1. Week 14 notes

2. Presidential Elections
Problems:
Electors don’t have to vote the way of the people
Popular vote is not always electoral college vote
Ex election, 2016 election
Not all votes are equally weighted
Alternative = direct election – popular vote wins

3. Elections
U.S. elections = Winner-take-all or first-past-the-post system
Whoever gets 50.1% wins, loser gets nothing
Advantages: very simple, easy to get a majority party in power to get things done
Disadvantages: minority has no voice, encourages a 2-party system rather than a multi-party system

4. Elections Alternative = proportional representation
Used in most of Europe
People vote for a PARTY, not a person
Representation in legislature is divided up by % of vote each party receives
Advantages: more parties can compete, more people feel represented, having less
than a majority doesn’t equal
0 representation
Disadvantages: more complex,
fringe parties (ex: neo-nazies) get
representation, doesn’t work
for presidential elections

5. Voting Voting for candidates:
Straight-party ticket: voting for just one political party for every office
Ticket-splitting: voting for multiple parties on one ticket

6. Voting
Ballot issues: an issue placed on the ballot to be decided by voters
2 types:
Initiative: citizens write law
Get signatures to get law on ballot
People vote on law
Referendum: Legislators write law
Legislators vote to put law on ballot
Same result, different process

7. Voting U.S. voter turnout very low
50-60% in presidential elections, 30-40% in off-year
Problem: is it democracy if no one is participating?
Possible solution: compulsory voting – people by law are required to vote
Ex. Australia, Brazil

8. Voting In early U.S., the following groups were excluded from voting:
Women
African Americans
Other racial minorities
Non-property owners
Anyone not from the dominant religious faith
Only about 5-6% of the population could vote

9. Voting 15th Am. - African Americans can vote - 1870
Attempts continued to deny voting rights to poor, minorities until Civil Rights Movement
Grandfather clause: can’t vote unless grandfather voted
Literacy tests
Poll taxes – must pay a fee to vote

10. Voting 19th Am – women can vote – 1920
24th Am – can’t require poll taxes
26th Am - voting age to 18 so that Vietnam soldiers can vote

11. Voting Current issue in voting:
Voter ID Laws: Laws that seek to avoid voter fraud by requiring all voters to show an ID when voting
Issues: people without photo ID tend to be the young, new immigrants, and the elderly
Tend to vote Dem
Republicans: pro voter-IDs, Democrats: against voter-IDs