Transcript Elections - Woodhaven High School

Elections
Now Chapter 9
Civic Engagement
• Direct forms of political participation
voting, volunteering on a campaign, and
running for office.
• Some social scientist believe that social
capital is in decline.
• Others say that it is on the rise: such as
political parties recruiting candidates,
fundraisers and rallies.
• GOTV: get out the vote
Elections in the US
• Every state holds at least two types: Primary and
General
• The primary election comes first to determine
the party’s nominees. There is heated
competition in presidential and gubernatorial.
• In the general election that determines which
candidates win the offices being sought.
• Person with the most votes wins the general
election
• The competitiveness is determined on if there is
an incumbent or not and the level of office.
Nominations and Primary
Elections
• In the primary voters choose which nominee the
political parties should run in the general election.
• This can vary from state to state.
• In some states only registered party members can vote
in primary and in other states any registered voter can
vote in any primary.
• In the Presidential primary voters don’t actually vote
for the candidate they want but for which candidates
will go to the convention an vote for the parties
nominee
• This system is different from the earlier when party
leaders only voted for the candidate.
Nominations and Primary
Elections
• Reforms were made after the Chicago riots of
1968 at the Democratic Convention. These
reforms were upheld by both parties which
allowed voters to have more influence.
• Voters could now select their delegates through
primary elections or caucuses.
• These reforms also ensured the selection of a
more representative body of delegates.
• When a delegate is elected they make a pledge
to vote for a specific candidate.
Types of Primary Elections
• Open primary election any registered voter can
vote and both parties ballots are available in the
voting booth, and voters select one on which to
register their preferences.
• Closed primary election a type of primary in
which voting in the party’s primary is limited to
members of that party. Voters must declare
party affiliation before primary.
Presidential Primaries
• Historically states that held their Presidential
primary earlier in the year had a greater say in
determining the nominee than did states with
later primaries.
• Candidates usually drop out because lack of
support or not enough money.
• Super Tuesday: The Tuesday in early March on
which most primary elections were held.
• Super- Duper Tuesday in occurred in the South
in 2008. States started to have their primaries
earlier which pushed the importance of the
primaries even more.
General Elections
• In general election, voters decide who
should hold office from among the
candidates determined in the primary
election.
• Most elections occur on the first Tuesday
after the first Monday in November. But
since the states run the elections all the
other elections could be on different days.
General Elections
• In general elections for congress most states have a
winner take all system. Thus the candidate who
receives the most votes wins it all. Thus members of
the House and Senate can be elected with less than a
majority vote in their district.
• Some states have a runoff election: if no candidate
receives more than 50% of the vote, several of the top
vote-getters (top two) run another election.
• Instant runoff election: a computerized voting
machine simulates the elimination of last place vote
getters. The computer continues to do this until one
candidate receives more than 50% of the votes.
Referendum, Initiative, and
Recall
• Referendum: an election in which voters in a
state can for or against a measure proposed by
state legislature.
• Initiative: a citizen- sponsored proposal that can
result in a new or amend legislation or a state
constitutional amendment.
• Proposition: a proposed measure placed on the
ballot in an initiative election.
• Recall: a special election in which voters can
remove officeholders before their term is over.
The Act of Voting
• Voting registration varies from state to state.
• Australian Ballot: a secret ballot prepared by the
government, distributed to all eligible voters and
when the balloting is completed it is counted by
the government officials in an unbiased fashion,
without corruption or regard to individual
preferences.
• The U.S. Constitution guarantees the states the
right to hold elections. Thus there are different
methods on how to vote. Also the states are
required to pay for all elections.
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The 2000 Election
Gore vs. Bush
Enormous controversy erupted in Florida.
Florida uses a punch card system by poking through a Chad.
All the cards are read by a computer and those that are not have
to be hand counted.
The argument was “voter intent”
There were hanging Chads and pregnant Chads
The issue end up in the Supreme Court and the court halted the
counting.
Thus the ruling gave George W. Bush a victory in Florida and
the 25 electoral votes.
The reform that came about was that all states had to move to
electronic voting and with no punch cards by 2005.
Types of Ballots
• Party Column Ballot: a ballot that organizes the
candidates by political party
• These ballots increase voters to vote party line.
• Increases coat tailing which is lower office
candidates getting in because of popularity of
top ticket nominees
• Office block ballot: arranges all of the candidates
for a particular office under the name of that
office.
• This allows more split ticket voting to occur.
Both major political parties hate this ballot.
Why Ballot Design Matters
• 2000 election provides a prime reason.
• Florida’s Palm Beach County using
butterfly ballot. It was very confusing.
• Pg 325
Voting By Mail
• This is a long standing tradition.
• Absentee voting: casting a ballot in advance by mail in
situations where illness, travel, or other circumstances
prevent voters from voting in their precinct.
• Requirements vary form state to state.
• Oregon did state wide mail voting and it worked 66%
of people voted and it saved 1 million dollars. In the
2004 Presidential election they did it and 85% of
people voted.
• Negatives of this type of voting are people vote before
all candidates have their final say, its not private
anymore and fraud can occur.
Running For Office
• Sense of civic responsibility
• Sense of party loyalty
• Personal goals
• Increasing Status and Name Recognition
Formal Eligibility
Requirements
• Article II, Section 1 defines the formal requirements for
the presidency:
• A native natural-born citizen of the United States
• at least 35 years old
• a resident of the United States for at least 14 years
• The same requirements apply to the vice president. But
can not be from the same state as the President.
Formal Eligibility
Requirements
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For the House:
at least 25 years old
citizen of the U.S. for at least 7 years
legal resident of the state that elects them
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For the Senate
At least 30 years old
Citizens of the U.S. for at least 9 years
Legal resident of the state that elects them
• For State positions it is left up to the State Constitutions
Informal Eligibility
Requirements
• Local levels: It is ok if someone from the
community ran such as a mechanic but would
not likely meet the informal requirements to be
President.
• The higher you move up the political ladder the
more informal requirements are needed.
College degrees, professional careers, and
great communication skills are needed.
• Other factors are religion and personal
background.
The Professionalism of
Political Campaigns
• Campaign consultants: paid professionals who
specialize in the overall management of political
campaigns or an aspect of campaigns.
• They mainly focus on fundraising and advertisement.
• Consultants give advice on issues and strategies on
how to win the campaign. Ex: James Carville and Paul
Begala work for the Democratic presidential and
senatorial candidates.
• Campaign Manager: a professional whose duties
comprise a variety of strategic and managerial tasks.
The Professionalism of
Political Campaigns
• Among the managerial tasks for a Campaign
manager comes campaign strategies: a
blueprint for the campaign including the budget
and fund raising plan, advertising, and staffing
plan.
• Fundraising consultant works with the
candidates to identify likely contributors to the
campaign and arrange events and meetings with
donors.
• Media consultant: a professional who brings the
campaign message to voters by creating
handouts and all forms of media ads.
Media and New Technology
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TV
Internet
Blogs
Radio
Podcasts
Newspaper
Magazines
Word of mouth
• Personality vs. Policy
Because the candidates policies are covered over and
over again most news stations now show their
personality as well on TV.
Regulating Federal Campaign
Contributions
• Money is needed to run a campaign
• Federal Regulations require any group that contributes to a
campaign to register as a PAC.
• PAC’s have been around for awhile but it is just recently they
have been having a great impact on campaigns.
• The regulation of the system has been very difficult because
reform has to come from congress and these people used the
system to get elected.
• An early attempt to regulate the system occurred under Warren
Harding and the Tea Pot Dome Scandal.
• Thus the Federal Corrupt Practice Act of 1925 was created.
This acted limited campaign contributions and required public
disclosure of all campaign expenditures
Regulating Federal Campaign
Contributions cont…
• The Political Activities Act of 1939 aka The Hatch Act tried to
eliminate corruption as well.
• It banned partisan political activates by all federal employees
except the President, VP, and Senate confirmed political
appointees.
• Limited contributions to $5,000 from individuals to groups.
• Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act.
• Title III: stated a person who received money in order to
influence congressional legislation has to register as an
lobbyist.
• Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) overhaul nations
campaign finance system
• This placed limitations on campaign expenditures and
contributions, and tax right off for presidential candidates.
• Buckly vs. Valeo
Regulatory Loopholes
• Independent Expenditures: outlays by PAC’s
and others, typically for advertising for or against
a candidate but uncoordinated with a candidates
campaign
• Soft Money: which is donations to a political
party that are not limited. Thus people max out
on individual candidates and then contribute
more to the actual party.
• These loophole was found in the FECA 1974.
The Growth of PAC’s
• The Buckley act lifted the ban on PAC’s
being made by businesses.
• The amount of PAC’s doubled after this
was passed.
• They were mainly formed by defense
contractors, agricultural producers and
government employee unions.
Campaign Finance Reform Act of
2002
• The passing of this act came from the fall of ENRON.
ENRON donated 4 million to state and federal
parties.
• It was named after the two sponsors of the bill,
McCain- Feingold act. This acted banned almost all
soft money contributions. PAC’s can donate up to
5,000 to state, county, or local parties.
• Senator Mitch McConnell filed a suit against the act.
McConnell v. the Federal Election Commission.
• He stated it violated his first amendment rights.
• The Supreme Court upheld the act
• Then in 2007 the court did a 180 and put a ban on
issue based ads. Federal Election Commission v.
Wisconsin Right to Life.
Regulatory Loop hole:527s
• 527: a tax- exempt group that raises money for
political activates, much like those allowed under
the soft money loophole.
• Political ads were ran against both of the 2007
Presidential candidates. Many people viewed
these ads as a way to get around the soft money
bans
• In 2008 527’s spent 200 million on Federal
election.
Party Conventions and General
Election Campaign
• Primary elections are held and in late
August the Conventions are held and the
candidates are selected.
• After this the presidential candidate
chooses a running mate.
• If the other party has an incumbent that
can run for re-election they usually do.
Electoral College
• Each state has a number of electoral votes.
• The overall total votes is 538, this is based off of
the 435 Reps, 100 Senators, 3 electors from the
District of Columbia.
• You need 270 votes to win
• On the Monday following the Second Tuesday of
November the electors in each state meet to
cast their votes.
• The results are then tallied and read in congress
• The winner takes the oath of office on Jan. 20th
Voter Participation
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Education is the primary predictor of voting
8th grade only 29% voted
¾ of voters were college graduates
Pg 337 graph
The age factor
18-29 year olds are less likely to vote than
middle age people.
• This election in 2008 had 53% turn out of people
18-29
Race and Voting Participation
• For decades after the voting rights of 1965 African
Americans lagged behind non Hispanic whites
• Today the voting is almost equal
• See chart on pg 339
• Income- a Reliable Predictor of voting
• In recent years people with low levels of income voted
50-60% range and high incomes 85%
• Reason for this is the lower incomes believe the higher
incomes will listen to them.
• Also lower income don’t have leisure time to learn about
the issues or candidates.
Party Competitiveness and Voters
• The tighter the race, the more people
come out and vote.
• The tighter the race the more media
coverage.
• Turnout rate- the proportion of eligible
voters who actually voted.
How voters decide
• Prospective voting: a method of evaluating
candidates in which voters focus on
candidates positions on issues important
to them and vote for the candidate who
best represents their views.
• Retrospective voting: a method of
evaluation candidates in which voters
evaluate an incumbent and decide to
support him or not.
Major Factors
• Party affiliation
• Issues or policy
• Incumbency: the situation of already
holding office that is up for reelection
Why People Don’t Vote
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Lack of Efficacy
Voter Fatigue
Negative campaigns
The structure of Elections
Rational Abstention Thesis