Elections American Government: Continuity and Change 9th Edition O’Connor and Sabato

Just a review…..

Patterns in Voter Turnout Turnout: the proportion of the voting-age public that votes ◦ 40% of the eligible adult population votes ◦ 25% are occasional voters ◦ 35% rarely vote

Patterns in Voter Turnout Education: Voters tend to be more educated Income: Consistent voters have higher incomes Age: Younger people vote less Gender: Women vote at the same rate or slightly higher rate than men Race and Ethnicity: ◦ Whites vote more regularly than African Americans – related to income and educational differences in the two groups ◦ Hispanics vote less than African Americans ◦ Have potential to wield much influence given their increasing size Interest in politics: Those interested in politics vote more

Why Is Voter Turnout So Low? Too Busy Difficulty of Registration Difficulty of Absentee Voting Number of Elections Voter Attitudes Weakened Influence of Political Parties

Efforts to Improve Voter Turnout Easier Registration and Absentee Voting Make Election Day a Holiday Strengthen Parties Other suggestions ◦ Holding fewer elections ◦ Proportional representation system for congressional elections ◦ Saturday or Sunday election day ◦ Making voting mandatory ◦ Tax credits for voting ◦ Election weeks rather than election days ◦ Internet voting – FRAUD CONCERNS

Patterns in Vote Choice Party Identification ◦ Most powerful predictor voter behavior ◦ Ticket-splitting: voting for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election Race and Ethnicity ◦ Whites increased tendency to vote Republican ◦ African Americans vote overwhelmingly for Democrats ◦ Hispanics also tend to identify with and vote for Democrats Women today more likely to support Democratic candidates ◦ Gender gap varies by election Poor vote more often for Democrats; wealthier for Republicans Ideology related closely to vote choice  Conservatives for Republicans  Liberals for Democrats

Voting: What do you think? h?v=ZG_IG-S1bfE

Assignment I want you to write 4 reflections of at least 5 sentences. You'll be sharing these tomorrow with a small group: 1. Watch this clip (and maybe the next one) and write whether or not you agree with John Stossel. 2. Argue both sides for literacy tests being a requirement for voting - for and against. 3. Argue that the voting age should stay 18 and then argue that it should be raised to Ask a person to share their voting experience (or feelings about voting) with you and summarize it. 5. Come up with three suggestions to improve voter turnout.

Purposes of Elections Regular free elections ◦ guarantee mass political action ◦ enable citizens to influence the actions of their government Popular election confers legitimacy on a government that can be achieved no other way Regular elections also ensure that government is accountable to the people it serves

Purposes of Elections Electorate ◦ Citizens eligible to vote Mandate: ◦ A command, indicated by an electorate’s voters, for the elected officials to carry out their platforms ◦ Sometimes the claim of a mandate is suspect because voters are not so much endorsing one candidate as rejecting the other

Primary Elections Election in which voters decide which of the candidates within a party will represent the party in the general election.  Closed primary: a primary election in which only a party’s registered voters are eligible to vote  Open primary: a primary in which party members, independents, and sometimes members of the other party are allowed to vote  Blanket primary: a primary in which voters can cast votes back and forth between candidates from any party.

Primary voting can bring:  Crossover voting: participation in the primary of a party with which the voter is not affiliated  Raiding: An organized attempt by voters of one party to influence the primary results of the other party  Runoff primary: a second primary election between the two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes in the first primary

General Elections General elections are those in which voters decide which candidates will actually fill elective public offices Held at many levels Contests between the candidates of opposing parties

Initiative, Referendum, and Recall Initiative ◦ An election that allows citizens to propose legislation and submit it to the state electorate for popular vote Referendum ◦ An election whereby the state legislature submits proposed legislation to the state’s voters for approval Recall ◦ Voters can remove an incumbent from office by popular vote ◦ Are very rare

Presidential Elections Primary elections or caucuses are used to elect national convention delegates which choose the nominee ◦ Winner-take-all primary ◦ Proportional representation primary ◦ Caucus

Primaries v. Caucuses PrimariesCaucuses ◦ More democratic ◦ More representative ◦ A rigorous test for the candidate ◦ Caucus participants more informed; more interactive and informative ◦ Unfair scheduling affects outcomes ◦ Frontloading (being first in the primary calendar) gives some primary states an advantage  Frontloading is the tendency to choose an early date on the primary schedule

2012 Primary Results

The Party Conventions Out-of-power party holds its convention first, usually in late July/August, followed in August/Sept by party holding the presidency Conventions were decision-making body in the 19 th century Today the convention is fundamentally different ◦ Nominations settled well in advance of the convention because of primaries

For a review on all things elections….

National Convention Schedule Day 1 ◦ Keynote speaker Day 2 ◦ Announcement of party platform

National Convention Schedule Day 3 ◦ Candidate nomination & speeches ◦ Balloting from the states (majority rule) ◦ Winner (party nominee) names a VP running mate Day 4 ◦ Confirm party nomination ◦ Nominee Acceptance speech ◦ Campaign Kickoff

2012 National Conventions DemocratsRepublicans September 3 – 6, 2012 Charlotte, NC August 27 – 30, 2012 Tampa, FL

National Conventions: The News Media Changing nature of coverage ◦ No prime time coverage on some days ◦ Extending coverage on the final day of each convention ◦ Reflects change in political culture  More interest in the candidates themselves ◦ Convention still generates much coverage for the party

The Electoral College Representatives of each state who cast the final ballots that actually elect a president Total number of electors for each state equal to the number of senators and representatives that a state has in the U.S. Congress District of Columbia is given 3 electoral votes (23 rd Amendment)

The Electoral College States are “winner takes all” ◦ Emphasis is placed on heavily populated states ◦ Maine and Nebraska are the exceptions and use proportional voting Vote of Electors ◦ First Monday after first Wednesday in December ◦ Counted before joint session of Congress in January by the Vice President.

The Electoral College Result of compromise between: ◦ Selection by Congress versus direct popular election Three essentials to understanding the design of the Electoral College: ◦ Constructed to work without political parties ◦ Constructed to cover both the nominating and electing phases of presidential selection ◦ Constructed to produce a nonpartisan president

The Electoral College in the 19 th Century 12 th Amendment (1804) ◦ Attempt to remedy the confusion between the selection of vice presidents and presidents that emerged in the election of 1800 ◦ Provided for separate elections for each office, with each elector having only one vote to cast for each ◦ In event of a tie, the election still went to the House  Top three candidates go to House  Each state House delegation casts one vote

The Electoral College in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries Electoral college crises ◦ At times a candidate can win the Electoral College vote without having won the popular vote Reapportionment matters ◦ Representation of states in the Electoral College is altered every ten years to reflect population shifts ◦ Party in power can work to earn more districts as new lines are drawn.

Congressional Elections Very different from presidential elections ◦ Lesser known candidates, more difficulty getting media attention Incumbency Advantage ◦ Better known ◦ Fundraising is easier ◦ Can use office resources (franking privilege, staff, travel, etc) ◦ Can cite work already done in Washington

Congressional Elections When incumbents lose it is generally due to: ◦ Redistricting  Gerrymandering ◦ Scandals ◦ Presidential Coattails

Midterm Congressional Elections Election takes place in the middle of a presidential term ◦ President’s party usually loses seats in midterms ◦ Tendency for voters to punish the president’s party more severely in the sixth year of an eight year presidency - 6th year itch  Retrospective voting  Senate elections less inclined to the 6 th year itch

Reforming the Electoral Process Focus on the Electoral College Other areas ◦ Nomination  Regional primaries ◦ Campaign Finance Reform ◦ Online Voting ◦ Voting by Mail ◦ Modernizing the Ballot

Electoral College 2008 Obama 69,456, McCain 59,534,

2008 Presidential Election Voting Age Population: 231,229,580 Turnout: 132,618,580 %: 56.8% Obama raised $532,946,511 and spent $513,557,218 McCain raised $379,006,485 and spent $346,666,422

Electoral Projections 2012