An election is a resolution making process where a people chooses an individual to hold official offices. This is the usual method by which modern egalitarianism fills offices in the parliament, sometimes in the executive and magistrates, and for regional and local government. This is also typically the case in a wide range of other private and business organizations, from clubs to charitable associations and corporations. However, as Montesquieu points out in Book II, Chapter 2 of "The Spirit of Laws," in the case of elections in either a republic or a democracy, voters alternate between being the rulers of the country as well as being the subjects of the government, with the act of voting being the independent (or ruling) capacity, in which the people act as "masters" selecting their government "servants." Rather, the unique character of democracies and republics is the appreciation that the only legitimate source of power for government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" is the consent of the governed—the people themselves.

The general acceptance of elections as a tool for selecting representatives in modern democracies is in distinction with the practice in the democratic archetype, ancient Athens, where elections were considered an oligarchic institution and where most political offices were filled using sortition, also known as allotment, where officeholders are chosen by lot.

Electoral reform describes the process of introducing fair electoral systems where they are not in place, or improving the fairness or efficiency of existing systems. Psephology is the study of results and other statistics relating to elections.