CHAPTER 7

The Electoral Process

ELECTIONS

Most States hold their elections to fill State offices on the same date Congress has set for national elections: In November of every even-numbered year. The “Tuesday-after-the-first-Monday” formula prevents election day from falling on 1) Sundays and 2) The first day of the month. (payday).

THE NOMINATING PROCESS

The nominating process is the process of candidate selection. Nomination: The process of candidate selection in an electoral system.

This is a critical stage in the electoral process. Dictatorships hold what is known as a general election. General Elections: Regularly scheduled elections at which voters make the final selection of officeholders.

THE NOMINATING PROCESS

Typically, the ballots used in those elections list only one candidate for each office, the candidate from the ruling party, and then that party wins the majority.

In the United States, there are five ways in which nominations are made.

1) Self Announcement. This is the oldest form of the nominating process. A person who wants to run for office simply announces that fact.

FIVE STEPS TO NOMINATION

2) The Caucus. A caucus: is a group of like minded people who meet to select the candidates they will support in an upcoming election.

3) The Convention. All major-party presidential nominees have been chosen by conventions since the 1830’s.

FIVE STEPS TO NOMINATION

4) The Direct Primary. A direct primary is an intra-party election. Direct primary: An election held within a party to pick that party’s candidates for the general election.

In most States, State law requires that the major parties use the primary to choose their candidates for the Senate, House of Rep., governors, and all State offices.

FIVE STEPS TO NOMINATION

4a)The Closed Primary. Today, 27 States provide for the closed primary. Closed primary: A party nominating election in which only declared party members can vote. The party’s primary is closed to all but those party members.

FIVE STEPS TO NOMINATION

4b) The Open Primary. This form was how the direct primary first appeared. Open primary: A party-nominating election in which ANY qualified voter can take part. This style is found in 23 States.

WA, AK, and CA use what is known as a blanket primary. Blanket primary: a voting process in which voters receive a long ballot containing the names of all contenders, regardless of party, and can vote however they choose.

FIVE STEPS TO NOMINATION

4c) The Runoff Primary. In most States, candidates only need to win a plurality of the votes cast in the primary to win their party’s nomination. If no one wins a majority in a race, a runoff primary is held a few weeks later. Runoff primary: A primary in which the top two vote-getters in the first direct primary face one another. Winner gets the nomination.

FIVE STEPS TO NOMINATION

4d) The Nonpartisan Primary. In most States all or nearly all of the elected school and municipal offices are filled in nonpartisan elections. Nonpartisan elections: Elections in which candidates are not identified by party labels.

4e) The Presidential Primary. The presidential primary is an election that is held as one part of the process by which presidential candidates are chosen.

FIVE STEPS TO NOMINATION

5) Petition. This method is used widely at the local level. Candidates for public office are nominated by means of petitions signed by a certain number of qualified voters in the election district.

ELECTIONS

Most States hold their elections to fill State offices on the same date Congress has set for national elections: In November of every even-numbered year. The “Tuesday-after-the-first-Monday” formula prevents election day from falling on 1) Sundays and 2) The first day of the month. (payday).

ELECTIONS

Millions of Americans cast their ballots before election day in a process known as absentee voting. Absentee voting: a process by which people can vote without actually going to their polling places on election day.

ELECTIONS

On election day, if a strong candidate is running for office, this leads to a concept known as the coattail effect. The coattail effect: The effect of a strong candidate running for office at the top of the ballot helping to attract voters to other candidates on the party’s ticket.

In effect, the lesser-known office seekers “rides the coattails” of the more prestigious personality. Ex: Ronald Reagan 1980 and 1984.

ELECTIONS

A precinct: is a voting district. Precincts are the smallest geographic units for the conduct of elections. State law restricts their size, an area with no more than 500-1,000 qualified voters. A polling place: the place where the voters who live in a precinct actually vote, is located somewhere in or near each precinct.

ELECTIONS

Each State now provides for a secret ballot. That is, State law requires that ballots be cast in such manner that others cannot know how a person has voted. A ballot: is the device by which a voter registers a choice in an election.

It can take a number of different forms.

BALLOTS

The Australian Ballot was devised in Australia in 1856. This style of ballot remains the basic form of the ballot in the United States.

BALLOTS

The Office-Group Ballot is the original form of the Australian. It is also known as the Massachusetts ballot. On the office-group ballot, the candidates for an office are grouped together under the title of that office.

BALLOTS

The Party-Column Ballot is also known as the Indiana Ballot. It lists each party’s candidates in a column under the party’s name. Most people favor the office-group form because it encourages voter judgment and split-ticket voting.

MONEY AND ELECTIONS

Parties and their candidates draw their money from two basic sources: private contributors and the public treasury.

Private givers come in various shapes and sizes: 1) Small contributors: Those who giver $5-$100. Only 10% ever make campaign contributions.

MONEY AND ELECTIONS

2) Wealthy individuals and families. The “Fat Cats” so to speak, who can make large donations and find it in their best interest to make them.

3) Candidates. Both the incumbent and challengers. Ross Perot holds the all time record: $65 MILLION of his own money in 1992.

MONEY AND ELECTIONS

4) Various nonparty groups. Especially Political Action Committees (PACS). Political Action Committees (PACS): The political extension of special-interest groups which have a major stake in public policy.

MONEY AND ELECTIONS

5) Temporary organizations. Groups formed for the immediate purposes of a campaign, including fund-raising.

Then, too, parties and their candidates often hold fund-raisers of various sorts. The most common are the $100, $500, $1,000 a plate luncheons, dinners, picnics, receptions. Some of these events reach $100,000.

MONEY AND ELECTIONS

Public funds-subsidies from the federal and some State treasuries-are now another prime source of campaign money. A subsidy: is a grant of money, usually from a government. Subsidies have so far been most important at the presidential level.

THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

The Federal Election Commission administers all federal law dealing with campaign finance since 1974. The laws that the FEC is supposed to enforce cover four broad areas:

1) disclosure of campaign finance data.2) place limits on campaign contributions.3) place limits on campaign expenditures.4) provide public funding for several parts of the presidential election.

HARD AND SOFT MONEY

Ever since the 1960’s, federal campaign finance laws have placed limits on hard money. Hard money: Campaign money that is subject to regulations by the FEC.

Until 2002, those campaign laws did not limit soft money. Soft money: Money given to State and local party organizations for voting-related activities.