Elections, voting, and voter behavior

Elections, Voting, and Voter Behavior

Outline• Nominating Candidates

– Caucuses & Conventions– Primary Elections– Petition– Nominating Presidential Candidates

• Elections and Campaigns– Regulating Elections– Financing Elections– Hard & Soft Money– Presidential Elections

• Voting Rights and Voting Laws– History– Laws

• Voter Behavior– Influences on Voting Decisions– Voters and Nonvoters

Nominating Candidates

• Nominate: select a candidate to run for office• 4 methods for being on the ballot:– Caucus– Convention– Direct primary– petition

The Caucus & Convention

• Caucus: party leaders meet and decide who will run for office

• Nominating convention: public meeting of party members to choose candidates

• Party bosses: influential party leaders

Primary Election

• Direct primary election: several candidates from the same party run against each other for the nomination

Two types of primary:– Closed primary: limited to registered members of

political parties– Open primary: any registered voter

Nomination by Petition

• Petition: piece of paper that states a person wishes to run for office, a number of signatures is required to be considered.

• The more important the office, the more signatures needed

2008 Presidential Primaries

General Election

Elections & Campaigns

• Right to vote=basic to democracy• Election Day

Regulating Elections:– State v. Federal laws– Election dates (1st Tuesday, following the 1st

Monday in November)– Help America Vote Act (2002)

Financing Elections

• Campaigns require lots of money:– Offices– Campaign workers– Advertisements– Websites

• Where does the money come from?– Private donors (expect favors)– Public money ($3 contribution on income tax)

Campaign Finance LawsLimits on Giving to Campaigns for Federal Office

Primary Election General Election Political Action Committee

National Party

No more than $2,000 to a single candidate

No more than $2,000 to a single candidate

No more than $5,000 to one PAC in a year

No more than $95,000 during two years between congressional elections

Political Action Committee (PAC): a political organization formed by special interest groups such as companies and labor and professional organizations.

Examples: National Rifle Association (NRA), The American Medical Association (AMA), etc.

Hard & Soft Money

Hard Money• Regulated by laws• Money raised and spent by

candidate themselves

Soft Money• No real laws• Money raised and spent on

“party building” activities

2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act: The goal was to ban soft money, however, the result was that by the 2004 election, politicians had found a loophole by setting up Section 527 organizations. Much like PACs except these groups were not regulated.

Presidential Elections

• Electoral College• January 6th (Congress counts votes)• Election night news coverage

• Popular vote: total number of votes cast by citizens

• Electoral vote: number of votes that states have in the electoral college

Electoral College Map

Voting Rights• African Americans were not

considered citizens until 1868• Women couldn’t vote until 1920• Native Americans were not

granted citizenship until 1924• Youth vote was extended in 1971• Suffragist: people who

supported the right to vote for women

Voting Rights Laws

Law• Fifteenth Amendment• Voting Rights Act of 1965• Twenty Fourth Amendment

Interference• Grandfather clause• Literacy test• Poll tax

Voter Behavior

51%49% VotedDidn't vote

Why do some citizens vote in every election and some never vote?

Registered Voters

Voter Generalizations

Democratic Younger voters African-Americans High school graduates Women (slightly more) Catholics Jews Immigrants Urban areas

Republican High income College graduates Protestants Some Latinos Suburbs, rural areas

Straight-ticket voting: voting only for a party’s candidates

Voters & Nonvoters

Voters• College graduates• Higher income• Over 45• 64+ highest voting rates• Women more than men• Married people• Don’t move around• Religious attendees

Nonvoters• High School graduates or

less• Low income• Youth• Single people• People who move around

Political efficacy: the idea that a person can influence government by voting.

Why don’t people vote?

• Don’t meet residency requirements• Never registered• Feel little will change• Happy with the status-quo• No sense of political efficacy

• Average nonvoter= male, under 35, single, low level of education, works at unskilled jobs