1. Chapter 7 – The Electoral Process
© 2001 by Prentice Hall, Inc.

2. A Critical First Step
In the United States, the election process occurs in two steps:
Nomination – Each party narrows the field of candidates down to one
General election - The regularly scheduled election where voters make the final choice of officeholder
Chapter 7, Section 1

3. The Presidential Nomination
Candidates for president win their party’s nomination by winning a majority of the delegates at the party’s national convention. Delegates are awarded in two ways:
Caucuses – Small meetings (precincts) are held to discuss the candidates, then a candidate is chosen. Representatives are then sent to county level meetings, and then state level meetings.
Primaries – People simply vote for the candidate they believe should represent their party in the general election

4. Primaries Types of Primaries Closed Primary
Only registered party members can participate
Open Primary
Any registered voter can participate
Blanket Primary
Any registered voter can participate – candidates are listed by office, not party

5. Criticisms of the Nomination Process
There are many criticisms of the nomination process. They include:
The first primary (New Hampshire) and the first caucus (Iowa) get too much media attention despite the fact they are not very representative of the U.S. as a whole
Voters/participants in primaries and caucuses are more ideological than the voters in the general election
It increases the costs of campaigning

6. The Administration of Elections
Elections are primarily regulated by State law, but there are some overreaching federal regulations.
Congress has the power to set
the time, place, and manner of
congressional and presidential
elections.
Congress has chosen the first
Tuesday after the first Monday in
November of every even
numbered year for congressional
elections, with the presidential
election being held the same day
every fourth year.
States determine the details of the election of thousands of State and local officials.
Most States provide for absentee voting, for voters who are unable to get to their regular polling places on election day. Some States within the last few years have started to allow voting a few days before election day to increase voter participation.
Chapter 7, Section 2

7. Casting the Ballot History of the Ballot
Voting was initially done orally. It was considered “manly” to speak out your vote without fear of reprisal.
Paper ballots began to be used in the mid-1800s. At first, people provided their own ballots. Then, political machines began to take advantage of the flexibility of the process to intimidate, buy, or manufacture votes.
In the late 1800s, ballot reforms cleaned up ballot fraud by supplying standardized, accurate ballots and mandating that voting be secret. These reforms were first introduced in Australia – Australian ballot.
Chapter 7, Section 2

8. Voting Today
Most ballots cast today are cast on some sort of automated voting machine
Today most machines use electronic data processing technology (EDP)
Punch ballots, optical scanners, touch screen
There are concerns about the security of touch screen and other voting technology that does not produce a paper ballot, especially online voting
Voting by mail has become more popular in recent elections
Oregon has held all of its elections since 1998 by mail
There are concerns about security with mail in ballots as well
Chapter 7, Section 2

9. Office-Group and Party-Column Ballots
Split Ticket Ballots
Chapter 7, Section 2

10. The Cost of Campaigns

11. Sources of Funding Private and Public Sources of Campaign Money
Nonparty groups such as PACs
Small contributors
527s: Fund-raising organizations
Wealthy supporters
Candidates
Government subsidies
Chapter 7, Section 3

12. Regulating Campaign Financing
The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) was passed in response to the Watergate scandal.
Created the Federal Election Commission to oversee campaign finance laws
timely disclosure of campaign finance information
the limits on campaign contributions
limits on campaign expenditures
provisions for public funding of presidential campaigns
Created a limit how much money a person could donate to a campaign – these contributions are called hard money

13. Political Action Committees
Federal law prohibited corporations and unions from making hard money contributions.
PACs were created to circumvent this restriction
FECA placed regulations on PACs
PACs can only donate $5000 per candidate/per election
Must file reports with the FEC
PACs usually give money to both candidates, but the incumbent almost always gets more.
Chapter 7, Section 3

14. Loopholes in the Law
Buckley v. Valeo stipulated that several of the limits that the 1974 amendments placed on spending only apply to candidates who accept campaign money from the government, not those who raise money independently.
Soft money—money given to State and local party organizations for “party- building activities” that is filtered to presidential or congressional campaigns. $500 million was given to campaigns in this way in Soft money was eliminated by the Bi-Partisan Campaign Finance Act of 2002 (McCain Feingold).
Independent expenditures—a person/group unrelated and unconnected to a candidate or party can spend as much money as they want to benefit or work against candidates.
Issue advocacy—527s take a stand on certain issues in order to criticize or support a certain candidate without actually mentioning that person’s name.527s engage in independent expenditures
Chapter 7, Section 3

15. McCain-Feingold (2002)
In an effort to close some of the loopholes, Congress passed the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, better known as McCain- Feingold.
McCain-Feingold did the following:
Raised the hard money limit to $2000 (Currently $2600)
Eliminated soft money – contributions to parties are now limited to $32,400.
Placed severe restrictions on independent expenditures
For example, a television ad could not identify a candidate for federal office in ad run 30 days before a primary election or 60 days before a general election.
Prohibited corporations from running issue advocacy ads at all
Chapter 7, Section 3

16. Citizens United v. FEC (2010)
In 2008, a conservative group called Citizens United was sponsoring an anti-Hilary Clinton documentary
Clinton campaign sued since the documentary was being broadcast 30 days before the Democratic primary (violated McCain-Feingold)
Case eventually made its way to the Supreme Court
The Court overturned McCain-Feingold’s restrictions on identification of federal candidates
The Court also ruled that corporations and unions could directly spend money on issue advocacy ads because of the 1st Amendment protection of free speech
Chapter 7, Section 3