Elections
Unit 3: Political Participation
Candidates are nominated for public office through:
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•
•
•
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Self-announcement
Caucus
Convention
Direct primary
Petition
What methods are used
to choose candidates for
public office?
• Nomination is the process of
selecting the candidates who will
seek public office. It is a key
function of American political
parties.
• In our two-party system, the
nominating process puts limits on
the choices available to voters in
the general election.
What is nomination?
• A person who wants
to run for office can
simply announce that
fact. Whenever a
write-in candidate
appears, selfannouncement has
been used.
• Why might wealthy
candidates favor selfannouncement?
Self-Announcement
• In the early republic, key party members
met in caucuses to nominate candidates.
• Party members in State legislatures held
caucuses to nominate candidates for State
offices, while party caucuses in Congress
nominated presidential candidates.
• Caucuses were criticized as being too small,
private, and out of touch with everyday party
members.
The Caucus
• Conventions replaced
caucuses.
• Party voters choose
delegates who attend
conventions, where they
pick party candidates and
elect delegates to attend
higher level conventions.
• Conventions were soon
controlled by party
bosses.
Conventions
• By law, the direct
primary is now the
nominating method
used by the major
parties in most States.
• Qualified voters cast
private ballots for
their preferred
candidate. The person
receiving the most
votes is nominated.
The Direct Primary
• The States regulate and
conduct party primaries.
• A closed primary is
closed to all but declared
members of a party.
Usually this means being a
registered party member.
• An open primary is open
to all qualified voters.
The Direct Primary
• Closed primaries help make candidates
more responsive to their party, force
voters to choose a party affiliation, and
keep the opposing party from “raiding”
a primary and picking the weakest
candidates.
• Open primaries do not exclude
independent voters. In many cases, open
primary voters can also keep their
choice of party private.
Open vs. Closed Primaries
Primaries in State Elections
• Depending on the
State, party voters
may use the
presidential primary
to choose delegates to
their national party
convention, to choose
the candidate they
want to be their
party’s presidential
nominee, or both.
Presidential Primary
ONLINE NON-PARTISAN
PRIMARIES?
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• At the local level,
candidates may be
nominated by petitions
signed by a minimum
number of qualified
voters in the election
district.
• Many States require
minor party and
independent candidates
to be nominated by
petition.
Petitions
• State governments make most election laws, as
most elections are for State and local offices.
• The federal government sets the rules, such as the
November election dates, for electing members of
Congress and the President.
• Congress also requires the use of secret ballots,
bans corruption, protects voting rights, and
regulates campaign financing.
Who Controls Elections?
• The Help America Vote
Act of 2000 requires
States to:
• replace lever-operated
and punch-card voting
machines
• improve their
administration of
elections
• computerize voter
registration systems
• allow provisional voting
Who Controls Elections?
• Most States hold elections for State office in
November of every even-numbered year, on the
Tuesday following the first Monday.
• Some States, such as New Jersey and Virginia,
elect State officials in odd-numbered years.
• City, county, and other local election dates vary
from State to State, usually taking place in
November or in the spring.
Election Day
• What is early voting?
• Early voting involves casting
ballots before election day.
States have greatly expanded
early voting in recent years.
• Voters can apply for absentee
ballots in advance and usually
mail them to their local election
office before election day.
• Two-thirds of the States also let
voters cast ballots at polling
places for a period of several
days before election day.
What is early voting?
• Paper ballots are
collected and taken to a
counting facility.
• Absentee ballots are
mailed to the counting
facility or brought to
the polling place.
• Electronic ballots are
sent electronically or
stored and sent
manually.
What happens to the ballots?
• A strong candidate for an
office at the top of a
ballot can attract voters to
other candidates on the
party’s ticket.
• A weak candidate, on the
other hand, can cost a
party votes.
• Holding State and local
elections on different
days from federal
elections might reduce
this coattail effect.
What is the coattail effect?
• Precincts are small voting districts
with a polling place in or near
them.
• Precinct election boards supervise
the voting process, opening and
closing the polls at times set by
State law.
• Precinct boards must also ensure
that ballots and voting devices are
available and that only qualified
voters cast ballots. They often
count votes as well.
• Each party can have a poll watcher
at a polling place to monitor the
process.
Precincts
• Ballots can take many forms, from paper
sheets to electronic records.
• Voting was once public, but now every
State requires the use of a secret ballot.
• By 1900, most States used the Australian
Ballot, which remains the basic form of
ballot used today. This ballot type:
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•
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Is printed at public expense
Lists the names of all candidates
Is given out only at the polls
Is marked in secret
Casting Ballots
• Most States use the office-group
ballot.
• All candidates for an office are
grouped together under the title
of that office, often in random
order.
• This method is favored because
voters must consider each choice,
office by office.
Office Ballot Group
Some
States use the
party-column
ballot,
which lists all
candidates under
their party’s name.
Party Column Ballot
This encourages
straight-ticket
voting and the
coattail effect.
• The so-called bed-sheet ballots in most U.S.
elections are very long, listing many candidates,
offices, and ballot measures.
• Critics say this length makes it hard for voters to
know all the candidates and their qualifications.
• Some argue that only those who make public
policy should be elected, while the many local
officials who administer policies could be
appointed to office.
Bed Sheet Ballots
• Voting systems based on
electronic data
processing include
optical scanners and
direct response electronic
voting machines (DREs).
• Some fear that DREs
could be attacked by
computer hackers.
Electronic Voting
• A number of States conduct some of their voting
on local city or county measures by mail.
• Oregon holds all its elections by mail.
• Critics fear that vote-by-mail is subject to fraud
and may lack privacy.
• Supporters say the method increases voter
participation, costs less than operating polls, and
is as reliable as other voting methods.
Vote By Mail Elections
• Online voting may be the wave of
the future, having been used on a
small scale in presidential
primaries.
• Supporters say online voting will
be more convenient, less
expensive, and likely to increase
voter participation.
• Critics fear technical problems,
computer viruses, and hackers.
They also point out that not all
Americans can afford a home
computer.
Online Voting
In 2008, presidential
candidates spent some $2.5
billion.
In September alone, Obama
and McCain each spent an
average of:
•
$25.2 million on TV and
radio ads
• $4.1 million on travel
• $2 million on campaign
worker salaries
• $800,000 on polls
Campaign Spending
• Some $1.5 billion was spent
on House and Senate
contests in 2008.
• It now costs about $1 million
to run for a House seat, and
up to 20 times that to
campaign for a Senate seat.
• What factors may account for
the rise seen in the chart to
the right?
Campaign Spending…
• Most money comes from private givers,
such as small contributors, wealthy
individuals, political action committees
(PACs), temporary fundraising groups,
and candidates themselves.
• Campaigns, particularly presidential
campaigns, receive public funds from
federal and state treasuries as well.
Where does the $ come
from?
• The Internet has
become a major
fundraising tool,
particularly for
outsider candidates.
• Barack Obama raised
some $230 million via
the Internet in 2008,
mostly in sums of less
than $100.
Funding Sources
• Candidates also raise money
through telethons and
fundraising dinners.
• People typically give money
because they believe in a party
or candidate, wish to influence
public policy, or want
improved access to government
Funding Sources
• Congress regulates the use of money in federal
elections. It passed the most recent campaign
finance law in 2002.
• Federal laws require the disclosure of campaign
finances, limit contributions and expenditures, and
provide federal funding for presidential elections.
• The Federal Election Commission often
struggles to enforce campaign finance laws due
to a lack of staff and funds.
Regulating Funds
• Each candidate has a single committee
responsible for all campaign spending and
recording all campaign contributions.
• Contributions over $200 must be identified by date,
purpose, and the name of the giver. Contributions of
more than $5,000 must be reported to the FEC.
• Cash gifts of more than $100 are prohibited, as are
contributions and spending from foreign sources.
Disclosure Requirements
• No person can give over $2,300 to a federal candidate in
a primary or general election.
• No person can give more than $5,000 to a PAC or
$28,500 to a national party in a single year.
• No person can give more than $108,200 total in a twoyear election cycle.
• Before these limits were imposed in 1974, individuals
often gave larger amounts.
Limits on Contributions
• More than 4,000 political action committees (PACs) are
active today:
• Most represent special interest groups such as business
associations and labor unions. They can raise money only from
members.
• Other PACs are unconnected committees that can raise money
from the public.
• No PAC can give more than $5,000 to a candidate in a
primary or general election. But a PAC can give to as
many candidates as it chooses and give up to $15,000 a
year to a political party.
PAC Contributions
The Supreme Court
has ruled that the 1st
Amendment
protection of free
speech means that
most campaign
spending limits are
unconstitutional.
This is because
candidates spend
money to share their
message with the
American people.
Limits on Expenditures
• The Presidential Election
Campaign Fund, established in
1971, uses taxpayer money to help
fund pre-convention campaigns,
national party conventions, and
presidential election campaigns.
• The system is set up so that only
candidates with national
organizations can qualify for funding.
• If a presidential candidate accepts
public funding for the general
election, his or her campaign cannot
take funds from any other source and
is limited in what it can spend.
Public Funding
• A lack of taxpayer support and
the rising cost of campaigns
may doom the public funding
program.
• In 2008, Barack Obama became
the first candidate to refuse
federal funds for the general
election, raising more than $300
million privately.
Public Funding
• Federal law puts limits on hard
money—contributions given
directly to candidates.
• In the 1980s, the major parties
began raising millions in
unregulated soft money—funds
given to parties or political
organizations.
• In 2000, some $500 million in
soft money had been raised. This
money could be spent on “issue
ads” supporting or opposing
certain policies.
Hard Money v. Soft Money
• In 2002, the McCain-Feingold
Law banned soft-money
contributions to political
parties.
• But independent political
groups, often called “527s,”
still can and do raise millions
in soft money.
Soft Money
• Groups such as 527s spent
several hundred million dollars
in soft money during the 2008
presidential campaigns.
ELECTIONS IN PLAIN ENGLISH
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