The Electoral Process
Chapter 7
Section 1
THE NOMINATING PROCESS
First Steps
• Nomination – the naming of those who will seek
office.
– One of the primary functions of political parties
– Reason for the decentralized nature of the two major
parties.
• Since two major parties dominate politics, the
nomination process is very important.
• Nominations are made by self-announcement,
caucus, convention, direct primary, and petition
in the United States.
Self-Announcement
• A person who wants to run for office simply
announces that fact.
– Usually someone unable to win their party’s
nomination and is unhappy with their party’s
choice.
The Caucus
• A caucus is a group of like-minded people who
meet to select the candidates they will
support in an upcoming election.
• Caucus’ are used today mainly at the local
level to make nominations of candidates and
are typically open to all party members.
The Petition
• Often used at the local level for non-partisan
posts and municipal offices.
– Usually the higher the office the higher number of
signatures required for nomination by petition.
The Convention
• Since 1832 all major political party candidates
have been chosen by conventions.
– Parties meet in local caucuses to select local
candidates and choose delegates to county
conventions.
– At county conventions delegates select candidates for
county offices and choose delegates to state
conventions.
– At state conventions, delegates select candidates for
state offices and choose delegates to national
conventions.
– At national conventions, delegates select presidential
and vice presidential candidates and electors.
The Direct Primary
• A direct primary is an intraparty election.
– It is held within a party to pick that party’s
candidates for the general election.
– The state closely oversees direct primary elections
despite the fact that they are party processes.
– Way to combat the party bosses and prevent
corruption.
Primaries Today
• Typically caucus/convention or direct primaries
today or a combination of the two.
• Primary elections are set by the State parties.
• There are two main types.
– Open Primaries
• Anybody can vote in any primary
– Closed Primaries
• Only party members can vote
– Colorado has closed Primaries
– Some states use blanket primaries
• All candidates for every party are listed on the ballot.
Caucus vs. Ballot Primary
Caucus
• Encourages discussion and
debate.
• Very time consuming
– Colorado has this system.
Ballot Primary
• Votes are straightforward
• Takes very little time.
Runoff Primary
• In some cases where more than two
candidates are successful in early primaries
later in the process a runoff may occur where
only the two most successful candidates are
on the ballot.
Presidential Primaries
• Presidential primaries are primary elections
held as one part of the process by which
presidential candidates are chosen.
– It is a process in which a party’s voters elect some
or all of a State party organization’s delegates to
that party’s nation convention
– And/or it is a preference election in which voters
can choose among various contenders for the
party’s presidential nomination.
Evaluating Primaries
• Many people criticize the complexity and
difficulty of participating in primary elections.
• Financial aspects of primaries keep many
qualified candidates out of the running.
• Voters are usually very uninformed so it
becomes a name-recognition process often.
• Very few voters participate in primary
elections.