1. The Nominating Process

2. Nomination: the naming of those who will seek office in an election
General election: regularly scheduled election at which voters make final selections for officeholders
Nomination is a function of our political parties.
-determines who will be on the ballot

3. 5 Nominating Methods

4. 1. Self-Announcement Def.: announce that you are running for office
Oldest nominating method
Independent & minor party candidates
George Wallace American Independent party
Eugene McCarthy Indpendent candidate
John Anderson Independent candidate
Ross Perot Independent candidate

5. 2. Caucus
Def.: a group of people meet to select the candidates they will support in the election
Political parties took over this process
Criticisms: closed, private, & unrepresentative of the people’s will
Originally, only influential community members met.
1800-Federalists and Dem-Rep used the caucus
1824-Andrew Jackson, Henry Adams, & J. Q. Adams boycotted the system in their run for president.
Locally used in New England.

6. 3. Convention
Def.: party members meet at the local, state, & national levels to choose representatives & candidates at each level
1831: Anti-Masons
1840: main nominating tool

7. Less popular by the 1900’s
Connecticut, Michigan, Utah, and Virginia still use regulated conventions

8. 4. Direct Primary
Def.: an election held within a party to pick the candidates for the general election
1903: Wisconsin
There are two types of primaries...

9. Closed vs. Open 37 states + D.C. Only declared party members
Must pre-register with a party
12 states
Any qualified voter
Don’t have to declare party affiliation

10. Blanket primary : ballot lists nominations from every party (major and minor)
used by Washington and California

11. Closed Primaries + prevents party raiding - compromises ballot secrecy
+ candidates are more responsive
+ voters must think
- compromises ballot secrecy
- excludes independent voters

12. Open Primaries + is more inclusive - permits party raiding
- undercuts party loyalty

13. Runoff primary: the top two candidates in the first primary face-off with the winner getting the nomination or office
Non-partisan primary: primaries where the candidates for office are not labeled by party

14. 5. Petition
Def.: a candidate is nominated by a list of signatures from qualified voters
Local levels, minor parties, independents
Signatures required increase with the level of office