In addition to choosing a president and members of Congress, voters in several states will weigh in on high-profile social issues on Nov. 6. Here are some of the key voter initiatives on ballots:
Tax increases will join political candidates on the November ballot in several states struggling to plug some big holes in their budgets.
One of the most closely watched measures is in California, where Gov. Jerry Brown has staked his reputation on closing his state's multibillion-dollar budget gap.
On Wednesday in Sacramento, Brown officially kicked off his campaign to get voter approval to raise taxes via the Schools Public Safety Protection Act, also known as Proposition 30.
Four years ago in Denver, Artur Davis took the podium at the Democratic National Convention to speak up for Barack Obama.
"I am honored to second the nomination of the man whose victory tonight takes us closer to becoming what we know America can be," he said.
But now, as President Obama seeks re-election, Davis is on the list of scheduled speakers for the Republican National Convention.
The former Democratic congressman from Alabama, who tried and failed to become the state's first black governor, is now a Republican resident of Virginia.
Some kids go to band camp; others go to swim camp. But for the children of the world's digital rabble-rousers, there is hacking camp. It's called DefCon Kids.
This camp, held in Las Vegas, encourages kids to take a hard, skeptical look at the machines that surround them, and teaches them to hack apart everything they can lay their hands on.
One of the most popular activities is lock-picking.
"I had fun with some of the harder locks," says 16-year-old Alaetheia Garrison Stuber.
In the past two weeks, seven Afghans in uniform have opened fire on Western forces. The most recent incidents occurred Friday. First, a newly recruited policeman in western Afghanistan turned his gun on U.S. military trainers, killing two and wounding a third. A short time later in southern Kandahar province, an Afghan soldier shot and wounded two foreign troops.
