1. Types of Elections General Elections Election is a two-part process
Primary (narrow the field of candidates)
General election- voters choose candidates for various offices
* General elections take place on the first Tuesday after the First Monday in November; presidential elections –every 4 years
Elections on Issues
Elections at the state or local level, voters may decide on issues as well as candidates
Initiative- citizens propose new laws
Proposition- petition government; propose new law
Referendum- citizens can approve or reject a state or local law
Special Elections
State/local level
-run off elections- held when none of the candidates for office wins a majority of the vote; needed to determine winner
-recall- citizens in some states can vote to remove a public official from office; starts with a petition

2. presidential campaigns- usually begin in September; Candidates travel across the country giving speeches, appearing on TV, holding news conferences and debates, etc.
Describe the Electoral College, Article II, Section 1- What was the debate around presidential elections? How was the Electoral College a compromise?
Article II, Section 1 established the Electoral College; Framers wanted people to have direct control over new national government while others believed the government should function separate from popularity. Some people suggested popular election of president and others said Congress should pick
Compromise? Legislatures in each state choose presidential electors

3. What are the arguments against the Electoral College?
They feel large states like CA and TX would have unfair advantage; possible for a candidate to win popular vote but not electoral votes
Electoral College- Winner take all system makes it hard for third parties
What are ideas for reforming (changing) the electoral process?
Electoral votes based on percentage (if candidate wins 54% of popular vote, they receive 54% of the electoral votes)
Changing Electoral College system requires a constitutional amendment

4. Ch. 10, Sect. 3
Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) and Federal Election Commission (FEC)
McConnell v. Federal Election Commission
Front:
Advertising and Image Molding
Canvassing
Running for Office
Buckley v. Valeo
Financing a Campaign
Campaign Expenses
Campaign Reform (Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act/McCain-Feingold Act)
Endorsements
Public Funding
Soft Money and Political Action Committees (PACs)

5. Running For Office
Canvassing- candidates or campaign workers travel through neighborhoods asking for votes or taking public opinion polls; local level- candidates may go door-to door
Endorsements- when a famous and popular person supports or campaigns for the candidate; if voters like the person making the endorsement, maybe they’ll like the candidate (form of propaganda technique) Propaganda- attempt to promote a particular person or idea.
Advertising and Image Molding- political advertisements allow a party to present only its candidate’s position or view point- try to create and promote the right image for a candidate- (TV adds, newspapers, posters, etc.)
Campaign Expenses- campaigns are expensive! TV adds can cost thousands of dollars for every minute on air; airfare, salaries of campaign staff, fees to professional campaign consultants, etc. Computer, telephone, postage, and printing costs (bumper stickers, yard signs, posters, etc.)

6. Financing a Campaign
Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) – Congress passed to place controls on campaign financing; requires public disclosure of each candidate’s spending and limits the amount of hard money that individuals or groups could donate directly to a candidate or political party; limits how much can be spent
Federal Election Commission (FEC)- The 1974 amendment to FECA created the FEC- independent agency of the executive branch- to administer all federal election laws and to monitor campaign spending. All candidates must keep records of campaign contributions and must report all individual contributions that exceed $200

7. Public Funding- FECA also set up public funding for presidential elections by creating the Presidential Election Campaign Fund- allows tax payers to designate $3 of their own annual taxes to go to the fund
Major-party candidates can qualify for some of this money to campaign in the primary elections if they have raised $100,000 on their own.
After national conventions, the two major-party candidates can receive equal shares of money as long as they agree not to accept other direct contributions
Third party candidates can qualify for this funding if their party received more than 5% of the popular vote in previous election
Soft Money and PACS- most campaign money comes from private sources, such as individual citizens, corporations, labor unions, interest groups and political action committees (PACs- organizations set up by interest groups especially to college money to support favored candidates) FECA limited direct donations from PACS and other private sources.
New laws to make campaign fund-raising easier – soft money- unlimited amounts of money for general purposes, not designated to particular candidates to be used for general party-building purposes, such as voter registration drives or direct mailings on behalf of the party; no limits on contributions

8. Campaign Reform- The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold Act) prohibits national political parties, federal officeholders, and federal candidates from raising soft money
Places time restrictions on broadcasting political adds
Corporations, unions, and interest groups are banned from running ads aimed at a candidate for federal office within 60 days of the general election or 30 days of a primary election.
Limits on hard money (only $2000 per donor-- $25,000 per party per year)

9. Buckley v. Valeo – Supreme Court ruled that the government through laws like FECA could set limits on campaign contributions because of its need to keep corruption out of elections; violation of free speech to limit how much of their own money candidates could use.
McConnell v. Federal Election Commission- upheld all major provisions of the McCain Feingold Act as constitutional. The Court stated that it was in the public interest for Congress to limit the size of campaign contributions. Without limits, there would always be he appearance that big donors are able to buy influence with policymakers