Based on ethnographic research on village elections and related episodes in a township in Northern China, this study offers close observations and sensemaking of the processes that contributed to the success, especially in terms of procedural fairness, in carrying out village elections in this town in 2006. Focusing on the shifting role of the township government in this process, I argue and demonstrate that the observed success resulted from the interplay among multiple, often disparate processes, events in distant areas, and unintended consequences of state policies, some of which had evolved over more than a decade. This recognition points to the importance of local contexts, historical processes, and institutional specificity in understanding the ongoing societal transformation in China.