Electoral System & Electoral System & DemocracyDemocracy

FFUNCTIONSUNCTIONS OFOF E ELECTIONSLECTIONS Most change in the United States comes about

on the basis of elections. Elections generally allow us to avoid

Riots General strikes Coups d'etats

Elections serve to legitimate governments to fill public offices and organize governments to allow people with different views and policy

agendas to come to power to ensure that the government remains accountable

to the people.

DDIFFERENTIFFERENT K KINDSINDS OFOF E ELECTIONSLECTIONS

Primary Elections General Elections Initiative, Referendum, and Recall

Initiatives allow citizens to propose legislation and submit it to popular vote.

A referendum allows the legislature to submit proposed legislation for popular approval.

Recall elections allow citizens to remove someone from office.

PPRESIDENTIALRESIDENTIAL E ELECTIONSLECTIONS Choosing the nation’s chief executive is a long,

exhilarating, exhausting process that often begins even before the previous election ends!

The presidential election is held every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Six steps to the presidency• Primaries (spring)• Convention (summer)• Campaign (fall)• General Election (November)• Electoral College (December)• Count by Congress (January)

EELECTORALLECTORAL C COLLEGEOLLEGE

The Electoral College was a compromise created by the Framers to ensure that the president was chosen intelligently and with the input of each of the states.

The number of electors is determined by the federal representation for each state.

For example, California has 52 members of the House of Representatives and 2 Senators – 54 electoral votes.

EELECTORALLECTORAL C COLLEGEOLLEGE

There are a total of 538 electoral votes (535 members of Congress and 3 for the District of Columbia)

A majority of 270 wins the presidency. Just as George W. Bush did in 2000, a

candidate can win a majority of electoral votes with a minority of popular votes and still be elected to the office.

PPOSSIBLEOSSIBLE R REFORMS?EFORMS?District Pan

Allocate electoral votes according to popular vote results in congressional districtsProvide an incentive for greater voter involvement and party vitalityPossible for the less dominant party to win electoral votes in districts where it enjoys a higher level of support

Proportional PlanReduces the likelihood of “minority” presidentsAllocate electoral votes within the states to reflect the actual support

Popular Vote

PPRESIDENTIALRESIDENTIAL E ELECTIONLECTION 2000 2000

Al Gore (D)• 50,996,116 votes• 48%• 21 States Won• 266 Electoral

Votes

George Bush (R)• 50,456,169 votes• 48%• 30 States Won• 271 Electoral

Votes

IINCUMBENCYNCUMBENCY

Incumbency advantage – the electoral edge

afforded to those already in office…gained

via…

Edge in visibility

Experience

Organization

Fund raising ability

ELELECTORALECTORAL S SYSTEMSYSTEMS

Two broad types of electoral systems are used in almost all democracies:

Single-member-district plurality

Proportional representation

SSINGLEINGLE-M-MEMBEREMBER-D-DISTRICTISTRICT P PLURALITYLURALITY SSYSTEMYSTEM

The state is divided into districts, usually of roughly equal populations

One representative is elected from each district

Plurality wins (most votes)

U.S.,Canada, Britain, India

PPROPORTIONALROPORTIONAL R REPRESENTATIONEPRESENTATION

Political parties’ representation in the legislative body is set roughly proportional to their strength in the electorate.

TTRADERADE-O-OFFFF ??

Electoral participation higher under PR

PR favors smaller parties

SMDP ties legislators to a locality

SMDP favors large parties, hurts small ones

VVOTINGOTING B BEHAVIOREHAVIOR

Voter Participation• About 50% of the eligible adult

population votes regularly.• About 25% are occasional voters.• About 35% rarely or never vote.

WWHOHO V VOTES?OTES?

Income – people with higher incomes have a higher tendency to vote.

Age – older people tend to vote more often than younger people (less than half of eligible 18-24 year olds are registered to vote).

Gender – Since 1980, women have a higher tendency to vote for Democrats than Republicans.

Race – in general, whites tend to vote more regularly than African-Americans (this may be due to income and education not race).

WWHOHO V VOTES?OTES?

Education (high)Parental participationOccupation (high status)ReligionExposure to mediaGeographic region

WWHOHO V VOTES?OTES?

Party IdentificationPerception of the candidatesIssue preferencesPolitical culture

VVOTEROTER T TURNOUTURNOUT

Australia 96%

South Africa 86%

Denmark 83%

Germany 78%

Britain 78%

Israel 77%

Canada 69%

Japan 67%

Russia 54%

Mexico 52%

India 50%

U.S. 48%

DDOESOES L LOWOW V VOTEROTER T TURNOUTURNOUT MMATTER?ATTER?

• Is low voter turnout a problem in a democracy?

• Do we want the uninformed or

poor and uneducated voting?