Elections

Lesson Objective: To understand the Presidential

election process in the United States Essential Questions:

Why do we have elections?

Is our election system perfect? Or are there reforms to make the process more democratic?

Key Terms• Prospective judgment• Retrospective judgment• Primaries• Caucus • General Election• Electoral College

Elections• Election provide for more responsive

government– Provide for a peaceful transfer of power

• Reason to Vote– Prospective judgment• Voting for the belief in the candidate or party

–Retrospective judgment• Voting against the incumbent party or politician

• Which kind of win gives a politician a mandate?

Types of Elections• Primary Election–Within the party to decide the candidate to

run in the General election– Closed Primaries

• Only party members may vote– Open Primaries

• Anyone may vote; regardless of party affiliation – Blanket Primaries

• May vote in either primary- but not both• What are the benefits and disadvantages

of these different election rules?

• •

Closed Primari

es

• •

Open Primari

es

• •

Blanket Primari

es

Presidential Elections• Actually three sets of 50 state-wide

elections– First two are party primary elections– Voters are electing delegates to the Party’s

nominating convention• Winner-take-all and Proportional (normally need

to meet a minimum threshold) • Primaries vs. Caucuses

– Primaries are seen as more democratic – all you do is vote– Caucus- people must invest hours discussing the issues –

higher quality participation– What are the Pros and Cons of each?

• General Election- Tuesday after the first Monday in November – every 4 years

Primaries

Pros Cons

Caucuses

Pros Cons

The Party Convention • Have become very scripted and have few

surprises– Growing importance and attention of the media

have given national party organization more power than the states

• Delegates are committed and selected through state party conventions –Unrepresentative of general population- Why?

• Media’s role– Convention are primetime television now

• Inter-party debate can look divisive- leads to how scripted it is• Also makes it boring leading to less coverage

Electoral College• Ultimately decides the President– Compromise between popular election and having

Congress elect the President – Senate + Congressional Representation= Electoral

College Votes– Changes with every census – 535 votes- Majority of 270 wins – If no one wins majority- Congress Votes– Popular Vote winner doesn’t always win ex. 2000

election- Gore won popular vote- Bush won election• Before 12th Amendment President and Vice

President were same ballot- ex. 1800 election

Reform• The idea of the electoral college strikes many as

un-democratic • Reform ideas– Throw out Electoral College

• Unlikely because it would require an Amendment – Congressional District

• Votes go to each district and +2 for winning the state • Nebraska and Maine do this• Requires just a change in state laws

– Get rid of actual electors• Solves faithless electors problem

– Its not really a problem– Doesn’t solve any real problems

• What new problems could these reforms create?

Voting Patterns• Party Realignment – Large group of voters changes their political

party• ex. Southern Strategy

–New voters start to come out to vote • ex. Conservative Movement / Moral Majority

– Rare occurrences and take place in short period of time

• Secular Realignment– Gradual changes in party alignment

• Harder to find now with fluidity of electorate – more independents

Low Voter Turnout• U.S. Voter participation is lowest in

Industrialized world – for many reasons• Too Busy • Difficulty of Registration• Difficulty of Absentee Voting • Number of Elections• Voter Attitudes• Weak Political Parties • Is low voter turnout a problem?• How can we improve the process? Should

we improve the process?