Drew DeSilver

Though many Americans say they're concerned about possible election fraud, the U.S. electoral system generally ranks high in cross-national comparisons.

More than 4 million early, absentee and mail-in votes already have been cast, and if recent trends continue the number of Americans voting in such nontraditional ways could approach 50 million this year.

Much of U.S. job growth over the past 25 years has been in occupations that require higher levels of education, training and experience – a trend that seems likely to continue, based on our analysis of official government job-growth projections.

The rules, practices and norms around recycling vary considerably from place to place – contributing to dramatically different local recycling levels and rates at which different materials are recovered.

Big partisan shifts in the House of Representatives happen, but not often. In only three of the past 12 election cycles has one party posted a net gain of more than 30 seats, and on average 93% of House members who seek re-election are voted back into office.

In 2012, only 26 House districts out of 435 chose one party's presidential nominee and the other party's candidate for the House.

In 2008, Barack Obama won 88 of the 100 largest U.S. counties; four years later he won 86 of them. The last time a Republican presidential candidate won more than a third of the 100 biggest counties was 1988.

There are fewer electorally competitive counties, and more counties in which Democrats or Republicans hold overwhelming vote advantages, than at any time in the past three decades or so.

More Americans ages 65 and older are employed than at any time since at least 2000, and they're spending more time on the job.

More than 57.6 million people, or 28.5% of estimated eligible voters, voted in the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries that all but wrapped up Tuesday – close to but not quite at the record participation level set in 2008.