ELECTIONS & CAMPAIGNS

Chapter 7

HOW TO RUN FOR OFFICE

1ST Step- NOMINATIONS

The Naming of those who will seek office

5 Ways in which Nominationsare made.

1) Self-Announcement

2) Caucus

3) Convention

4) Direct Primary

5) Petition

1. Self-AnnouncementOldest form of the

nomination process

A person who wants to run for office simply announces that they want to run.

Sometimes used by someone who failed to get a majority party to select them.

2. THE CAUCUS

A group of like minded people meet and select the candidates they will support in an upcoming election.

Usually only used in small New England Towns for local elections

3.THE CONVENTION

1st National Conventionheld by Anti-Masons

Democrats pick up the practice in 1832

In theory– the will of the party’s rank and file membership is passed up through each of its representatives levels

4. DIRECT PRIMARY

Held within a party to pick from a

slate of candidates for the

general election.

Closed & Open Primaries

24 states have CLOSED primaries(you must register for one of the major parties

and you only get their ballot)--Ohio

26 states have OPEN Primaries(you can pick either the Democratic ballot or Republican ballot but

you can only have one parties ballot)

--Blanket primary “Wide Open Primary” you can select any party for any position

Closed Primary

Your ballot would look like this:

Governor Strickland (D)Smith (D)Trent (D)Richardson (D)

Senator Brown (D)Collins (D)Dubois (D)Selby (D)

Blanket Primary

Your ballot would look like this:

Governor Strickland (D)Smith (D)Taft (R)Richardson (R)

Senator Brown (D)Collins (D)DeWine (R)Stewart (R)

PLURALITY

In most states a candidate only has to win a Plurality of votes

= the most votes of all the candidates

In 10 states a plurality will not work

You must have an Absolute Majority

-if no one wins a Run-Off primary ensues

between the two candidates with the most votes from the previous election

-the winner of the run off election becomes the nominee

NONPARTISAN

Elections where the candidate does not declare a party.

The Price of Primaries

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Very Expensive and usually only a

small percentage of voters in a district even show up to vote! 25-30%

Presidential Primaries can also be very divisive!

Democrats 2008

Biden

Clinton

Dodd

Edwards

Kucinich

Obama

Richardson

Presidential Primaries can also be very divisive!

Republicans 2008

GuilianniHuckabeeMcCainPaulRomneyThompson

Do Average Joes run for election?

Not really!

It’s too darn expensive!

-TV and newspaper ads-pamphlets-signs-bumper stickers

5. PETITION

Unfortunately, the primaries focus on

Name Recognition.

Do you know the people on the next page?

NAME RECOGNITIONUnfortunately,

the primaries focus onName Recognition.

Do you know the people on this page?

ELECTIONS

Americans hold more elections and vote

more often than most other countries.

There are over 500,000 persons who hold elective office in America.

Most election law is STATE not National law.National law dictates the dates of elections

Congressional Elections (435 House reps and 1/3 of the Senate-every 2 years) are held the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November.

Presidential Elections- are held every fourth year on the same date as congressional elections

HELP AMERICA VOTE ACTof 2002

In response to the voting fiasco in 2000 election

*replace all lever operated and punch card voting devices

*better training of poll workers

*computerize voting registration

*provide provisional voting

EARLY VOTING

Absentee Voting-

voting without going/showing up

at the polls

Originally for a small group of people

---ill, disabled and those who were going to be away on election day

Now- many states allow anyone to vote early--OHIO

COATTAIL EFFECT

When a Strong Candidate is running his/her party picks up many votes for their party members.

The lesser known candidates ride the coattails of the strong candidate.

1. PRECINCT

A. Voting District- example----Bainbridge Township

1. POLLING PLACE- one of the many places to vote in Bainbridge Township

Example—KHSBainbridge Town hall

KMS etc.

See Geauga County Voting Precincts

Located in My Documents

BALLOTDevice by which a voter registers a choice in an election

Each State has a Secret BallotWe used to make a choice on an Election Board!

Different types of Ballots

Australian: printed at public expense, lists names of the candidates, given out only at polls is marked in secret

Office Group: candidates for an office are grouped together under the title of that office (today the names are not always

alphabetical, but they are rotated)

Party Column: lists each parties candidates in a column under the party’s name—promotes straight ticket voting

Sample: posted in newspapers to help voters get ready for the election

Bedsheet: LENGHTY!!! Typical American ballot

AUTOMATED VOTING

Over ½ of American votes are now cast on Machines and NOT hand counted

-older style--- LEVER Operated Voting Machines

AUTOMATED VOTING

Today – we see

1) Punch Card ballots that are read through a machine

Also referred to as EDP- Electronic Data Processing

Butterfly Ballot2000

AUTOMATED VOTING

2) Paper Ballots = Scantrons

3) Touch Screen Computers

VOTE BY MAIL

1977- First election of this sort in CAusually only used in local elections

Oregon holds all elections like this since 1998

Saves $$$ but does it threaten the secret ballot?

ONLINE VOTING????

The future will tell if we go this route.

What are the benefits/advantages of this type of voting?

What are the disadvantages of this

type of voting?

$$$$ and Elections

What did you think about the Open Secrets online activity???

Candidates for office get money from different sources

1. Private individuals

2. Public Sources– Interest group--PACS,

Businesses &Corporations,

527’s, Unions

WHY DO PEOPLE GIVE $$ ?

This is a form of Political Participation

It is considered FREE SPEECH

Who regulates Campaign Money?

FEC-Federal Election Commission

HOW MUCH CAN YOU GIVE?

Upwards of $26,700.00 in one election

Cash gifts of more than $100 are not allowed– you must write checks over $100

If you give more than $200 it becomes public knowledge

Any contribution of more than $5,000 must be reported to the FEC

You can not give more than $2,100 to any one candidate in an election campaign.

There are limits today, even though they may not seem like much, it used to be much worse.

Interpret Charts and graphs on pages 197 & 199

PACS

Political Action Committees

there are more than 4,000 today

These are the political arms of special interest groups

HARD $$$ VS. SOFT $$$

Money given by individuals $$ used for

“party building” activities

Hard to get candidate recruitment

Used to elect candidates get out the vote drives

voter registration

In the 1990’s the amount of Soft Money was getting out of control so a BIPARTISAN law was passed

McCain ( R ) Feingold (D) bill or the BCRA to stop soft money

Unfortunately this led to the creation of 527’s

Cost of Presidential Elections

1860Abraham Lincoln spent $100,000.Stephen Douglas spent $50,000.1924 - Calvin Coolidge spent $4

million.1928 – Herbert Hoover spent $6 million.

2004George Bush spent $368 million.John Kerry spent $323 million.

2008It is expected to cost $400 million to

win.

Bush raises record $100 millionPresident Bush has been raising money forRepublican candidates more aggressively than

any of his predecessors and has topped the $100 million mark, by far the highest amount for

any president after 19 months in office.

2008 Election

SHOW ME THE $$$$$

OBAMA raised over744 Million!!!

The money came from many small internet donors