© 2001 by Prentice Hall, Inc.

A Critical First Step

Chapter 7, Section 1

In the United States, the election process occurs in two steps:

1. Nomination – Each party narrows the field of candidates down to one

2. General election - The regularly scheduled election where voters make the final choice of officeholder

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

Primaries

Types of Primaries

Closed PrimaryOnly registered party

members can participate

Open PrimaryAny registered voter can

participate

Blanket PrimaryAny registered voter can

participate – candidates are listed by office, not party

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

Chapter 7, Section 2

The Administration of Elections

Congress has the power to setthe time, place, and manner ofcongressional and presidentialelections. Congress has chosen the firstTuesday after the first Monday inNovember of every evennumbered year for congressionalelections, with the presidentialelection being held the same dayevery 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.

Elections are primarily regulated by State law, but there are some overreaching federal regulations.

Casting 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

History of the Ballot

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

Office-Group and Party-Column Ballots

Chapter 7, Section 2

Split Ticket Ballots

The Cost of Campaigns

Sources of Funding

Chapter 7, Section 3

Small contributors

Wealthy supporters

Nonparty groups such as PACs

527s: Fund-raising organizations

Candidates Government subsidies

Private and Public Sources of Campaign Money

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

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

Loopholes in the Law

Buckley v. Valeo eliminated many of the restrictions placed on fundraising. For example, a candidate can spend as much of their own money on their campaign as they would like.

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 2000.

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. 527s Super PACs

Chapter 7, Section 3

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

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

The Rise of Super PACs

As a result of the Citizens United decision a new political fundraising entity was created – the Super PAC

Super PACs differed from regular PACs in that There are no limits on how much an individuals or corporation

can give to a Super PAC Super PACs cannot donate directly to a candidate’s campaign.

They can only engage in independent expenditures.

Chapter 7, Section 3