US Constitution and Election Law

table and chairs in the main assembly room, Independence Hall

The assembly room of Independence Hall in Philadelphia where the U.S. constitution was signed in 1787 (Image source. More about the photograph)

The Constitution of the United States (National Archives): If you want to understand elections, you have to start with the Constitution! The National Archives offers a transcript of the Constitution and its twenty-seven amendments as well as images of the original document and an article about the Constitutional Convention in its Charters of Freedom exhibit.
The Constitution of the United States — annotated (Findlaw): FindLaw provides this searchable hypertext transcipt of the U.S. Constitution with detailed annotations on each article and amendment. The annotations are designed for legal professionals but are an excellent resource for teachers and could be used by advanced high school students (for example, in AP Government) for research.
The Electoral College (National Archives): Still don’t understand what the heck happened in 2000? The National Archives will tell you everything you need to know about the Electoral College, the people who really decide who gets to be President. Start with the Frequently Asked Questions and the Procedural Guide to the Electoral College. Then, create your own election with the Electoral College Calculator, which lets you decide how each state votes and tells you the overall winner. For a historical perspective, you can also see an analysis of the 2000 election and view results of previous elections since 1789.
Federal Election Commission: The Federal Election Commission oversees campaign finance and public funding of elections. Its website also provides news and information about upcoming elections.
U.S. Code: Election Law (Government Printing Office): Not for the faint of heart, the entire U.S. Code is available on the Web — all the federal laws on the books as of January 2, 2001 (the close of the 106th Congress). Laws governing elections are throughout the Code, so try searching for “elections” to find relevant laws. If you prefer to browse, Title 3, Chapter 1 covers Presidential Elections and Vacancies; Title 2, Chapter 1 covers the election of Senators and Representatives; and Title 42, Chapter 20 covers the Elective Franchise.
Federalist No. 68: The Mode of Electing the President (Yale Law School): In the Federalist Papers, a series of essays written in 1787 and 1788 to convince Americans to ratify the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton explained why the President should not be elected directly by the people but rather by “men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station” — i.e., a college of electors.