Ch. 7The Electoral

Process

Five Methods of Nomination1. Self-Announcement (incl. all write-ins)

2. The Caucus – private meetings of local bigwigs that used to choose candidates. Rarely used today.

3. Conventions – local districts select delegates to represent them at a nat’l meeting where delegate is chosen.

4. The Direct Primary-An intra-party election to pick that party’s candidate

Nonpartisan PrimaryCandidates are not identified by party labels

Runoff PrimaryIf no one gets a majority, the two people with the most votes run again

Closed PrimaryOnly declared party members can vote.

Open PrimaryAny qualified voter can take part.

Blanket Primary Qualified voters can vote for any candidate, regardless of party

Primaries Across the United States

5. PetitionCandidates gather a required number of

voters’ signatures to get on the ballot

The Administration of Elections

But, Congress sets the logistics:

CONGRESS SETS THE DATE:Congressional Elections-first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every even-numbered year for congressional elections

Presidential election –same day every fourth year

Primarily a STATE power (why?)

CONGRESS TRIES TO INSURE FAIRNESS

1. Help America Vote Act of 2002 required States to: -Replace all lever-operated and punch-card voting devices by 2006 (most missed the deadline)

-Provide better training for local election officials and volunteers

-Centralize/computerize voter registration

-Provide for provisional voting for those whose eligibility is temporarily challenged

2. Congress started ABSENTEE VOTINGIt spread to states. Now, there’s even EARLY

VOTING.

Coattail and Reverse Coattail

Precincts and Polling Places

Precincts A precinct is a

voting district.

Polling Places A polling place is

where the voters who live in a precinct go to vote.

It is located in or near each precinct.

Casting the BallotWe use the Australian Ballot:1) Provided at public expense2) Lists candidates 3) Given out only at polls, one per voter4) Can be marked in secret

Sample Ballots are often provided

Bedsheet Ballots are often used, despite the risk of ballot fatigue

Office-Group Ballots are used by most; a few use Party-Column ones

Office-Groupand Party-Column Ballots

Campaign Spending

Sources of Funding

Small contributorsWealthy supporters

Nonparty groups such as PACs

Temporary fund-raising organizationsCandidate

s Government subsidies

Private and Public Sources of Campaign Money

Regulating Campaign Financing 1907 – No Corp or Nat’l Bank can fund

campaigns

1970s: Buckley v. Valeo invalidated some of the measures in the FECA Amendments of 1974, stipulating that the limits on spending only apply to candidates who accept campaign money from the government, not those who raise money independently.

Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

Gov. ban on political spending by corp. or labor unions violates 1st Amendmen right to free speech.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) enforces:

the timely disclosure of campaign finance information

limits on campaign contributions

limits on campaign expenditures

provisions for public funding of presidential campaigns

Loopholes in the Law Soft money—money given to State and local party

organizations for “party-building activities” that is filtered to presidential or congressional campaigns

Independent campaign spending—a person unrelated and unconnected to a candidate or party can spend as much money as they want to benefit or work against candidates.

Issue ads—take a stand on certain issues in order to criticize or support a certain candidate without actually mentioning that person’s name.