Political Participation, Voting, Campaigns, and Various Kinds of

ElectionsDr. East 2/2015

Voting is ….• Conventional political participation in a direct

or indirect democracy … usually scheduled and planned with months of advanced notice

• According to Constitution, governing the time, place, and manner of elections is a reserved power for the states… creating city and town governments is also a state power, thus elections are governed locally by states and cities/towns.

• Protests, picketing, etc. are unconventional, citizen-lead, surprise activities

How can people participate in American politics?

• Vote. BUT you must be on registration rolls• Volunteer for a political campaign, interest

group (issue group), or cause.• Write letters to politicians or newspapers.• Create a blog or comment on other blogs.• Attend rallies that support a candidate or

issue.• Give $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.• Run for office.

Remember when people vote, they

have to be on registration rolls at

Precincts -- the place where you

vote

On Election Day• People turnout to elect people for many different offices

• Or on a few ballot measures such as citizen-lead initiatives or legislature-lead referendums

What Happened Last Nov?• Ans. = Elections – Mid-Term General Elections

– called mid-term because they occur in Nov. during the middle of a President’s term, so we were simply electing for state/local offices and congressional seats… not presidency

– called a General election since it is not a primary election …those elect party candidates) … more on this later

• Remember it was a Critical Election election where political parties could gain control of a branch or house of gov.) – Senate went from Democrat controlled to Republican

controlled… leading to completely Divided Government since House was already Rep. controlled

When you can, VOTE!

• Pretty much the easiest thing a person can do.• What kind of message does a vote send?

– Reality is that it is a VERY BLUNT TOOL that does NOT send a very clear message about what people think, ideas they really support, or issues they truly believe in.

– Why?

Participation in ElectionsHow does the US compare to others?

Virginia over the years

From http://statchatva.org/2012/11/12/virginia-votes-2012-turnout-across-localities/

Barriers to Voting• Causes of low voter turnout

– Registration laws changes– Lack of attractive choices.– Changes in eligibility rules.– Alienation and apathy after the 1960s.– Lack of voter mobilization by political parties

(weak parties).– Number of elections in America. TOO MANY to

focus on. – No day off on election day!– Felony conviction if you are in a state that

doesn’t allow felons to vote. – Felon Disenfranchisement:

http://www.fairvote.org/felon-disenfranchisement#.UqjKitjaKSp

Take with grain of salt, DNC figures.

How Voters Decide

• Which is the most important factor?– #) Party affiliation … if you are registered as a

Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, you are most likely to vote for your parties list of candidates ….

• Independents go their own way

– Issues … like the “litmus test”, People ask themselves, is that politician for or against… abortion, new clean air law, higher teacher pay, etc. and vote for the guy/gal that believes like they do

– Candidates, who are they, what parties are represented, character, Charisma, interest

A Campaign for the Presidency• 1) A person has to determine if he or she should run for office.

– What does a person consider when deciding if he or she should run for president?

– Characteristics of nominees — who has a chance?

– Exploring possibility so funds can be raised.– Announce candidacy.– Raise funds and go to Iowa, NH, & SC and other

SWING STATES!• Then there comes the two phases of the campaign:

– A) campaign for Party Nomination.– B) campaign for General Election.

• A WIN the Electoral College Vote!

Nomination General Nomination

Democratic Nominee

RepublicanNominee

Winner and next President

Democrats Republicans

All

of t

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who

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nt. A

ll of the Republicans w

ho will run for president.

And to be a little more precise for 2012

Obama

RepublicanNominee

Winner and next President

Republicans

All

of t

he D

emoc

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who

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for

pre

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nt. A

ll of the Republicans w

ho will run for president.

Incumbent, office holding politician, against another

guy…incumbent…always has better

chances

Campaigning for Office: The Nomination Phase

• Technically, what are candidates seeking the nomination really after?– DELEGATES! People that vote for nominee at a party

convention • How do they get the delegates? Two Ways…

– Caucuses or primaries in states• Caucus: group meeting of more active members of

party … loud, noisy opinionated people– Iowa caucuses open only to registered members of

party.– Fewer of these than primaries

• Primary: open election for nominee– Closed primary: MD, DC…. Open to only members

of a certain party, closed to other people– Open primary: VA… any registered voter can

participate

• What, or who, are delegates?– People selected to choose nominee of party.

• How many of these rascals are there?– Depends!

• Democratic Party Convention Delegates – Total number of delegates: 4,339

Pledged: 3,537Unpledged: 802Some winner-take-all aspects, some proportional.

• Republican Party Convention Delegates– Total Number of Delegates: 2,066

Pledged: 1,907Unpledged: 159 More winner-take-all aspects.

• LOTS of differences among the states.

Campaigning for OfficeThe Nomination, cont.

• Convention: candidate is formally nominated and platform established.– Four day commercial for candidate.– Still, convention is important.– Learn about candidate and party.– Signifies start of general election

period.– Activates American public.– Party out of power in White House has

its convention first.– The unofficial nominee is known well

before the convention.

Campaigning for Office: The General Election• Technically, what are candidates seeking the Presidential

Office really after?– ELECTORS IN THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE.– 538 Electors (equal to number of all members of Congress, plus 3 for

DC). Must win a majority to win presidency. – 270– Most states are winner take all states (meaning the winner of the

majority of popular votes is who the electoral votes go to), a few are proportional … meaning that the candidates get electoral votes similar to their percentage of the popular vote

• Public pays more attention.• Media pays more attention.• Candidates target those states that can go either way, swing

states. Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, New Mexico, Colorado (VA, NC, IN in 2008).

• & spend $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Shifting Ideology

Swing States, I think this was 2004

Swing States “Purple States”, 2012

How it all shook down

You can seeRussia fromhere!!!

Electoral College:When it defies the people.

It’s really a Purple World, 2012

2012

What do you remember about voter turnout?

• Why, why not?• What is apathy?• How can voter turnout be improved?

– What is convenience voting? – election day voting– What is the motor voter law? 1995 Act that allows people

to register to vote at time of getting driver’s license– Mail in ballots?– Internet ballots?– What else?

• Can GOTV efforts and voter turnout of greater percentages of specific groups help get some specific people elected? Think!

Review: Type of elections• How are primaries and caucuses different?• Open primary?• Closed primary?• Primaries and Caucuses’ elect nominees for general election

for all kinds of offices, not just Presidential office. • Some states try to front-load the election.

– Who does this benefit?– Where is first caucus? _______________– Where is first primary? _______________

• Which office’s election is not simply a popular vote election?

Reapportionment affects Electoral College Votes and Congressional Elections

• What is reapportionment? – process where the decennial census is used to reallocate

the # of seats in the HOR every 10 years. Required by law in Constitution.

• HOR – Congressional Representatives serve 2 year terms and HOR elections happen every even year (2006, 2008, etc.)

• Their district boundaries change as a result of reapportionment and today most HOR-reps. Vote for 600,000 people each (1 of them to 600,000 of us)

Reapportionment Requires Redistricting

• Re-drawing geographic boundary lines for congressional representation.

• Often the process become a gerrymandered process– The drawing of

boundaries in a way to produce a particular electoral outcome without regard to creating a realistic shape to the district

– In the examples to the right, are these true cohesive regions?

– See rules for redistricting and gerrymandering pg. 481

• Redistricting is always a huge political fight!

Other Randomness

• Riding the presidential coattails. What is this?

• What is distinctive about a mid-term election?

• What do you still NOT UNDERSTAND about elections and voting?

• ASK ME NOW

The Campaign Process

• Nomination Phase• General Election Phase• What do we know?• Which is longer?• In which do candidates express more extreme

views?• Last time. What is a GOTV?

Remember, To Win…

• Candidates need …– Volunteers for GOTV. – Money … Excellent, Legal, Campaign Finances– Paid staff

• like who, what types of jobs?• Who can create good spin for their candidates?

– Friends in the party (favors from party officials)– Good media coverage, staged events– Ways to create positive media exposure– Ways to attack with negative ads– Good showing in debates… basically these help

the clueless left near election time. To really know a candidate… look at their platform and stump speeches.

– Charisma– Perseverance and Luck. – Helps if they are an incumbent. What is this?