VOTING AND ELECTIONS

1

• VOTING AND ELECTIONS

2
Ladder of Conventional Participation

• -Running for Political Office
• Joining/Active in Political Parties and Interest
  Groups
• Working in Campaigns
• Attending Government Meetings
• Writing Letters
• Knowing elected officials
• VOTING - least initiative

3
Constitutional Challenges

• 14th Amendment
• 15th Amendment
• 19th Amendment
• 24th Amendment
• 26th Amendment

• White Primary
• Covert and Overt Tactics
• Smith v. Allwright (1944)
• NRA 1992
• Motor Voter Bill

4
Party Conventions

• The United States presidential nominating
  convention is a political convention held every
  four years in the United States by the political
  parties who will be fielding nominees in the
  upcoming U.S. presidential election.
• The formal purpose of such a convention is to
  select the party's nominee for President, as well
  as to adopt a statement of party principles and
  goals known as the platform and adopt the rules
  for the party's activities, including the
  presidential nominating process for the next
  election cycle

5
Republican

• There were 2,348 delegates that attended the 2008
  Republican National Convention in Minnesota in
  September. To win the nomination, a candidate
  must win the votes of at least 1,191 delegates at
  the convention.

6
Democrats

• As for the Democratic Party, there were 4,049
  total delegates at its 2008 National Convention
  in Denver, in August. There are 3,253 pledged
  delegates and 796 super-delegates. The total
  number of delegates needed to win the nomination
  is 2,025.

7
What is a Delegate?

• A delegate is a person who is generally empowered
  to represent a larger group.
• To delegate, is to give authority or
  responsibility to others. In a sense, those who
  chose a delegate are choosing someone who will
  represent them and their interests. A delegate is
  often also called a representative.

8
The Superdelegates

• The reason is because of the super-delgates.
  Super-delegates are only in the Democratic
  Party. After a tight battle for the 1980
  presidential nomination between Jimmy Carter and
  Ted Kennedy which left the party deeply divided,
  the party created these superdelegates. The major
  Democratic Party leaders felt that the
  superdelegates would actually be more
  representative of all Democratic voters if they
  had more elected officials on the convention
  floor to offset the more open-minded impulses of
  party activists. In short, the superdelegates
  were created to provide leadership and unity at
  the nominating convention. Well, who are these
  leaders? They are typically members of the
  Democratic National Committee, elected officials
  like senators or governors, or party leaders. And
  here is the kicker they do not have to indicate
  a candidate preference until the Convention!

9
Proceedings

• Party Activists Hold MeetingsDraft a Platform
  containing goals and proposals (planks)
• Speeches- minor and major figures get to address
  the floor
• Final Day of the convention usually features the
  formal acceptance speeches from the nominees for
  President and Vice President
• Closure balloons, party, music, celebration,

10
Voting Rights Act, 1965(VRA)

• -Major law enacted by Congress in 1965 and
  renewed and expanded in 1970,1975, 1982, and 2006
  that has sought to eliminate restrictions on
  voting that have been used to discriminate
  against blacks and other minority groups.

11
VRA cont

• The major provision of the 1965 Act
• 1) Suspended the use of literacy and other tests
  used to discriminate.
• 2) Authorized registration by federal registrars
  in any state or county where such tests had been
  used and where less than 50 of eligible voters
  were registered
• 7 Southern states ( Texas, Florida, Georgia,
  Louisiana, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama )
  were mainly affected by these provisions.

12
VRA cont

• In 1970
• - It extended the Act for 5 more years.
• - Lowered the voting age from 21 to 18
• - Prohibited the states from disqualifying
  voters in presidential elections because of their
  failure to meet state residency requirements
  beyond 30 days
• - provided uniform national rules for absentee
  registration and voting in presidential elections

13
VRA cont

• In 1975
• - Extended for another 7 years
• - Federal protection was extended to 10 new
  states
• - Bilingual ballots were required
• - Legal protection of voting rights was extended
  to Spanish-Americans, Alaskan natives, American
  Indians, and Asian-Americans

14
VRA cont

• In 1982
• - Extended for 25 years
• - Authorizes a bail-out for covered states
  showing a clear record for ten years.
• - Provides that intent to discriminate need not
  be proven if the results demonstrate otherwise
• Florida, 2000??

15
Amended in 2006

• Congress has amended and extended the Act several
  times since its original passage, the most recent
  being the 25-year extension signed by President
  George W. Bush on July 27, 2006.

16
One Legal Remaining Barrier to Voting

• State Registration Laws
• - 30 days (Georgia)
• - Same Day (Minnesota)

17
How to Vote

• Check in by showing voter registration card or
  drivers license. In Georgia, you must have an ID
  with your address showing residency (Governor
  Purdue, 2005)
• Early voting/precinct
• Partisan/non partisan election
• Open primary/closed primary/general election
• Cast ballot (punch card, bubble, line,
  electronic, pull lever)
• Absentee ballot

18
Elections and Democracy

• Democratic control
• Elections are essential for democratic politics.
• Elections are the principal means by which
  popular sovereignty and majority rule are
  supposed to work.
• Can elections ensure that governments will do
  what the people want?

19
Political Participation

• Political participation refers to political
  activity by individual citizens.
• Unconventional participation includes
  activities such as demonstrations and boycotts
• Conventional participation includes activities
  such as voting, writing letters, contacting
  officials, giving money

20

• Expansion of the franchise
• The franchise was quite restricted in the early
  years of the United States.
• The expansion of the right to vote has been one
  of the most important developments in the
  political history of the United States.
• Direct partisan elections

21

• The vanishing electorate
• Suffrage expanded to more groups during the first
  century of American history, and larger and
  larger proportions voted.
• Voter turnout rate in the U.S. is very low
  compared with other modern industrialized
  countries.
• The ideal of political equality is violated by
  low rates of voter turnout.

22
Barriers to Voting

• Causes of low voter turnout
• Registration
• Lack of attractive choices
• Changes in eligibility rules
• Alienation and apathy about politics that many
  Americans felt after the 1960s
• Lack of voter mobilization by political parties
  and the failure of both parties to register
  low-income citizens

23
Campaigning Involvement

• Despite low voter turnout levels, Americans are
  more likely than people in other countries to
  participate actively in campaigns.
• Areas of involvement
• Contact officials
• Give money
• Attend meetings
• Attend political rallies
• Work actively in a campaign organization

24
Who Participates?

• Characteristics of voters and nonvoters
• There is class bias in voting and other forms of
  political participation.
• Some statistical analyses indicate that the
  crucial factor in voter turnout is the level of
  formal education.
• Income level may be more important than education
  in affecting who actually votes.

25
Does It Matter Who Votes?

• Two contrasting points of view
• The rate of participation is unimportant because
  the preferences of those who vote are similar to
  those who do not vote.
• A low voter turnout rate may be a positive factor
  since more educated people vote.
• Nonvoters are clearly different from voters.
• How participation can make a change
• Broader participation would increase popular
  sovereignty and political equality.

26
Nomination Politics and Democracy

• Incumbents
• The autumn campaign
• The fall campaign traditionally began on Labor
  Day, but now tends to start right after the
  conventions or earlier.
• Campaign organizations set up in each state
• Intense money raising, combined with a new round
  of public financing
• Media blitz
• Focus groups
• Voter registration and voter turnout campaigns
• Informing voters

27
Money and Elections

• Presidential campaigns cost enormous amounts of
  money.
• The cost has increased rapidly over time.
• Campaign spending may not look so big when
  compared with corporate advertising.
• The source of campaign money is far more
  problematic for democracy than the cost of
  presidential elections.
• Where does the money come from?
• Does money talk?

28
How Voters Decide

• The way in which people make their voting
  decisions affects how elections contribute to
  democratic control of government.
• Parties, candidates, and issues all have
  substantial effects on how people vote.
• Social characteristics and party loyalties
• Candidates
• Issues

29
The Electoral College

• When voting for president, American voters are
  actually voting for a slate of electors who have
  promised to support the candidate.
• Almost all states now have winner-take-all
  systems.
• For most practical purposes, the electoral
  college system works in much the same way as if
  Americans chose their presidents by direct
  popular vote.
• Consequences of the electoral college system
• We will study the EC in detail later on in the
  semester.

30
Do Elections Matter?

• In terms of the responsible party government
  theory...
• Republicans tend to be more conservative than
  Democrats on a number of economic and social
  issues.
• This provides voters with a measure of democratic
  control by enabling them to detect differences
  and make choices.

31
SUMMARY

• Voters exercise control in the electoral
  competition theory by either reelecting
  successful incumbents or defeating unsuccessful
  officeholders.
• Elections force parties to compete by nominating
  centrist candidates and by taking similar popular
  positions.
• U.S. elections help make the publics voice
  heard, but political equality is damaged by
  providing more political influence to some types
  of people than to others.