Voting and Elections

Suffrage Defined as the right to vote Democratic ideal: all persons can

vote In common usage: all countries

have requirements for voting, and some people will be legally excluded from voting

Constitutional requirements Requirements for suffrage are left

to the states, with these exceptions:

Any voter eligible to vote for the state legislature can vote for Congress (Article I, section II)

Suffrage can’t be denied because of color or past history of slavery (Am. 15)

Constitutional requirements (cont’d)

Suffrage can’t be denied to women because of gender (Am. 19)

Suffrage can’t be denied or restricted because of a poll tax (Am. 24)

Suffrage can’t be denied to a citizen over 18 only because of age (Am. 26)

States set all other suffrage requirements Elections fall under the

RESERVED POWERS (Art. I, Sec. 4)

Other state suffrage extensions include: eliminate of religious tests by 1800;

elimination of property ownership requirements by 1820;

elimination of poll tax and grandfather clause with Voting Rights Act in 1965 . . .

VOTING REFORMS OF THE 19TH CENTURY

The Direct Primary Allows citizens to nominate

candidates, rather than party conventions

Opened the way for the modern primary election process

Recall of Officeholders (“Recall”) Allows citizens to remove an

officeholder before the official term expires

Makes officeholders directly answerable to the people all during their terms of service

Referendum Allows citizens to vote directly on

certain issues (called “propositions” in a referendum election)

Most frequently used for tax programs and changes to the state’s constitution

Initiative Allows voters themselves, not just

legislators, to propose measures that will later be decided by voters

Who makes use of these reforms? None of these reforms exist at the

national level Each state’s constitution

determines if these reforms are available to citizens of that state

VOTER TURNOUT IN THE UNITED STATES Averages 40-45% in national

elections Lower than any other world

democracy 2012 election had a 53% turnout

Reasons for low turnout: Political parties don’t get the message

out, don’t excite voters Voters have come to distrust government Apathy Apparent satisfaction with status quo No perception that government actually

does anything good Americans move, change addresses

often

Which Americans are most likely to vote? College-educated, professional

occupation Older, non-minority populations Women more than men Married people, rather than singles History of other civic activity Party members Residents of states with strong two-

party presence

VOTING PRE-REQs

States today still place some restrictions on voting

A voter has to be a US citizen A voter has to reside in the area where

he/she votes A voter must show proof of being 18 A voter must be registered with his/her

county’s Voter Registration system.

VOTING RESTRICTIONS

There are still some legal ways to prevent people from voting, even if they meet all of these qualifications:

A person who is a convicted felon, severely mentally handicapped, or a prison inmate may not vote.

An ex-prisoner must petition his state to have voting privileges restored

KINDS OF ELECTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

The Primary Election selects a party candidate for a

particular office, to run against the opposition party’s candidate at a later date.

In a primary election, the voter must state his/her political party before voting; a voter can only vote in one party primary

Varieties of Primaries: Closed primary: only party

members can vote; each party holds its own primaries, and voters must select which they intend to participate in advance

Varieties of Primaries (cont’d) Open Primary: voters may choose

candidates for a party whether they belong to that party or not. No advance declaration of party membership is required.

Often results in “crossover voting,” in which a voter from one party votes in the opposition primary, for a candidate his/her own party will be able to defeat easily

Varieties of Primaries (cont’d) Blanket Primary: Voters are

presented a slate of all candidates for all offices, of all parties. Voters may choose different parties for each office.

Blanket Primaries are only used in Alaska and Washington state.

Varieties of Primaries (cont’d) Runoff Primary: voters choose

from among the top two candidates from a previous primary that yielded no clear winner

The General Election

allows voters to choose from among all candidates selected during the primaries.

In the general election, the voter is not required to publicly state his/her party; the ballot is totally secret

GENERAL ELECTION

NO voter can ever be required to reveal who he or she votes for; all US ballots are secret

Since this system was first used in Australia, it’s sometimes called “The Australian ballot”

People who are unable to come to the polls on election day may vote by mail via “absentee ballot,” or by “early voting”

Special Elections

may be called in a state when a major issue arises before a primary or general election can be held, or when a Congressional vacancy suddenly occurs due to death.

When are elections held?

Federal: the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, in even-numbered years.

Presidential elections every fourth year House elections, every second year Senate terms of 6 years; 1/3 of the

Senate runs along with every House election

When are elections held? State and local: determined by state

and local laws. Often held alongside federal elections, to take advantage of the excitement those elections can generate.

Local candidates of the same party as a popular president may be successful due to “coattail effect” -- president’s popularity extends to all party candidates

Off-Year elections Defined as: a federal election in which

there is no presidential election Also called “mid-term elections” Often represent a “How am I doing?”

referendum for the sitting president Presidents may become involved in

campaigning, if their party is in danger of losing seats in Congress

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS The process usually starts as soon

as the current presidential election is ended

This is especially true when the current president has just been elected to his second term, and the seat will be open during the next presidential election year

Presidential campaign steps 1. Exploratory phase: possible

candidates determine if support base is large enough, if he/she can attract media attention, cash donations, etc.

2. Announcement of candidacy: press conference statement of intent to run

Presidential campaign steps (cont’d) 3. Presidential primaries or

caucuses (only Iowa uses caucus method): late winter to spring of an election year

Primaries show which candidates have voter appeal

Narrow field to one or two front-runners

Presidential campaign steps (cont’d) 4. Party nominating conventions:

mid summer of election year Party in each state chooses

delegates to convention Convention formally nominates

front-runner, selects running mate, write platform, encourages party faithful to rally to support ticket and platform

Presidential campaign steps (cont’d) 5. Campaigning toward the general

election: summer through fall of election year

Candidates concentrate on states with most electoral votes, highest population

6. General election in November determines which candidate wins the electoral vote in each state (winner of state takes all electoral votes in most states)

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE The general election in each state

actually chooses the electors who will vote for the president..

Each state has a number of electors equal to the number of House Representatives plus the two Senators from that state

Washington DC gets 3 electors These 538 electors actually choose the

president.

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE (cont’d) When a party’s candidate gets the

majority vote in any state, the electors of that state are thereby selected to have ALL of that state’s electoral vote.

Thus, when a state with 24 electoral votes is won by a presidential candidate by a 51% - 49% vote, the winning candidate gets all 24 electoral votes, not just 51% of them

270 electoral votes of the 538 available wins a presidential election

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE (cont’d) Each state’s group of electors

meet in their state capital on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, after a presidential election.

Electors are not required by law to cast electoral votes according to the general election, but they rarely refuse to do so.

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE (cont’d) After the December electors’

meetings in each state capital, each state sends its electoral tally to Congress.

In joint session, Congress opens the results and certifies the total.

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE (cont’d) If there is no clear-cut electoral majority

for president, the House of Representatives chooses a winner from among the top three presidential candidates

If no candidate for vice president has a majority, the Senate chooses from among the top two candidates.

These options have been rarely used in modern times

Advantages of the electoral college system It preserves the voting power of

small states It can theoretically be used to undo

the results of an obviously corrupt election, though this has never happened

Disadvantages of the electoral college system It encourages candidates to

campaign mainly in large states; smaller states can feel ignored

Popular vote can actually be won by a candidate who loses electoral vote, as long as the electoral winner manages to win important large states

The system is poorly understood by most American voters

HOW PARTIES CLASSIFY ELECTIONS A “MAINTAINING” ELECTION: the

party formerly in power, stays in power

A “DEVIATING” ELECTION: the minority party manages to win by drawing independents, some majority party members, and new voters, but is not able to sustain this growth in following elections

HOW PARTIES CLASSIFY ELECTIONS (cont’d) A “CRITICAL ELECTION” indicates

sharp, long-term changes in previous patterns of party loyalty; can result in dramatic changes in Congress or the presidency

A “REALIGNING ELECTION” is similar in effect to a deviating election, except that the new coalitions hold and party loyalties shift permanently

HOW PARTIES CLASSIFY ELECTIONS (cont’d) A “DEALIGNING ELECTION”

shows that party loyalties have become less important to voters; this is apparent when there is an increase in voters who call themselves “independent,” or who vote a split ticket.

HOW CAMPAIGNS ARE FINANCED Recall that the 2004 election

represented an expenditure of close to $2 BILLION by political parties

HOW CAMPAIGNS ARE FINANCED (cont’d) Prior to the 1970s, candidates could take

donations from businesses, labor unions, and private individuals -- in unlimited amounts.

The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) in 1971 limited expenditures on ads, required candidates to state publicly who was paying their expenses, and limited the amounts a wealthy candidate or his family could invest in his/her campaign.

HOW CAMPAIGNS ARE FINANCED (cont’d) FECA also allowed citizens to

donate $1 from their IRS return each year into a special fund to give public money to candidates without vast financial resources

After the Watergate Scandal in 1974, Congress established the Federal Election Commission to oversee compliance with FECA.

HOW CAMPAIGNS ARE FINANCED (cont’d) FECA was strengthened: no

foreign contributions to candidates were allowed; any individual -- not just the candidate personally-- was limited in the amount that could be donated to a campaign

FECA also placed restrictions on Political Action Committees, or PACs.

HOW CAMPAIGNS ARE FINANCED (cont’d) PACs are somewhat shadowy

organizations that don’t exactly support a candidate, but do support one or more key issues strongly identified with that candidate.

Because they didn’t use the candidate’s name, they could be used to funnel large amounts of advertising $ into a campaign and still technically follow the rules of FECA.

HOW CAMPAIGNS ARE FINANCED (cont’d) FECA was amended in 1974 to put

some limitations on PACs, but the Supreme Court struck down these limitations in its 1976 decision Buckley v. Valeo

Restricting donations to PACs, the Court said, amounted to restricting donors’ freedom of expression -- a violation of the 1st amendment.

HOW CAMPAIGNS ARE FINANCED (cont’d) Since 1996, the FEC has received

petitions to restrict “soft money” By legal definition, “soft money”

contributions are given to a party to cover its general expenses for voter registration drives, conventions, office staff, etc. But much of it made its way into individual candidates’ campaigns.

HOW CAMPAIGNS ARE FINANCED (cont’d) In the 2000 election, soft money

accounted for over $400 million of the $1 billion spent by both parties together -- nearly 40% of candidate expenditures.

HOW CAMPAIGNS ARE FINANCED (cont’d) In 2002, Congress passed the Bipartisan

Campaign Finance Reform Act, usually called McCain-Feingold after the Republican and Democrat legislators who authored it.

Under McCain-Feingold, soft money use by federal candidates was banned outright, but the 1974 limits on individual citizen contributions were increased.