Candidates, Voting, & The

Electorate

Who they are• 537 Elected federal

officials• Occupation

– Lawyers – 56 with JD, 49 practiced

– Business – Various backgrounds, 7 with MBA

– 19 Career Politicians, 2 MDs, 2 Military, and various others

• Race, Gender, Personal background– Predominantly white,

male, and Christian and straight

• Service vs. Self-interest

Eligibility• President: natural born citizen,

35 yrs old, 14 yrs residence• Vice-President: Same as

President, but must be from different state

• Senator: Citizen for 9 years, 30 yrs old and resident of state

• Representative: Citizen for 7 years, 25 yrs old and resident of state

Campaigning• Candidate-

Centered– Result of tech

advance and cost– Need for large

campaign organization• Raise money, get

media coverage, shape image, conduct research and polling

– Less dependence on Party• Increase in

Independents

Strategy• Political

Consultants– Hired to create

strategy and run campaign

– Tend to be partisan, expensive

• Three Pronged Strategy

1. Viability and Appeal2. Polling3. Focus Groups

Willard Mitt Romney• Republican• Age: 64 • Education: BA from BYU;

JD/MBA Harvard• Work experience: Founded

Bain Capital, Chaired 2002 Winter Olympics

• Government Experience: Governor of Massachusetts, 2003 – 2007

• Achievements: Romneycare, Education, 2002 Olympics, Bain,

Barack Hussein Obama II• Democrat• Age: 50• Education: BA Columbia, JD

Harvard• Work Experience: Community

Organizer, Civil Rights Lawyer, Law Professor

• Government Experience: IL state senate 97-04, U.S. Senate 05-08, POTUS 09 –

• Achievements: Obamacare, Recovery Act, Bin Laden

Eliminating Barriers • Historically, women and African Americans

have faced the greatest barriers to suffrage• 15th and 19th Amendments - Suffrage for

African Americans and women• 24th Amendment – abolished Poll taxes • Voting Rights Act of 1965 – empowered the

federal government to outlaw discriminatory practices

• 26th Amendment – lowered voting age to 18

Who Participates in Politics?• Forms of Participation

– Inactive– Voting specialists– Campaigners– Communalists– Parochial participants– Activists

• What Decides the Election?– Campaign issues

• Position• Valence

– Issues, Especially the Economy

• Prospective voting• Retrospective voting

– Party– The Campaign– Finding a Winning Coalition

Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections

Non-voters– 59.9 million people not

registered in 1992 – most common reason; may be due to high mobility

– No interest in politics, negative view of government, can’t make time, low voter efficacy

Are turnout rates cause for concern?• How to get out the vote

– Election day – Sunday?/National Holiday

– Make requirement – illegal to not vote in Brazil

– Appeal to direct participation: initiative, referendum, recall

Conduct of Elections• Australian Ballot

– Two common types: 1. Office Block (Mass) Ballot2. Party Collumn (Ind) Ballot

• Coattail effect• Mail Voting

– Typically absentee ballots, some states offer to entire electorate

– good way to increase turnout, but …– may lead to premature decisions, allow less secrecy, and

encourage fraud

BallotsOff ice Block Party-Column

Issues and Problems• Fraud

– provisional and absentee balloting

• Voter ID Laws– Fraud reduction or

voter suppression• Computerized

Voting– Optical scan vs.

touch screen