parties and voting
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Parties and voting. Hiram Johnson and the Progressives of early 1900s. Middle class reform movement against: Control over government by elite special interests (SPR) Strong (corrupt) party “machines”, based on favors and patronage So favored: Accountable government - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Hiram Johnson and the Progressives of early 1900s
• Middle class reform movement against:• Control over government by elite special interests (SPR)• Strong (corrupt) party “machines”, based on favors and patronage
• So favored:• Accountable government
• direct democracy—”people power”
• Weak party organizations
Partisan versus non-partisan elections
• local elections and state judges are virtually all “non-partisan”
State elections--More “Progressive” legacy
• special elections• Called by governor or by petition
• recall
• Initiatives and referenda• (As opposed to usual way law is made--
majority in one house, then other, conference, then signed (or vetoed) by governor)
• The voice of the people or special interests?
• Constraining the role of the legislature?
Primaries and General Elections
• Primary: Choosing the candidates to compete in the General Election
• General Election: choosing among the candidates to hold office
Partisan primaries
• Federal and state offices are partisan• 1996 CA voters passed proposition for “open
primary”—thrown out by USSC• Now we have “semi-closed” primary
Redistricting
• Every 10 years, after census CA legislature redraws district boundaries for themselves and CA Representatives to the House in DC
“Gerrymandering”
Gerrymandering, contd
• Current trend:• Computers exacerbate gerrymandering
• Types• Partisan
• Racial
• Incumbent
Incumbency Advantage
• Of the 101 CA incumbents who ran for reelection in 2002 and 2004, all were reelected, and 99 of these 101 incumbents won by landslides.
• Why?• Self-fulfilling prophecy
• term limits?• at state level, not federal
• CA—6 ys Assembly 8 ys Senate, lifetime ban—most stringent in the nation
Results of Term Limits
• More diverse—20 Latinos• Citizen legislators?—not really• Of 40 Senators, 36 are former assemblymembers
• Less experience and knowledge• From 1960s-1990s, CA often described as model “professional
legislature”
• Shorter time horizon• Increased power of lobbyists and advocacy groups• Increased power of Governor
Attempts to fix the problem
• 1976 USSC throws out mandatory spending limits
• 2002 Campaign finance--McCain Feingold
• but campaign spending continues to grow
Election Reform
1. Money--public funding for candidates--”clean elections”--including funds to match opponents private funding
• AB 583
1. More competition--redistricting reform
2. More choices--instead of “single member district winner take all”:
• party lists, cumulative voting, choice or instant run-offs, etc.• see http://msnbc.com/modules/mockracy/