VOTING AND ELECTIONS
Chapter 13
OConnor and Sabato
American Government:
Continuity and Change
VOTING AND ELECTIONS
In this chapter we will cover
The Purposes Served
by Elections
Different Kinds of
Elections
Presidential
Elections
Congressional
Elections
Voting Behavior
Reforming The
Electoral Process
The Purposes Served by Elections
Most change in the
United States comes about on the basis of elections.
Elections generally
allow us to avoid:
riots
general strikes
coups d'etats
Elections serve
to legitimate
governments through the mandates of the electorate
to fill public offices
and organize governments
to allow people with
different views and policy agendas to come to power
to ensure that the
government remains accountable to the people.
Different Kinds of Elections
Primary Elections
General Elections
Initiative, Referendum,
and Recall
Initiatives
allow citizens to propose legislation and submit it to popular vote.
A referendum allows the legislature to submit
proposed legislation for popular approval.
Recall
elections allow citizens to remove someone from office.
Presidential Elections
Choosing the nations
chief executive is a long, exhilarating, and exhausting process that often
begins even before the previous election ends.
The presidential election
is held every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
Electoral College
The Electoral College
was a compromise created by the Framers to ensure that the president was chosen
intelligently and with the input of each of the states.
The number of electors
is determined by the federal representation for each state.
For example, California
has 52 members of the House of Representatives and 2 Senators 54 electoral
votes.
Electoral College
There are a total of 538
electoral votes (535 members of Congress
and 3 for the District of Columbia)
A majority of 270 wins
the presidency.
Just as George W. Bush
did in 2000, a candidate can win a majority of electoral votes with a minority
of popular votes and still be elected to the office.
Presidential Election 2000
Al Gore (D)
50,996,116
votes
48%
21
States Won
266
Electoral Votes
George Bush (R)
50,456,169
votes
48%
30
States Won
271
Electoral Votes
Patterns of
Presidential Elections
Party Realignments are rare
occurrences in which existing party affiliations change dramatically.
Secular
Realignment is the gradual shifting of party coalitions.
Congressional Elections
In Congressional elections:
candidates tend to be
less visible.
most candidates are or
were state legislators.
name recognition is
often the most important battle of the campaign.
candidates receive
little media coverage.
Incumbency
Incumbency advantage the electoral edge afforded to those already in
office
achieved through:
Higher visibility
Experience
Organization
Fund-raising ability
Voting Behavior
Voter Participation
About 40% of the
eligible adult population votes regularly.
About 25% are occasional
voters.
About 35% rarely or
never vote.
Who Votes?
Income people with higher incomes have a higher tendency to
vote.
Age older people tend to vote more often than younger
people (less than half of eligible 18-24 year olds are registered to vote).
Gender Since 1980, women have a higher tendency to vote for
Democrats than Republicans.
Race in general, whites tend to vote more regularly than
African-Americans (this may be due to income and education rather than race).
Does Low Voter
Turnout Matter?
Is low voter turnout a
problem in a democracy?
Do we want the
uninformed or poor and uneducated voting? Might they make bad decisions?
Reforming the Electoral Process
Ψ Some
possibilities:
Abolition
of the electoral college
The
establishment of a permanent congressional district scheme
The
elimination of the elector system
Nomination
process by lottery
New Hampshire not always first
Restructuring
campaign finance laws