Direct election is a term describing a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the person, persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen depends upon the electoral system used. The most commonly used systems are the plurality system and the two round system for single winner elections, such as a presidential election, and party-list proportional representation for the election of a legislature.

Examples of directly elected bodies are the European Parliament and the United States Senate (since 1917).

By contrast, in an indirect election, the voters cast elect an assembly which in turn elects the officeholder in question.

Richard E. Mourdock (born October 8, 1951) is the 53rd Treasurer of State of the U.S. State of Indiana and the Republican nominee for United States Senate election in Indiana, 2012. He began his term as treasurer on February 10, 2007 and was re-elected in November 2010. Mourdock became the Republican nominee for a United States Senate seat from Indiana in the 2012 election after he defeated incumbent Senator Richard Lugar in the primary election.

Murdock was born on October 8, 1951 in Wauseon, Ohio. He graduated from Defiance College in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Systems and from Ball State University in 1975 with a Master of Arts degree in Geology. Afterwards, Mourdock took a position as a field geologist with AMAX Coal Company and was ultimately promoted to Surface Mine Geology Project Coordinator until his departure from the company in 1979.

From 1979 to 1984, Mourdock was employed by Standard Oil of Ohio as a Senior Geologist and ultimately became Chief Geologist for the company. In 1984, Mourdock accepted a position with Koester Companies in Evansville, Indiana. For sixteen years, Mourdock served as Vice President of the company's coal subsidiary and eventually became Vice President of Business Development for the parent company. In addition, Mourdock served as a Trustee for the company's employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). In 2000, Mourdock founded a successful environmental consulting business and provided various services to numerous clients until being elected as Indiana's State Treasurer in 2006.

Viviane Reding (born 27 April 1951 in Esch-sur-Alzette) is a Luxembourg politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship. Before starting a professional career as a journalist for the leading newspaper in Luxembourg, the Luxemburger Wort, she obtained a doctorate in human sciences at the Sorbonne. From 1986 to 1998, she was President of the Luxembourg Union of Journalists. On 27 November 2009, she was upgraded in the "Barroso II Commission" to Vice-President responsible for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship. She is affiliated with the European People's Party (EPP).

She is divorced and has three children.

She started her political career in 1979, as a Member of the Luxembourg Parliament and held the following positions:

She then became leader of Luxembourg’s EPP delegation in the European Parliament from 1989 to 1999 and she was a Member of the group's office.

Within the European Parliament, she has held positions as President of the Petitions Committee for about 3 years, and Vice-Chair of the Social Committee and the Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs Committee for about 2 years each.

Kenneth R. "Ken" Buck (born February 16, 1959) is the District Attorney for Weld County, Colorado, and was the unsuccessful Republican challenger to Michael Bennet in the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Colorado.

Buck was born in Ossining, New York. He and his two brothers were encouraged by their parents, both New York lawyers, to attend Ivy League colleges, and Buck earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1981. Buck later said that the Princeton degree was "more important to [my father] than me". Buck played four years of football at Princeton, one year as a defensive back/punter/kicker and three years as a punter, earning All-Ivy League honors as a punter his senior year.

After college Buck moved west and worked in Wyoming at the state legislative services office and received a law degree from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1985. He was also an instructor at the University of Denver Law School and for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy in Colorado.

In 1986, he was hired by then-congressman Dick Cheney to work on the Iran-Contra investigation. Following that assignment, he worked as a prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C.