The Electoral Process

1. The Electoral Process Chapter 7

2. The Nominating Process Section 1

3. The Nominating Process • Nomination – the naming of those who will seek office • There are five ways to make a nomination in the United States

4. The Easy • 1.) self-announcement • oldest form • modesty may demand someone else announce it for the candidate • 2.) The Caucus – a group of like-minded people who meet to select the candidates they will support in an upcoming election • Used to be a closed and private process, now much more open • Iowa has the first Caucus

5. The Complicated • 3.) the convention – a party’s members meet in a local caucus to pick candidates for local offices and select delegates to represent them at a county convention • At the county convention, they select candidates for the State convention • then at the State level, they pick delegates to the national convention • There, the delegates select the presidential nominees

7. Primaries • 4.) Direct Primary – intra-party election held within the party to pick the party’s candidates. • Two forms: • Closed Primary – voters must choose which party’s ballot they would like to vote on • Open Primary – any qualified voter can cast a ballot • Blanket primary – the ballot lists candidates from both parties at once

8. Closed vs. Open • For the Closed Primary: • prevents one party from “raiding” the other’s • makes candidates more responsible to the party • makes voters more thoughtful because they must choose a party ahead of time • Against the Closed Primary: • compromises secrecy because the voters must choose the ballot beforehand • excludes independent voters from the process

9. Hello? • One major problem with all primaries is the low voter turnout. The nomination process is vital to the election, and yet many voters “skip” it So uhhh…. who’s ready to vote?!

10. Finally • 5.) Petition - candidates are nominated by having citizens sign petitions proposing their nomination • Often used on local level • Higher the office, the more signatures needed

11. Elections Section 2

12. Elections in the US • Most election law in the United States is state law, not federal • Congressional elections are held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday of every even numbered year • For presidential elections, it is every four years. • This system avoids Sundays, the first day of the month (which is usually payday)

13. Slackers…. • Some voters vote early on absentee ballots – a process by which they vote without going to the polling place on election day I don’t even have to get off the couch? Excellent!

14. The Coattail Effect • The coattail effect occurs when a strong candidate at the top of ballot helps attract voters to other candidates on the party’s ticket • Can occur in reverse. Democrats win control of the White House, the House, and the Senate Republicans win…

15. A precinct is a voting district • A polling place is the place where people go to vote – one per precinct. • Ballot is the device by which a voter registers a vote in an election. • Automated voting is on the rise, as is online voting.

16. Money and Elections Section 3

17. How much is spent? • Campaign spending is somewhat unknown because the process can be quite long from seeking the nomination to winning the general election

18. Where does it come from? • Sources of funding include: • small contributors (about 10%) • wealthy individuals • the candidates themselves • various nonparty groups (political action committees) • temporary organizations • Parties also hold fundraisers Chuck Norris doesn’t use money, he just roundhouse kicks anyone who wants him to pay for stuff

19. Regulating Campaign Finance • Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 • FECA amendments in 1974 and 1976 • the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 • Also called McCain-Feingold Bill I just think McCain-Feingold sounds better. Alphabetically, my name is first…

20. The Federal Election Commission • The FEC enforces laws in four broad areas: • the timely disclosure of campaign finance data • designed to reveal where the money is coming from • place limits on campaign contributions • no person can give more than $2,100 to a candidate’s general election campaign, $5,000 to a PAC, or $26,700 to a national party committee

21. 3. place limits on campaign expenditures • presidential candidates cannot spend more than 37 million in the preconvention, and 74.6 million after the convention 4.) provide public funding for several parts of the presidential election process

22. Hard Money vs. Soft Money • Hard money – funds raised and spent to elect candidates for Congress and the White House • Soft money – funds given to party organizations for such “party-building activities” as candidate recruitment, voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives

23. Soft Money • both parties have found it very easy to filter soft money into campaigns • the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002) banned soft-money contributions to political parties • but does not say other political groups cannot raise and spend this money • MoveOn.org • America Voters Fund

24. Corporations • Corporations are considered to have freedom of speech when it comes to campaign contributions

25. Chapter 7 Assignment/Review 1. Political Dictionary (PG. 204) 18 Terms 2. Reviewing Main Ideas (PG. 204) #12, 13, 16, 20, 21, 22, 24, & 25