VOTING AND ELECTIONS

1
VOTING AND ELECTIONS

• Chapter 13
• OConnor and Sabato
• American Government
• Continuity and Change

2
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

3
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.

4
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.

5
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.

6
(No Transcript)
7
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.

8
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.

9
(No Transcript)
10
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

Does your vote matter?
11
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.

12
(No Transcript)
13
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.

14
Incumbency

• Incumbency advantage the electoral edge
  afforded to those already in officeachieved
  through
• Higher visibility
• Experience
• Organization
• Fund-raising ability

15
Voting Behavior

• Voter Participation
• About 40 of the eligible adult population votes
  regularly.
• About 25 are occasional voters.
• About 35 rarely or never vote.

16
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).

17
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?

18
Reforming the Electoral Process

• 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