Presentation Pro
Magruder’s
American Government
CHAPTER 7
The Electoral Process
© 2001 by Prentice Hall, Inc.
Standard 12.6:
Students evaluate issues regarding
campaigns for national, state, and local
elective offices.
• In this chapter students will learn about
all aspects of the electoral process –
nominations, the role of the States, how
votes are tallied, and the role that
money plays in political campaigns.
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CHAPTER 7
The Electoral Process
SECTION 1
The Nominating Process
SECTION 2
Elections
SECTION 3
Money and Elections
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Chapter 7
SECTION 1
The Nominating Process
Objectives:
1. Explain why the nominating process is a
critical first step in the election process.
2. Describe self-announcement, the caucus,
and the convention nominating methods.
3. Discuss the direct primary the principal
nominating method used in the United
States today.
4. Explain why some candidates use the
petition as a nominating device.
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Chapter 7, Section 1
Vocabulary
1. Nomination
2. General election
3. Caucus
4. Direct primary
5. Closed primary
6. Open primary
7. Blanket primary
8. Runoff primary
9. Nonpartisan elections
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A Critical First Step
In the United States, the election
process occurs in two steps:
1. Nomination, in which the field of candidates
is narrowed
2. General election, where voters make the
final choice of officeholder
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Chapter 7, Section 1
Nominating and Electing a Candidate
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Chapter 7, Section 1
Three Ways to Nominate
• Self-Announcement – A person who wants to run for
office announces their candidacy
•The Caucus – Originally a private meeting of local
bigwigs
•The Convention – Considered more democratic than the
caucus, convention delegates were selected to represent the
people’s wishes
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The Direct Primary
Types of Direct
Primaries
Closed
Primary
Open
Primary
Only declared
party members
can vote.
Any qualified
voter can take
part.
Runoff Primary
If a required majority
is not met, the two
people with the most
votes run again
Nonpartisan
Primary
Candidates are not
identified by party
labels
Blanket Primary
Qualified voters can
vote for any
candidate,
regardless of party
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Chapter 7, Section 1
Primaries Across the United States
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Chapter 7, Section 1
Petition
• Candidates must gather a required number of
voters’ signatures to get on the ballot by means of
petition.
• Minor party and independent candidates are
usually required by State law to be nominated by
petition.
• Petition is often used at the local level to nominate
for school posts and municipal offices.
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Chapter 7, Section 1
Section 1 Review
1. The most commonly used method of nomination today is
(a) the caucus.
(b) the direct primary.
(c) self-announcement.
(d) the convention.
2. A runoff primary is held in some States when
(a) no one wins a majority of votes.
(b) there is only one candidate.
(c) not enough voters turn out on election day.
(d) a candidate asks for a recount.
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Chapter 7, Section 1
SECTION 1
Summary
1. Explain why the nominating process is a
critical first step in the election process.
2. Describe self-announcement, the caucus,
and the convention nominating methods.
3. Discuss the direct primary the principal
nominating method used in the United
States today.
4. Explain why some candidates use the
petition as a nominating device.
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Chapter 7, Section 1
SECTION 2
Elections: Objectives
• Analyze how the administration of elections in
the United States helps make democracy work.
• Define the role of precincts and polling places
in the election process.
• Describe the various ways in which
voters can
cast their ballots.
• Outline the role that voting machines and other
innovations play in the election process.
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Chapter 7, Section 2
Vocabulary Terms
1.Absentee voting
2.Early voting
3.Precinct
4.Polling Place
5.Coattail effect
6.ballot
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The Administration of Elections
Elections are primarily regulated by State law, but
there are some overreaching federal regulations.
•
Congress
States
Can set the time, place,
and manner of congressional
and presidential elections.
•Determine the details of
the election of State and
local officials.
-Tuesday after the first
Monday in November
-even-numbered year for
congressional elections,
-presidential election, the
same day every fourth year.
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Most States provide for
-absentee voting
Some States started to
allow Early voting
Chapter 7, Section 2
Precincts and Polling Places
Precincts
•
•
•
A precinct is a voting
district.
Precincts are the
smallest geographic
units used to carry out
elections.
A precinct election board
supervises the voting
process in each precinct.
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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. Polling
places are supposed to
be located conveniently
for voters.
Chapter 7, Section 2
Precinct Election Officials
• Precinct election officials are required to
perform all of the duties that our state
legislature has required by law. These duties
include receiving the ballots and supplies,
opening and closing the polls, overseeing
the casting of the ballots during the time the
polls are open, and any other duties required
by law. At each voting precinct there will be
at least four precinct election officials.
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Casting the Ballot
•
History of the Ballot
Voting was initially done orally.
It was considered “manly” to speak out your vote without fear
of reprisal.
•
Paper ballots began to be used in the mid-1800s.
-At first, people provided their own ballots.
-Then, political machines began to take advantage of the
flexibility of the process to intimidate, buy, or manufacture
votes.
•
In the late 1800s, ballot reforms cleaned up ballot fraud by
supplying standardized, accurate ballots and mandating
that voting be secret.
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Chapter 7, Section 2
Office-Group and Party-Column Ballots
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Chapter 7, Section 2
Voting Machines and Innovations
•
•
Electronic vote counting
has been in use since
the 1960s. Punch-card
ballots are often used to
cast votes.
Vote-by-mail elections
(recent).
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Chapter 7, Section 2
Electronic voting (also known as e-voting)
-electronic means of casting a vote and
-electronic means of counting votes.
•
•
•
•
two main types of e-Voting;
electronic voting machines located at polling stations
remote e-Voting (e.g. voting from one's personal computer, mobile
phone, television via the internet.
could facilitate electoral fraud
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Section 2 Review
1. Elections are held on
(a) the first Wednesday after Halloween.
(b) the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
(c) the second Thursday after the first Monday in March.
(d) the first Monday in December.
2. The Office-Group Ballot encourages
(a) voter fraud.
(b) split-ticket voting.
(c) voter dissatisfaction.
(d) the Democratic Party.
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Chapter 7, Section 2
SECTION 2
Summary
1.How does the administration of elections in
the United States make democracy work?
2.What role do precincts and polling places
play in the election process?
3.In what ways can voters cast their ballots?
4.What role do voting machines and other
innovations play in the election process?
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Chapter 7, Section 2
•Ch. 7
•S E C T I O N 3
Money and Elections
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SECTION 3
Objectives
• Explain the issues raised by campaign spending.
• Describe the various sources of campaign funding.
• Examine federal laws that regulate campaign
finance.
• Outline the role of the Federal Election Commission
has in enforcing campaign finance laws.
• Describe hard money and soft money.
• Identify loopholes that exist in today’s finance law.
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Chapter 7, Section 3
VOCABULARY
1.Political Action Committee 2.Subsidy – a grant of money, usually
from the gov.
3.Soft money
4.Hard money
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• Money: key role in politics, & serious
prob. to a dem. Gov.
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Campaign Spending
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Chapter 7, Section 3
Campaign Spending
•Est. total cost of 2012 elec. - jump 7% f/ $5.4 bil.
4 yrs ago, could reach $6 billion.
•One factor that could change the bottom line:
Spending by super PACs ( don't have to reveal
donors) - have multiplied in wake of Sup. Crt
ruling.
•USA TODAY
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Chapter 7, Section 3
Campaign Spending
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Chapter 7, Section 3
Sources of Funding
Private and Public Sources of
Campaign Money
Small
contributors
Nonparty
groups such
as PACs
Wealthy
supporters
Temporary
fund-raising
organizations
Candidates
Government
subsidies
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Chapter 7, Section 3
Regulating Campaign Financing
• Early campaign regulations were created in
1907, but feebly enforced.
• The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA)
of 1971 was passed to replaced the former,
ineffective legislation.
•
.
-(more stringent disclosure requirements )
• -(who & how much)
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Chapter 7, Section 3
Regulating Campaign Financing
• The FECA Amend. of 1974 were passed in
response to the Watergate scandal
-set limits on contributions
-created the FEC – Federal elections
commission
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Regulating Campaign Financing
• Buckley v. Valeo (1976) invalidated some of
the measures in the FECA Amend. of 1974.
-struck down sev. provisions incl. on the
amt. of money a cand. c/d donate to own
campaign
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Regulating Campaign Financing
• Also stipulated that the 1974 amend. on
spending only apply to candidates who
accept campaign money from the
government, not those who raise
money independently.
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Federal Election Campaign Act
• Contribution limits:
Hard money:
• money to a candidate
• Limited at $1,100
• Created a loophole:
Soft money
• Money given to political party
• Unlimited
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FECA
Disclosure: must show who
contributes
NO Expenditure (spending) limit
NO contributions from unions or
corporations
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PACs
• Political Action Committees: fundraising
arm of groups that can donate directly to a
campaign
Most are corporations
• Contribution limit: $5000/year
• Incumbents: pers. currently in office gets
most of their $
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The Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission (FEC)
enforces:
• the timely disclosure of campaign finance
info.
• limits on camp. contrib.
• limits on camp. Expen.
• provisions for publ. fund. of pres. Camp.
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Chapter 7, Section 3
Loopholes in the Law
“More loophole than law…” —Lyndon Johnson
•
•
•
Soft money—money given to State and local party org. for
“party-building activities” that is filtered to presidential or
congressional campaigns. $500 million was given to
campaigns in this way in 2000.
Independent campaign spending—a person unrelated
and unconnected to a cand. or party can spend as much $
as they want to benef. or work against cand.
Issue ads—take a stand on certain issues in order to
criticize or support a certain candidate w/o actually
mentioning that person’s name.
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Chapter 7, Section 3
Section 3 Review
1. Sources of campaign funding include
(a) nonparty groups, such as political action committees.
(b) government subsidies.
(c) candidates’ personal funds.
(d) all of the above.
2. Under federal election legislature passed in the 1970s, candidates
are not allowed to
(a) take government subsidies.
(b) use their own money in campaigns.
(c) take contributions of more than $1,000.
(d) all of the above.
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Chapter 7, Section 3
SECTION 3
Money and Elections / Summary
1. What are the issues raised by campaign
spending?
2. What are the various sources of campaign
funding?
3. How do federal laws regulate campaign finance?
4. What role does the Federal Election Commission
have in enforcing campaign finance laws?
5. What loopholes exist in today’s campaign finance
laws?
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Chapter 7, Section 3