Elections in the United States

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Elections in the United States
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Purpose of Elections

• Founders called it Popular Sovereignty
• Political Power is derived from the consent of
  the governed
• Elections fill public offices and staff the
  government
• Elections also hold the Government accountable to
  the public

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Types of Elections

• Presidential Elections (General)
• Primaries
• Congressional Elections
• Mid-term Elections
• Referendum on the President
• State and Local
• Initative, Referendum, and Recall

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Presidential Elections

• Primary Elections
• Voters decide which of the Candidates within a
  party will represent the partys ticket in the
  General Elections

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Types of Primaries

• Closed
• Only a registered party member is allowed to vote
  (FL, LA, NY, CA)
• Open
• Any member of the Electorate can vote in either
  primary (GA, AL, TX, VA)
• Crossover voting does occur frequently in Open
  Primaries
• There is little evidence to support raiding of
  primaries
• Runoff
• Second Primary election between the top 2 vote
  getters
• LA is a little strange

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Primaries Scheduling

• Critics argue unfair scheduling of Primaries
  affects their outcomes
• Take New Hampshire. Who really cares what the
  think? But because they are the first primary in
  our nation some say they get way too much media
  coverage and affect the opinions of the
  electorate in more populous states that hold
  their primaries later

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Leads to Front Loading

• Front Loading- the tendency of states to chose an
  early date on the primary calendar
• Parties have finally said enough is enough and
  have taken delegates out of states who continue
  to move up their primaries
• Ex. Michigan
• Super Tuesday- In 1988 14 southern states began
  Super Tuesday to maximize the Souths influence
  on Presidential Politics

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Party Conventions

• All the States report the number of delegates
  voting for a candidate
• All the candidates give a brief speech supporting
  the Nominee
• The Partys nominee gives a speech about how
  he/she will change the world
• News Coverage is extensive which leads to the
  Convention Bounce

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Electing the President

• The President is not elected by a Direct Vote
• Congress is a direct election
• The Gubernatorial election is a direct election.
  
• The President is elected by the Electoral College
  

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The Electoral College

• Like most things at Constitution the Electoral
  College is a compromise
• Direct Popular vote and Congress choosing the
  President
• Electors were meant to be men of character with a
  solid knowledge of national politics

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What is the Electoral College?
It is the constitutional system used to elect the
Chief Executive. Established by Article II of the
Constitution and the 12th Amendment (1804). Each
state is assigned a specific number of
electors. When you vote for President, you are
actually voting for the group of electors from
your state.
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Once again....
When you cast your vote, you are actually voting
for the ELECTORS from your state. The candidate
that gets the most votes in your state, gets
those electors. WINNER TAKE ALL SYSTEM!!!!! If
you win a plurality of the votes, you get EVERY
VOTE!!!!
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To Find the Number of Electoral Votes for a state
So There are 538 Electoral Votes on the map To
win 538/2269 A majority is 50 1 So to be
President you need 270 Electoral Votes
Number of Representatives in the House Number
of Senators (Always 2) Total Number of Electors
TO WIN THE WHITE HOUSE YOU MUST WIN A MAJORITY OF
ELECTORAL VOTES
The candidate that wins the popular vote in that
state gets all that states electoral votes
(except for Maine and Nebraska).
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What if no candidate gets a majority of the
electoral vote?
Should none of the candidates win a majority of
the electoral votes, the 12th Amendment kicks in
and the election is decided by the House of
Representatives. The combined representatives of
each state get one vote and a simple majority of
states is required to win. This has only happened
twice. Presidents Thomas Jefferson in 1801 and
John Quincy Adams in 1825 were elected by the
House of Representatives.  

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Why do we have the Electoral College?
Concerns of Founders President would use
military to overpower states Would use office to
hold power through force and corruption Protectio
n against the ignorant masses Areas of small
population would be ignored Results Large states
have more say, but small states are guaranteed at
least 3 electoral votes
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Mid Term Elections

• Off Year elections- In-between presidential
  elections
• Less Participation than a Presidential Election
• The presidents party normally loses seats during
  this election
• Midterm Elections serve as a REFERENDUM on the
  President
• 2006 Mid Term election Republicans lost 30 seats
  in the house and 6 in the Senate giving the
  Democrats control in Congress

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Initiative, Referendum, Recall

• Initiative- An election that allows citizens to
  propose legislation and submit it to the state
  electorate for popular vote
• Referendum- An election whereby the state
  legislature submits proposed legislation
• Good Things- This provides for more Direct
  Democracy
• Bad Things- in 1990 California had to provide a
  2 volume book explaining all the initiatives on
  the ballot

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Recall

• Or Deelection
• Voters can vote to remove an incumbent from
  office prior to the next scheduled election
• Example?