Download - Elections, voting, and voter behavior
Elections, Voting, and Voter Behavior
Outline• Nominating Candidates
– Caucuses & Conventions– Primary Elections– Petition– Nominating Presidential Candidates
• Elections and Campaigns– Regulating Elections– Financing Elections– Hard & Soft Money– Presidential Elections
• Voting Rights and Voting Laws– History– Laws
• Voter Behavior– Influences on Voting Decisions– Voters and Nonvoters
Nominating Candidates
• Nominate: select a candidate to run for office• 4 methods for being on the ballot:– Caucus– Convention– Direct primary– petition
The Caucus & Convention
• Caucus: party leaders meet and decide who will run for office
• Nominating convention: public meeting of party members to choose candidates
• Party bosses: influential party leaders
Primary Election
• Direct primary election: several candidates from the same party run against each other for the nomination
Two types of primary:– Closed primary: limited to registered members of
political parties– Open primary: any registered voter
Nomination by Petition
• Petition: piece of paper that states a person wishes to run for office, a number of signatures is required to be considered.
• The more important the office, the more signatures needed
2008 Presidential Primaries
General Election
Elections & Campaigns
• Right to vote=basic to democracy• Election Day
Regulating Elections:– State v. Federal laws– Election dates (1st Tuesday, following the 1st
Monday in November)– Help America Vote Act (2002)
Financing Elections
• Campaigns require lots of money:– Offices– Campaign workers– Advertisements– Websites
• Where does the money come from?– Private donors (expect favors)– Public money ($3 contribution on income tax)
Campaign Finance LawsLimits on Giving to Campaigns for Federal Office
Primary Election General Election Political Action Committee
National Party
No more than $2,000 to a single candidate
No more than $2,000 to a single candidate
No more than $5,000 to one PAC in a year
No more than $95,000 during two years between congressional elections
Political Action Committee (PAC): a political organization formed by special interest groups such as companies and labor and professional organizations.
Examples: National Rifle Association (NRA), The American Medical Association (AMA), etc.
Hard & Soft Money
Hard Money• Regulated by laws• Money raised and spent by
candidate themselves
Soft Money• No real laws• Money raised and spent on
“party building” activities
2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act: The goal was to ban soft money, however, the result was that by the 2004 election, politicians had found a loophole by setting up Section 527 organizations. Much like PACs except these groups were not regulated.
Presidential Elections
• Electoral College• January 6th (Congress counts votes)• Election night news coverage
• Popular vote: total number of votes cast by citizens
• Electoral vote: number of votes that states have in the electoral college
Electoral College Map
Voting Rights• African Americans were not
considered citizens until 1868• Women couldn’t vote until 1920• Native Americans were not
granted citizenship until 1924• Youth vote was extended in 1971• Suffragist: people who
supported the right to vote for women
Voting Rights Laws
Law• Fifteenth Amendment• Voting Rights Act of 1965• Twenty Fourth Amendment
Interference• Grandfather clause• Literacy test• Poll tax
Voter Behavior
51%49% VotedDidn't vote
Why do some citizens vote in every election and some never vote?
Registered Voters
Voter Generalizations
Democratic Younger voters African-Americans High school graduates Women (slightly more) Catholics Jews Immigrants Urban areas
Republican High income College graduates Protestants Some Latinos Suburbs, rural areas
Straight-ticket voting: voting only for a party’s candidates
Voters & Nonvoters
Voters• College graduates• Higher income• Over 45• 64+ highest voting rates• Women more than men• Married people• Don’t move around• Religious attendees
Nonvoters• High School graduates or
less• Low income• Youth• Single people• People who move around
Political efficacy: the idea that a person can influence government by voting.
Why don’t people vote?
• Don’t meet residency requirements• Never registered• Feel little will change• Happy with the status-quo• No sense of political efficacy
• Average nonvoter= male, under 35, single, low level of education, works at unskilled jobs