The Electoral Process

1.Self-Announcement (incl. all write-ins) 2.The Caucus – private meetings of local bigwigs that used to choose candidates. Rarely used today. 3.Conventions – local districts select delegates to represent them at a nat’l meeting where delegate is chosen.

Nonpartisan Primary Candidates are not identified by party labels Runoff Primary If no one gets a majority, the two people with the most votes run again Closed Primary Only declared party members can vote. Open Primary Any qualified voter can take part. Blanket Primary Qualified voters can vote for any candidate, regardless of party

Candidates gather a required number of voters’ signatures to get on the ballot

But, Congress sets the logistics: CONGRESS SETS THE DATE: Congressional Elections- first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every even- numbered year for congressional elections Presidential election – same day every fourth year Primarily a STATE power (why?)

CONGRESS TRIES TO INSURE FAIRNESS 1. Help America Vote Act of 2002 required States to: -Replace all lever-operated and punch-card voting devices by 2006 (most missed the deadline) -Provide better training for local election officials and volunteers -Centralize/computerize voter registration -Provide for provisional voting for those whose eligibility is temporarily challenged 2. Congress started ABSENTEE VOTING It spread to states. Now, there’s even EARLY VOTING.

Coattail and Reverse Coattail

Precincts  A precinct is a voting district. Polling Places  A polling place is where the voters who live in a precinct go to vote.  It is located in or near each precinct.

We use the Australian Ballot: 1)Provided at public expense 2)Lists candidates 3)Given out only at polls, one per voter 4)Can be marked in secret Sample Ballots are often provided Bedsheet Ballots are often used, despite the risk of ballot fatigue Office-Group Ballots are used by most; a few use Party-Column ones

Small contributors Wealthy supporters Nonparty groups such as PACs Temporary fund-raising organizations Candidates Government subsidies Private and Public Sources of Campaign Money

 1907 – No Corp or Nat’l Bank can fund campaigns  1970s: Buckley v. Valeo invalidated some of the measures in the FECA Amendments of 1974, stipulating that the limits on spending only apply to candidates who accept campaign money from the government, not those who raise money independently.

Gov. ban on political spending by corp. or labor unions violates 1 st Amendmen right to free speech.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) enforces:  the timely disclosure of campaign finance information  limits on campaign contributions  limits on campaign expenditures  provisions for public funding of presidential campaigns

 Soft money—money given to State and local party organizations for “party-building activities” that is filtered to presidential or congressional campaigns  Independent campaign spending—a person unrelated and unconnected to a candidate or party can spend as much money as they want to benefit or work against candidates.  Issue ads—take a stand on certain issues in order to criticize or support a certain candidate without actually mentioning that person’s name.