The Electoral Process

The Nominating

Process

Nomination – the naming of those who will seek office (5 ways)

The process of candidate selection is a critically important step in the election process.

Critical First Step

How does the nominating process have a big impact on our right to vote?Nominating limits our choices in an election.

Importance Of

One-party constituencies (those areas where one party regularly wins elections).

The nominating process usually is the only point at which there is any real contest for a public office.

Importance of

Have to win (2) elections to win an office in most elections:

Primary election

General Election

Democrats

Republicans

What is a general election?Regularly scheduled elections at which voters make the final selection.

General Election

Nomination ProcessSelf

Announce

Caucus

Convention

Direct Primary

Petition

Self-announcement is the oldest form of the nominating process in American politics

First used in colonial times, found today in small towns and rural areas.

Self Announcement

A person announces they want to run for office.

Who uses this?Someone who

failed to win their party’s nomination.

Self Announcement

CaucusA group of like-

minded people who meet to select the candidates they will support in an upcoming election.

Originally the caucus was a private meeting consisting of a few influential figures in the community.

CaucusWhat happened when Political Parties started appearing?Political parties began to broaden the membership of the caucus.

CaucusThe legislative caucus is a meeting of a party’s members in the state or federal Congress – the legislators would choose who would run for office.

CaucusThey were practical

in their day because of transportation and communication issues.

As democracy spread, why did opposition grow to the caucus?Critics felt they

closed and unrepresentative in nature.

CaucusThe caucus is still used to make local nominations (New England) and is open to all members of a party.

As the caucus method collapsed, the convention system took its place.

Who had the 1st national convention to nominate a presidential candidate? Anti-Mason Party in 1931

The Convention

The process begins in local caucus and works its way up to through the country, state and then the national level.

The convention system began to come under attack in the early 1900s and was to be replaced by another method.

Convention

Party Bosses began to manipulate the process.

The convention system began to come under attack in the early 1900s and was to be replaced by another method.

Convention

A direct primary is an intra-party election to pick that party’s candidate for the general election.

State laws require that the major parties use the primaries to choose their candidates for the Senate, House, governorship, etc.

Direct Primary

First used in Wisconsin in

1903

Closed PrimaryParty nominating election in which ONLY declared party members can vote.

Party membership is established by registration.

Found in 27

states

Party nominating election in which ANY qualified voter can take part.

Open Primary

Found in 23

states

Open PrimaryThrough 2000, 3 states have used a different version of the open primary called the blanket primary

Blanket PrimaryAll voters receive same ballot and can vote

for any party for any office they like.California’s version was ruled Unconstitutional.

Closed v OpenThose who favor the closed primary argue:It prevents one party from

“raiding” the other’s primary in the hope of nominating a weaker candidate.

Candidates are more responsive to the party and its members.

How does it make voters more thoughtful?Voters must choose between the parties in order to vote in the primaries

It compromises the secrecy of the ballot.

It tends to exclude independent voters from the nomination process.

Critics of Closed

Closed v Open Against Closed:1. Compromises

secret ballot2. Tends to

exclude independent voters from the nomination process

For Closed:1. Prevents one

party from raiding another party’s primary

2. Makes candidates more responsive to party members

3. Voters make more thoughtful in choosing a party

Winner needs an absolute majority (more than 50%)

Top 2 vote getters in the 1st primary “Run-Off” or face one another in a 2nd election.

Run-off Primary

These are elections in which candidates are not identified by party labels.

Typically, a contender who wins a clear majority runs unopposed in the general election.

Non-Partisan Primary

The direct primary was intended to take the nominating function out of the hands of the party organization and give it to the party membership.

Evaluation of Primary

A number of criticisms have been leveled at the direct primary:Closed vs. open

argumentsA tough primary fight

can cost a lot of money, thus adding to cost running for office (this keeps well qualified people away)

Evaluation of Primary

What is the ‘divisive effect’ on the party?A bitter primary can

weaken and divide a party for the general election.

Many voters are not well informed on the candidates, so name familiarity is key because it gives a contender an edge.

Evaluation of Primary

Is an election that is held as one part of the process by which presidential candidates are chosen.

Very complex process.

Presidential Primary

Nominating by means of petitions signed by a certain number of required qualified voters in the election district.

When is this method used?Mostly at the local level.

Petition

Elections

Democratic government cannot succeed unless elections are free, honest, and accurate.

The lengthy and closely detailed provisions of the election law are meant to protect the integrity of the electoral process.

Administration

Most election law in the US is State law, but the Constitution does give Congress some power over elections:Set the date of

elections.Must have secret

ballots.Amendments that

deal with suffrage

Federal Control

Why did Congress pass the bill?Election of 2000

Some of the major provisions of the bill:Replace lever-operated

and punch-card voting devices by 2006

Upgrade administration of elections

Help America Vote Act

A voter’s eligibility has been challenged…but can vote and the voter’s qualification can be checked or verified later.

Provisional Voting

Congress set the date for national elections (Tuesday after the 1st Monday in November).

Explanation of:Never on a Sunday

(Church and state)1st day of month is

often payday (pressure from employer)

Election Day

Some states have allowed for early voting in an effort to increase voter turnout and make voting more convenient.

Early Voting

Voting by those unable to get to their regular polling places on election day.

Designed for:1. Sick/Ill2. Disabled3. Away from home

Absentee Ballot

This occurs when a strong candidate running for an office at the top of the ballot helps attract voters to other candidates on the party’s ticket.

Reverse Coattail:Candidate at top

of ticket can HURT other party members.

Coattail Effect

A precinct is a voting district.

Smallest geographic units for elections.

What are the sizes of precincts? 500 to 1000 qualified voters

Precinct

A polling place is the place where the voters who live in a precinct actually vote.

A precinct election board supervises the polling place and voting process in each precinct.

Polling Place

IDENTIFY some of the responsibilities of the board:Make sure only

qualified voters vote.

Machines workCount the votes

Election Board

One from each party : are allowed at each polling place.

They may challenge any voter they believe is not qualified.

Check to be sure that their own party’s supporters do vote.

Monitor the whole voting process, including the ballot count.

Poll Watchers

Define Ballot:A device used to record a voter’s choices.

Over the history of the United States voting has taken many shapes (voice, paper ballots) and corruption led to a demand for ballot reforms.

Ballot

Each State now provides for a secret ballot.

Ballots are cast in such a manner that others cannot know how a person voted.

Secret Ballot

1. Printed at public expense

2. Lists names of all candidates

3. Given out only at polls

4. Marked in secret

Australian Ballot

Candidates are grouped on this ballot by office they are running for.

Sometimes called the Massachusetts ballot because of its early use (1888) there.

Office Group Ballot

Lists each party’s candidates in a column under the party’s name.

Good: parties like because it promotes straight-ticket voting

Bad: does not take much thought in the voting process.

Party Column Ballot

Can help voters prepare for an election.

They are mailed in some states and appear in newspapers in others.

Sample Ballot

The ballot in a typical American election is lengthy because it may list so many offices, candidates and ballot measures.

Even the most informed voters had a difficult time marking it intelligently.

Bedsheet Ballot

Origin of :Jacksonian Democracy in the 1830s

More offices meant more democratic the government was

Bedsheet Ballot

Critics say it is hard to know the candidates and their qualifications on such a long ballot – thus it is bad for democracy.

Bad for Democracy

Well over half the votes now cast in national elections are cast on some type of voting machine or electronic voting device.

Describe the lever-operated machines:Pull one lever to open (unlock

ballot) and another to close or actually vote

Automated Voting

Electronic data processing (EDP) techniques were first applied to the voting process in the 1960s.

Punch-card ballots (counted by computers) were the most widely used.

Electronic Counting

What was the major problem of the punch-card ballots?If voter failed to

make clean punch, the result was a ‘hanging chad” that would not count as a vote.

Electronic Counting

The use of punch-card ballots ended by 2006, due to the Help Americans Vote Act of 2002 after the 2000 presidential election mess.

Electronic Counting

Infamous Ballot

What are most states now turning to for more efficient EDP-based voting systems?Touch screens or scantron like voting.

Voting Today

A number of states conduct some elections by mail.

Voters receive a ballot in the mail, make their choices, and then mail the ballot back to election officials.

Which state today conducts all of its elections by mail? OREGON

Vote-by-Mail

Vote by MailCritics of:

1. Threatens secret ballot

2. Threat of fraud from stolen ballots

Supporters of:1. Just as fraud

proof as any other method

2. Increases voter turnout

3. Saves money

Casting ballots via the Internet has attracted considerable attention in the past few years.

There have been some votes cast on-line in the past several years.

Online Voting

Online VotingCritics of:

1. Digital disaster

2. Hacker fraud3. Voter secrecy4. Digital

Divide

Supporters of:1. Increase voter

participation2. Increase

turnout3. Reduce costs

of voting

Money inElections

The presidential election eats up by the largest share of campaign dollars - $2 billion for primaries and general election in 2000.

The cost of congressional campaigns also continues to climb each cycle.

Campaign Spending

Where is all this money being spent?Radio and TVCampaign StaffPolls, mailings,

webOffice spaceTravel

Where does it go?

Private and Public Sources.

Private givers have always been the major sources of campaign funds and they come in various shapes and sizes:

Sources of Funding

Individuals both small and wealthy

What is a PAC?Political Action

CommitteePolitical Arms

of special interest groups

Sources of Funding

Temporary organizations - groups formed for the immediate purpose of a campaign, including fund raising.

How do parties attempt to raise money? Dinners, receptions

and other fund raisers.

Sources of Funding

Campaign donations are a form of political participation and those who make them do so for several reasons:

Why do People Give?

They believe in a party or candidate.Want something in return, maybe access to the government.

Some big donors want appointments to public office, while others want to keep the ones they have.

EXPLAIN the social recognition reason:Dinner at White House, meeting with Cabinet official, etc.

Why do People Give?

Congress first began to regulate the use of money in federal election in 1907 and since then, Congress has passed major campaign finance laws.

Congress does not have the power to regulate state and local elections – that is up to each individual state.

Regulating Campaign $$

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) administers all federal law dealing with campaign finance.

Federal Election Commission

It was set up in 1974 (after Watergate) and it an independent agency with 6 members.

Why is it hard for the FEC to do an effective job? It is both

underfunded and understaffed.

Origins

Disclosure requirements are intended to spotlight the place of money in federal campaigns.

What types of contributions are prohibited? Cash over $100,

foreign contributions, in someone else’s name

Disclosure

Made through a single campaign committee, which can only spend that candidate’s campaign money.

Legal C0ntributions

All contributions and spending must be closely accounted for.

What about the disclosure of contributions or loans? Any over $200

must be identified by source and date

Legal C0ntributions

There are limits on how much an individual can give to a federal candidate.$2600 per election, per candidate

Limits

Neither corporations nor labor unions can contribute to any candidate running for a federal office – but their PACs can and do.

A PACs clout comes from their ability to raise campaign money and their willingness to give it to their “friends” who run for public office.

PAC $$$

The Supreme Court decision on Buckley v. Valeo (1976) was key to the issue of spending limits.

Why did the Supreme Court strike down spending limits? Free Speech issue

with spending money.

Supreme Court

The 1971 Revenue Act allowed for everyone who files a federal income tax return to ‘check off’ $3 to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund.

The monies collected are used every four years to finance the following:

Public Funding

Preconvention Campaigns

National Conventions

Presidential Campaigns – unless candidate turns down $$$

Public Funding