up for election next week, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
At the state level, 205 ballot measures will also be decided by voters in 2006. Arizona leads the nation with 19, followed by 14 in Colorado and 13 in California.
Predominant issues for those referenda include the war in Iraq, stem-cell research, government seizures of property for private use, same-sex marriage, public smoking, state-level minimum wages, public education spending, bond and tax initiatives for special projects.
Some county, city and village government elections are held in years when there are no federal elections, but thousands of positions are being contested on November 7. Up for grabs are offices such as mayor, village trustee, county commissioners or sheriff.
In Washington, the US capital and the only city controlled by the federal government, a new mayor will be elected.
At even lower levels of government, boards are elected to manage such local services as schools, libraries, sewage systems and mosquito abatement districts.
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