Elections and Voting

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Elections and Voting
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Election Day USA

• Federal elections are held on the first Tuesday
  in November of every even numbered year
• Every federal election we vote for our
  Representatives and 1/3 of the Senators
• Every 4 years we vote for President (and NC
  Governor)

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Requirements for registering to vote in Forsyth County Requirements for registering to vote in Forsyth County Requirements for registering to vote in Forsyth County
    You must be a citizen of the United States.
    You are a person 18 years of age or older.
    You are a person 17 years of age who will be 18 by the date of the general election.
    You have been a legal resident of Forsyth County of North Carolina for 30 days before the election.
In order to vote in an election, the voter registration form must be In order to vote in an election, the voter registration form must be In order to vote in an election, the voter registration form must be
    Postmarked at least 25 days before the election, or
    Delivered to the local board of elections office no later than 500 PM on the 25th day before the election
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Elections

• Primary Elections
• Purpose to determine who will represent the
  party in the General election
• Ex Hillary Clinton v. Barack Obama for the
  Democratic nomination in 2008
• General Elections
• Purpose vote between the nominees of the
  different party
• Ex Mitt Romney (R) v. Barack Obama (D)

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Open and Closed primaries

• Closed primary
• Only registered party members can vote
• Open primary
• Any registered voter can vote, regardless of
  party
• Runoff
• In most states, a candidate needs a plurality
• In some, candidate needs a majority

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The National Conventions
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How does the National Convention work?

• Delegates from state parties meet to choose a
  Presidential candidate
• In modern times, there is little suspense as the
  state primaries have already made it clear who
  the nominee will be

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No, people don't expect government to solve all
their problems. But they sense, deep in their
bones, that with just a slight change in
priorities, we can make sure that every child in
America has a decent shot at life, and that the
doors of opportunity remain open to all. They
know we can do better. And they want that
choice.
--- Barack Obama delivering the keynote address
at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in
Boston, Mass
Flashback OBAMA for President in 2008???
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Campaigning

• Canvassing
• Door to door or telephone contact with potential
  voters
• Done mainly by volunteers
• Purposes
• Identifying supporters
• Get out the Vote
• Explaining positions
• Signing up new members

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Campaign Financing

• Where does the money come from?
• Small individual contributions
• Wealthy individuals and families
• The candidates
• Ross Perot spent 65 million of his own in
  1992
• Political Action Committees (PACs)
• Political Parties
• Fundraisers, internet requests, direct mail, etc.

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Campaign Finance Reform

• The Federal Election Commission oversees the
  following
• Disclosure candidates must tell where money came
  from
• Limits on contributions (2100 for individual)

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Problems with Finance Reform

• Special Interest Groups and PACs
• Special interest groups represent a particular
  industry or cause
• PACs are the fundraising arm of an Interest Group
• Hard money v. Soft money
• Soft money is money spent on issue awareness
  and getting out the vote
• There is almost no limit on soft money

• No incentive for politicians to fix the system
  because it benefits those already in power
• The courts have held that campaign contributions
  are protected as free speech

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Special Interest Group examples

• Abortion
• Planned Parenthood v. National Right to Life
• Environment
• Greenpeace v. American Land Rights Association
• Gun control
• NRA (National Rifle Association) v. Coalition to
  Stop Gun Violence

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2010 Special Interest Spending
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Lobbyists

• Def Lobbyists are employed by Special Interest
  Groups to influence lawmakers to vote for or
  against legislation
• The name came from the fact that they worked in
  the lobbies of Congress
• There are many rules that regulate what lobbyists
  can and cannot do
• Biggest criticism they have too much influence
  on lawmakers

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Voters and Voting Behavior

• Def Electorate
• The electorate is defined as all eligible
  registered voters
• Def Absentee Voting
• If you will be out of your voting area on
  election day, you can file an absentee ballot

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What influences how people vote?

• In general
• Education
• Less D More R
• Gender
• Female D Male R
• Race
• White R Af Am D Lat ??
• Income
• Lower D Higher R
• Religion
• Protestant R Catholic, Jewish D
• Geography
• South R Northeast D West Coast
  D Heartland/West R Midwest ???

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2008 Presidential Election
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2008 Presidential Another view
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Who Votes?
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Why do some people choose NOT to vote?

• The United States suffers from voter apathy

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But there are some encouraging signs
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The Media and Elections

• Public Opinion attitudes held by a significant
  number of people on matters of government and
  politics

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How is public opinion formed?

• Family
• Fundamental attitudes, including religion
• Schools
• First outside influence
• Media
• What a person sees and reads
• Peers
• What are the attitudes of your friends and
  colleagues?
• Opinion Leaders
• Well known people, Celebrities, etc.
• History
• Ex The Great Depression, 9/11

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How is public opinion measured?

• Elections
• Polling
• Relies on a random sample of responses
• How reliable are polls?
• If questions worded properly, they are fairly
  accurate
• What purpose do they serve during campaigns?
• They inform the candidates of how well they are
  doing and what issues are most important to the
  voters

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But sometimes.
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What role does the media play?

• The media should present an unbiased view of the
  candidates and issues to the American people
• But

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PROPAGANDA

• Bandwagon Everyones doing it!

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PROPAGANDA

• Name calling Criticizing the opponent

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PROPAGANDA

• Endorsement Im a famous celebrity and I
  support

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PROPAGANDA

• Card stacking Heres all the ways Im better
  than my opponent

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PROPAGANDA

• Glittering Generalities Vague terms that dont
  really mean anything

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PROPAGANDA

• Plain folks Im a regular person just like you

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PROPAGANDA

• Transfer This symbol ME!

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3 Special elections

• Initiatives
• Ideas that come from the public and are voted on
  during elections
• Referendums
• Ideas that come from lawmakers that are voted on
  directly by the public
• Recalls
• A special election called to remove an elected
  official from office

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The Electoral College

• The framers created the electoral college because
  they were afraid voters would be uninformed on
  national elections
• How does it work?
• Each state has a set number of electoral votes (
  of Reps of Senators)
• Whichever candidate gets the most votes in a
  state gets ALL of the electoral votes
• You need 270 to win
• If no one gets 270, the House of Representatives
  picks the President

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The Big Question

• Do we still need the electoral college?
• Many argue that with modern elections and vote
  counting, the person who earns a plurality of the
  votes should win
• Candidates dont campaign in states they dont
  think they can win
• What do you think?

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North Carolina 2008