The Electoral Process

1. The Electoral Process

2. Election Foundations In this video, students are introduced to why we have presidential elections in the United States. They will learn what a constitutional democracy is and how the government gets its power from the consent of its citizens. They will understand the important principles of the U.S. Constitution, the foundations of government and the importance of civic participation.

3. Election Foundations Crash Course #36quick video 2.5 min http://pbseduelectioncentral.com/election-process

4. Essential Ideas • The nominating process is the way Americans choose people for public office • American voters elect candidates in general elections • Political Parties and Candidates spend enormous amounts of money during an election

5. Basic Understandings • To hold political office, a person must go through a series of steps. • It is a long process that begins with winning the party nomination, and ends with the winning of the election. • The Constitution, Federal and State Laws protect this process.

6. Vocabulary • Nominate – to name (Nomination the process of being named) • Caucus – meeting of party members • Delegate – a person who represents members • Convention – large meeting of delegates • Primary – early/preliminary election • Election – Voters choose candidates for office

7. For Your Information There are 2 types of Primaries

8. The Nominating Process 7-1 • To be named to run for office is the first step in serving as a public official. • The nominating process limits the choices that voters have on election day. • There are 5 ways to be nominated.

9. Five Types of Nomination • Self Announcement • The Caucus • The Convention • The Direct Primary • Nomination by Petition

10. Self Announcement • A person who wishes to run for a position in government/office, can announce it. • Often they will call a press conference and invite people to be in the audience for the official announcement. • A write in candidate can also be an example of self announcement.

11. The Caucus • A caucus is a private meeting of members of a political party. They meet to decide which candidate to support. • Often the party members will interview prospective candidates and choose the one they feel has views closest to theirs. • The party will “vet” the possible candidates to be sure they are without blemish and will represent the party well.

12. The Convention • A convention is a meeting of delegates of a specific political party. • Conventions are held at the County, State and National levels. • Delegates continue to vote until there is a clear majority for one candidate for each office.

13. The Direct Primary • There are OPEN and CLOSED Primaries. States determine which type they will have. • Closed Primaries only allow registered party members to vote. Members of the specific party choose a fellow party member to run for office. • Open Primaries let any registered voter elect a candidate. Sometimes an opposition party will use the primary against their rival group.

14. Nomination by Petition • To be nominated by petition, a candidate must get a certain number of registered voters from their party [usually 10-20% of voters per precinct] to sign a petition or written request. • Petitions must be returned to the commissioner of elections by a specific date and must contain the correct number of signatures. • Signatures are certified by the commissioner.

15. Getting the Nomination • http://ny.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/35af6937-a679-4064-a6b6-5296340092ea/getting-the-nomination/ • In the United States, there are a lot of people who want to be president. But when we vote, there are usually only a few names on the ballot. This video will help students to understand the nomination process for political parties. They will learn how primaries and caucuses help determine the candidate that will best represent a party platform, the role of delegates and super delegates in the election process, and the impact of "Super Tuesday."

16. Elections 7-2 Once nominated by their party, candidates face each other in a general election. These are final elections where the voters choose who they want to hold the office.

17. Gerrymandering Gerrymandering: Crash Course Government and Politics #37 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnhFm5QVVTo

18. gerrymandering Although traditionally states had only done this once a decade, in recent years aggressive Republican efforts to gain House seats led states like Tom DeLay’s Texas to redraw district lines not once but twice after the 2000 census.

19. gerrymandering Following each census, House seats are reapportioned to reflect the changing geographical distribution of the American population. As a result of reapportionment, states often must redraw district lines. This creates an opportunity for gerrymandering.

20. Present Day NYS 27 Congressional Districts 2012

28. Crash Course Elections • Election Process Basics • There are a lot of people in the U.S, and holding individual issues up to a public vote doesn't seem particularly plausible. To deal with this complexity, we vote for people, not policies, that represent our best interests. But as you'll see, this process was not thoroughly addressed in the constitution, so there have been a number of amendments and laws at the state level implemented to create the election system we all know and (maybe) love today. Check out the full video on PBS LearningMedia • http://pbseduelectioncentral.com/election-process

29. How Voters Decide In making their decisions, voters balance a mix of cues and information including: • Partisan loyalty • Issues • Candidate characteristics Although television and other media have made candidate characteristics and issue appeals more salient in voter decision making, for many voters partisanship remains preeminent.

30. How Voters Decide Voters may make their decisions prospectively by estimating how a candidate might perform in the future, or they may engage in retrospective voting whereby they judge candidates and parties on the basis of their past performance. Often, such evaluations are based on economic performance.

31. How Voting Laws have Changed • http://apps.frontline.org/votingrights/compare.html#Early_Voting/2010

32. Election Day • According to the Constitution, congress sets the date for election. Congress chose “The first Tuesday, after the first Monday in November,” as election day. Even numbered years are when the members of the House of Representatives are elected. Presidents are elected every four years, senators every six. • Some local elections are held in the spring (School Board elections are in May).

33. The General Election Every four years, voters across the United States cast ballots to decide who will be the next president. This video helps students to make sense of the American election process by learning how citizens decide who to vote for in the election, the importance of the electoral college, and how swing states affect the outcomes of an election. http://pbseduelectioncentral.com/election-process 4min

34. Misc. Election Day info In the United States, Midterm elections are congressional and gubernatorial elections held in the even-numbered years that do not coincide with presidential elections. Twenty-four states have provisions that allow for citizens to vote directly, by referendum, on proposed laws or other government actions. Eighteen states have provisions for recall elections which allow voters to remove governors and other state officials prior to the end of their term.

35. The Criteria for Winning In majority systems, candidates must receive a majority (51 percent) of the votes in a district in order to win a seat. In plurality systems, like most elections in the United States, candidates need only receive the most votes in an election, regardless of whether they constitute a majority.

36. Districting and Redistricting Majority and plurality electoral systems tend to accentuate the importance of geographic district boundaries. Redistricting refers to the process of drawing election districts. When redistricting is viewed as an unfair process designed to give an unfair advantage to a particular group, candidate, or party, is often called gerrymandering.

37. 2010 pre redisrticting 2012 post redistricting

38. Present Day NYS 27 Congressional Districts 2012

39. Coat Tail Effect • When there is a strong candidate running for a high office [President or Governor] who the voters like, they may also vote for all the other members of the strong candidates’ party. • The candidates for the lower offices are said to “ride the coattails” of the popular candidate.

40. The Ballot A ballot is a piece of paper used to mark a choice in an election. The very structure of an election ballot can have profound effects on electoral outcomes. Flawed balloting systems or variations from one voting district to the next can advantage some voters over others. Originally, candidates provided their own ballots which they gave to voters. The color of the paper was noticeable as one entered the polls. This meant that the vote was not private.

41. The Ballot In the 19th century, many Americans voted by a party ballot provided by the party/candidate; that meant that they had to vote a straight party ticket. Progressive Ballot reforms at the end of the 19th century made it possible for voters to split their ticket and vote for different party candidates for different offices.

42. The Ballot • Today Americans use a private ballot which was first used in Australia, so it is often called the Australian ballot. • An Office Group Ballot groups together all candidates for a specific office. • A Party Column Ballot lists all members of a political party together.

43. Benefits of the Australian Ballot • Ballot is printed at public expense • Ballot lists all the candidates • Each voter only gets one ballot • The ballot keeps the voter’s decision private • Today our ballots are fed directly into a scanning machine that registers the vote.

44. To Vote or Casting the Ballot • The Polling Place is the site where the vote is cast. • Registered voters vote at their precinct. • The precinct is the smallest election unit. • Absentee Ballots may be requested if you will be out of town on election day.

45. Campaign Strategy • http://ny.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/0d11fd81-20ba-4dc5-b328-870fe289c148/0d11fd81-20ba-4dc5-b328-870fe289c148/ 2 min video • In this video, students will learn how candidates who wish to run for office create a campaign strategy to convince voters that they are the best representatives of their beliefs. Students will understand the various tactics of a political campaign: branding ads, political messaging, campaign finance and how candidates raise and spend money, the role of PACs, SuperPACs and the Federal Election Commission (FEC), and the impact and importance of grassroots strategies.

46. Money & The Election Process 7-3 Money allows candidates to get their message out to the voters. Campaign money buys everything from palm cards and pamphlets to yard signs, bill boards and television ads. How much money is spent depends upon the office, the candidate and the candidate’s opposition.

47. Money & The Election Process The money a candidate raises is called their campaign or war chest. They have various fundraisers to fill that chest. They may have websites where donations are accepted or items such as yard signs or t-shirts may be purchased. Often there are dinners, BBQs, trips and parties where the price of a plate can run between $50 - $50,000 a plate.

48. Money In addition to the cost of television advertising, the need to form and run such elaborate campaign organizations makes running for office – particularly higher office like the Senate or the White House – very costly. • House candidates often need to raise more than $500,000. • Senate candidates must raise several millions. • In 2004, George W. Bush raised more than $100 million.

49. Money As contemporary election campaigns have come to rely more on media, polls, and other capital intensive means of reaching voters, candidates and their campaigns increasingly rely on donors.

50. Sources of Campaign Funding Candidates spend their own money on the campaign. Often they will tell the party how much they have to spend during the interview process, in order to persuade the party to support/endorse them. However, most money comes from individuals.