Lecture Notes – American Government and Politics Today – Perno

I. What If . . . We Had a National Election System?

A. If Congress could mandate a national election system, chances are that there would be less risk involved in a uniform voting system. Using optical scanners, voters could ensure that the correct vote was being registered before they left the voting booth.

B. One impact of a national election system would be the enormous cost. If the federal government mandated a national election system, either the federal government or the states would have to pay for the equipment.

C. Because the Constitution left state elections to the states, it is unlikely that Congress could or would simply pass legislation requiring a national election system. Such action would first require a Constitutional amendment, which is quite unlikely.

II. The People Who Run for Office

A. There are two categories of individuals who run for office, the self-starters and those who are recruited by the party to run for office.

1. Self-starters may choose to get involved for the following reasons:

a. to gain publicity to further a career outside of the electoral process

b. because of a commitment to a specific policy issue

c. support for a political cause

2. Recruited candidates have been chosen by leaders within the party to run for office because they appear to have qualities that are necessary to gain the support of the voting public.

B. Qualifications for candidates vary from office to office, however few offices have restrictive limitations. If a person is eligible to vote then he or she is usually eligible to run for office providing they meet the age requirement set for the specific office (25 years of age for the U.S. House, 30 years of age for the U.S. Senate, and 35 years of age for the presidency). While there are few restrictions on being a candidate, most candidates are not demographically representative of the general population. Traditionally, the overwhelming majority of candidates are male, Caucasian, and have significantly more wealth than the average citizen. However, in recent years, more women have run for office than in the past. Women are more likely to run for local and state offices, though the number of women elected to Congress recently has increased significantly.

III. The Modern Campaign Machine

A. Campaigning for public office has changed dramatically over the past forty years. In the years before most households had televisions, campaigning was personalized. Voters received information about a candidate from an individual, either from the candidate or a person who was working on behalf of the candidate or the party of the candidate. Campaigns today are impersonal, with voters receiving information through the media, usually in the form of advertising. In the last ten years campaigns have become less party-centered and more candidate-centered. Increasingly candidates must form their own political organizations and not rely on the party organization for campaign support.

B. The change in the structure of the campaign has created a cyclical dependence upon contributions. Less personalized contributions cost more, and so candidates must raise more money. In 2000, more than $3 billion was spent by candidates for local and congressional races.

C. The cost of campaigns has also increased because of the rise of the consultant-centered campaigns. It is now commonplace for candidates for local offices to hire consultants for their campaigns. Political consultants devise a campaign strategy that begins months prior to the general election. This strategy will include: raising contributions, seeking endorsements of organized groups, arranging for the candidate to speak at meetings of organized groups, the formation of groups for grass roots neighborhood support, and an extensive advertising campaign. Critics of this new type of campaigning indicate that the candidate no longer runs the campaign, the consultant runs the operation and sells the candidate’s image, as opposed to selling the position of the candidate on the issues. From this perspective the candidate is merely a product, like a package on the shelf of a grocery store, whose image is prepackaged to meet the expectations of the voters preferred image.

D. Image has become an important factor in the campaign process. The candidate attempts to build a positive image while attacking the image of the other candidates. This has led to a phenomenon known as negative campaign tactics. When information that could damage the image of an opponent is discovered, the candidate is encouraged to use the information to tarnish the image of the opponent. Although many voters indicate they do not like this type of campaigning, these tactics are on the increase and in many cases have proven to be very effective in influencing the voter’s perception of the image of the candidates.

IV. The Strategy of Winning

A. Campaign strategy is largely dependent upon the candidate’s name recognition. If the candidate is well-known (most likely to occur if the candidate is an incumbent), then the strategy will be to remind voters of the candidate’s accomplishments, and to mobilize them to vote.

B. If the candidate is unknown (more likely if s/he is a challenger or a candidate for an open seat), then the strategy will be to get the candidate known to the voters. After this is accomplished, challengers frequently will opt to criticize the incumbent or his or her positions.

C. If the candidate is an independent candidate, or from a third party, the strategy must also include a rationale for votes to abandon the major parties and to support the third party and its candidate. Typically, the major party candidates will label third party candidates as unworthy of consideration. Because of the obstacles discussed in Chapter 9, third parties in the United States typically tend to face an uphill battle.

V. Financing the Campaign

A. As campaigns have focused on advertising through the media to reach voters, the cost of campaigning has increased dramatically. Without the ability to raise large sums of money for campaign costs, candidates have little chance of winning an election. In 2000 the average cost of a campaign for a seat in the United States Senate was over $1.5 million. This means a candidate would have to raise $5,000 every week for six years in order to reach the goal of $1.5 million. Some candidates for the United States House of Representatives spent over $1 million in their campaign. In order to raise that amount of money the candidate must be able to attract contributions of $1,370 every day for two years. Because presidential candidates must run on a nationwide basis, the amount of money they must raise is staggering.

B. Through the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1972, Congress enacted limitations on the amount of money candidates for president could spend, although no such limits were placed on other elective positions. Limits were placed on how much money a person or organization could contribute to a candidate for a national office. The reason for such legislation was to reduce and regulate the amount of money candidates received. While individuals were no longer able to directly contribute large sums of money to a candidate the total cost of campaigning was not reduced. Candidates were able to receive contributions from the newly created political action committees (PACs).

C. Through the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974, Congress passed even further restrictions on contributions and expenditures in federal campaigns. This Act accomplished several things.

1. It created the Federal Election Commission, charged with overseeing the enforcement of federal election campaign law.

2. It provided for public funding of presidential primaries and general elections for those candidates who receive adequate contributions.

3. It limited presidential campaign spending for those accept public funding.

4. It placed limitations on contributions. Individual can contribute $1,000 per candidate per election, with a maximum total of $25,000. PACs are limited to $5,000 per candidate per election. These figures do not include “soft money” contributions to the political parties for “party building” activities.

5. It required disclosure of the source of contributions and what expenditures were for.

D. Political action committees were created when Congress enacted legislation that required organizations to abide by specific guidelines when contributing money to a candidate. If an organization wants to establish a PAC it must seek donations from a minimum of 50 people and all money raised must be contributed to at least five candidates in a federal election.

E. The Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act was passed by Congress in 2002. This act amended FECA, and banned soft money contributions to the national party committees. It also placed limitations on issue advocacy advertisements and increased the individual contribution limit to $2000 (from $1000). One impact of the act will be that it will hurt the ability of the political parties to help the candidates running on the party label. This could lead to less cohesiveness within the parties. Also, the act probably will have the impact of helping incumbents, who are less likely to need soft money contributions and issue advocacy ads.

VI. Running for President: The Longest Campaign

A. The campaign for presidency is an arduous process. While the next election for president takes place in 2004, if a candidate is serious in the quest for the White House the campaign process will begin at least two years in advance of the general election. Furthermore, there are two distinct aspects to the campaign, the primary process and the general election/electoral college process.

B. In the Primary Process, for a candidate to get the nomination of one of the two major parties, the candidate must receive a majority of the delegates at the national convention. Each state receives delegates to the national convention for each party. The number of delegates a state receives is roughly in proportion to the population of the state. Selection of delegates is usually conducted in one of two methods: a presidential primary or a state caucus. Prior to 1968 most delegates were selected through the caucus method. Today the overwhelming majority of delegates are selected through some form of a presidential primary.

C. New Hampshire begins the process in February for states utilizing the primary. The last presidential primary is conducted in June. Each state determines the date for the

January	The first caucus starts selecting delegates for each party.
February	The first presidential primary is conducted and delegates are selected for each party.
March through June	The remaining delegates are selected in each state through primary or caucus.
July and August	The Democrats and Republicans each hold a national convention to select the presidential candidate of their party.

August through November	The campaign for the general election. After the national convention, each candidate will campaign in states for popular votes hoping to win a plurality in order to gain electoral votes from the state.
November	The general election in which the public votes for Electors to the Electoral College.
December	The Electors meet in their state and cast their vote for President and Vice-President.

primary and limitations for voter participation. Restrictions on voter participation vary according to the types of primary used in a state:

1. Closed primary - Voters are restricted to voting for candidates registered in the same party as the voter.

2. Open primary - Voters are restricted to voting for candidates of a single political party. The voter selects which party to participate in at the voting booth.

3. Blanket primary - Voters may choose to participate in the election of both political parties. Only three states (Alaska, Louisiana, and Washington) use this method.

D. The caucus method is more complex than a primary but the end result is the same, the selection of delegates to the national convention. In the typical caucus voters meet at the local precinct to select representatives to attend the next meeting. This process is repeated at various levels until the representatives meet at the state convention where delegates are selected to attend the national convention. While states using presidential primaries receive most of the attention of the media there are still some states that select delegates through the caucus method.

E. Each party conducts a national convention, which is the meeting of all of the delegates who have been selected in state primaries and caucuses. Once the delegates have been approved by the credentials committee, they begin the process of making decisions for the party for the next four years. The highlight of the convention is the nomination of the presidential candidate. This process has changed for both parties in recent years. Because of the popularity of presidential primaries, candidates must have vast amounts of money to campaign. The early primaries tend to serve as a process of eliminating candidates who do not fare well. These candidates lack adequate funding to continue and they suspend their campaign. Usually by April there are only two or three candidates remaining in each party. By the time the last primary is conducted one candidate in each party has a simple majority of the delegates and therefore, attends the national convention knowing he or she has already secured the nomination of the party.

VII. The Electoral College

A. After receiving the nomination of the party, the candidate must begin a new campaign that will focus on gaining a majority of the electoral votes. The Electoral College is set forth in the Constitution (Article II, Section 1; Amendment XII; and Amendment XXIII). Each state receives electors equal to the number of United States Representatives and United States Senators the state has at the time of the election. The District of Colombia receives three electors. Currently there are a total of 538 electors (435 based on the number of Representatives, 100 based on the number of Senators, and 3 from the District of Colombia). In order for a candidate to be elected by the electors he or she must win a minimum of 270 electoral votes.

B. In each state the political party selects a number of people to serve as potential electors under the party label. When voters go to the polls to cast a ballot for the presidential candidate they are actually voting for a slate of party members pledged to support the presidential candidate of the party. In nearly all states, there is the winner-take-all system. That is, if a candidate receives a plurality of the votes cast he or she wins all of the electoral votes from the state.

C. In order to be elected president, a candidate must receive 270 electoral votes. The candidate will attempt to determine which states he or she has a chance to win and will then focus the campaign in those states. If polls indicate a close election in a particular state both candidates will campaign in the state hoping to win the popular vote and therefore obtain all of the electoral votes of the state. If polls indicate that one candidate has a huge lead, neither candidate is likely to campaign in the state. Currently, winning the 11 most populous states would result in a victory in the Electoral College. Thus, it is rational for presidential candidates to spend a lot of time campaigning in these states.

D. After the voters have cast their ballots, one candidate is said to have won the electoral vote for the state. Such a statement is not totally accurate. The presidential candidate’s party has won the state and the party’s slate of electors will cast their ballots in December for president and vice president.

E. In four different elections (including our most recent in 2000), the presidential candidate who received a plurality of the popular vote did not receive a majority of the electoral vote. In 1824 no candidate received a majority of the electoral votes and the House elected John Quincy Adams, although Andrew Jackson had received more popular votes than any other candidate. In 1876 Rutherford Hayes won the Electoral College by a single vote (Hayes 185 to Tilden’s 184) even though Tilden had won a majority of the popular vote. In 1888 Grover Cleveland received over 100,000 more popular votes than Benjamin Harrison, but Cleveland was not reelected as president because Harrison received the majority of votes cast in the Electoral College (Harrison 233 - Cleveland 168). In 2000, George W. Bush lost the popular vote and still received a majority of the electoral vote, though Democrats challenged the popular vote count in Florida, which determined Bush’s Electoral College victory. However, this could have occurred in four elections.

F. In the wake of the 2000 elections, there have been numerous arguments against the Electoral College. Regardless of these arguments, it is likely to remain as the method for the election of the president. Many Americans cannot understand why the president is still elected by electors as opposed to the vote of the people. The answer is simple: the United States Constitution provides for the election of the president by electors. In order to change how the president is elected, an amendment to the Constitution would have to be proposed and ratified. Such an amendment is not likely to occur.

VIII. How Are Elections Conducted?

A. All states have used a secret, or Australian ballot since 1888. But while every state uses the secret ballot, not all state’s ballots are the same type of ballot. There are two types of secret ballots.

1. The office-block ballot provides for candidates for elective office to be grouped together under the title of the office and the party-column ballot. The office-block ballot discourages straight party voting. Voters are encouraged to vote for the candidate for each office regardless of the party affiliation of the candidate.

2. The party column ballot provides for the grouping of candidates for all offices under their party label. States that use the party-column ballot list candidates in columns arranged by political parties. This type of ballot makes voting for all candidates of one party easier. In general elections where the president or the governor is elected, voters who are not knowledgeable about candidates for some lower offices may be swayed to support candidates of the same party as the president or governor. This is referred to as the coattails of the president or governor. The larger the margin of victory for the president or governor means longer coattails, meaning more candidates of his party will be elected because of the popularity of the candidate at the top of the ballot.

B. Increasingly, voting by mail has been used in the states. This has been done to make it easier for people to vote. In nearly all elections in which vote by mail has been used, we have seen and increase in levels of participation. Arguments against vote by mail include the suggestion that all votes do not occur at the same time (the window for voting is longer than the typical 12-14 hour window) and charges that vote by mail could result in widespread election fraud.

C. After the votes have been cast they must be counted. In order to ensure fairness in the counting of ballots many local election officials establish an official body known as a canvassing board. This board is composed of individuals of both major political parties. Most states have provisions for a recount of the ballots if there is an allegation of voting fraud or in the event of a very close election. It has been exceedingly rare that a recount has resulted in a reversal of the election outcome.

IX. Voting in National, State and Local Elections

A. In the 2000 general election approximately 50.7 percent of the people who were eligible to register to vote actually cast a ballot. What does this indicate? Voter participation in the United States is very low compared to other countries. If congressional elections in years the president was not elected were included the turnout rates would be far lower. Turnout rates are even lower yet for most local elections. Why there are fewer voters at the local level is the subject of considerable debate, as are the reasons for why turnout rates in all elections have been gradually declining over the past 25 years. While political scientists have not been able to totally agree on the reasons for declining voter participation, they have been able to identify major differences between voters and nonvoters.

B. The decision to vote appears to be influenced by the following factors:

1. Age. Individuals who are older are more likely to vote.

2. Education. Individuals who have more formal schooling are more likely to vote.

3. Minority status. Despite a decreasing gap, African-Americans are still less likely to vote than whites.

4. Income. Individuals who have higher incomes are more likely to vote.

5. Party competition. States that have two strong parties, as opposed to one strong and one weak party, tend to have higher voter participation.

C. There are several explanations why people don’t vote. Two include “rational ignorance effect” and ”uninformative media coverage and negative campaigning”

1. The Rational Ignorance Effect purports that individuals calculate that their vote is not so important that it is worth the effort for them to seek information to cast an informed vote.

2. The theory of uninformative media coverage and negative campaigning says that voters are not provided with the kind of information that would provide an incentive for them to vote, and many are turned off by the negativism of campaigns.

X. Legal Restrictions on Voting

A. By the 1850s individuals who did not own land were allowed to participate in most states. In 1870 African-Americans were granted the right to vote, though obstacles to their participation remained until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. By 1920 females were granted suffrage. The last major extension of suffrage occurred in 1971 when 18 to 20 year olds were allowed to vote.

B. In order to participate in the electoral process in most states an individual must complete a registration process. While this process varies from state to state, it is considered important to prevent voter fraud. Some have argued that the registration process is too complicated and therefore reduces the number of people who would vote if voting were made easier. In 1995 Congress passed a bill which allows individuals to complete the registration process when they apply for a drivers license, assuming they are at least 18 years of age. It is now considerably easier for citizens to become registered. However, the major problem will continue to be how many people actually vote and whether these voters are knowledgeable about the issues and candidates.

XI. How Do Voters Decide?

A. For which candidates and political parties individuals decide to cast their votes are influenced in part by certain demographic and socioeconomic factors

1. Education. For years, higher education levels appeared to be correlate with voting for Republican candidates. Since 1992, however, voters with higher levels of education have been voting increasingly Democratic, so that in the 2000 election, these voters were nearly evenly divided between Al Gore and George W. Bush.

2. Income and Socioeconomic status. Professionals are tending to vote more Democratic than in the past, while small business people and those considered to be mid- to high-level managers in business tend to support the Republican Party. The Democratic Party also tends to receive support from people employed in manual labor and union workers.

3. Religion. In 2000, trends showed that the level of devoutness (rather than the denomination) correlated with voting. Those who attend church regularly are more likely to vote Republican, no matter what the denomination. Overall, however, Protestants have been more inclined to support Republican candidates; Catholics and Jewish voters have traditionally supported Democratic candidates.

4. Ethnic Background. Anglo-Saxon and northern European ethnic groups have been supportive of the Republican Party; Irish and Italians are more likely to support the Democratic Party.

5. Gender. Prior to the 1980 election there was little difference between men and women in support for the political parties. But beginning in the 1980 election, a “gender gap” developed where women have been more supportive of Democratic candidates.

6. Age. Younger voters have been more likely to support candidates of the Democratic Party while older voters have been more likely to support the candidates of the Republican Party. In addition, older Americans are more likely to turnout to vote.

7. Geographical region. As was made clear in the 2000 elections, Democrats tend to gain more supporters from the northern and eastern cities while Republicans have more supporters from rural areas and from the southern and western states.

B. The other major category influencing an individual’s vote is often referred to as the psychological factors:

1. Party Identification. This is the strongest determinant of an individual’s vote. If an individual identifies with a particular party there is greater the likelihood this person will vote and support the candidates of that party.

2. Perception of the Candidate. The candidate who is more successful in projecting an image that the public wants has a better chance of winning the election. Typically, these characteristics are emotional characteristics, like trustworthiness.

3. Issue Preferences. Although not as important as party identification or image, where a candidate stands on a given issue does have an impact on voters. Some voter have issue “litmus tests,” where they will never vote for a candidate who doesn’t agree with their issue stance on abortion, or some other salient issue.