Campaigns and Elections Exam 2

How does the Republican party do the nomination process?

Some states have historically used a winner take all rule, allocating all delegates from the state to the winning candidate regardless of the vote margin -As recently as 2012, the winner take all rule was being phased out on the Republican side as well, in favor of proportionality rule

How do states determine who their delegates will be?

States typically employ either caucuses or primary elections

The role of the party as organization CONT.

-The other main task of party organizations is to raise money for their candidates -Party organizations also play an important role in mobilizing voters to participate in elections

Early conventions

-Unregulated -Corrupt

Criticisms of plurality voting

-the fact that more candidates might vote against a winning candidate than for them, its simplicity makes it a common choice for voting systems. -Another common criticism of the plurality system is the probability that a third candidate might play a spoiler role.

Presidential Nomination overview

1. Allocate delegates to states -Like apportionment for house -Find out amount of delegates by populatoin and party loyalty (vote share) 2. Series of Primaries and Caucuses 3. Award Delegates and candidates 4. Convention -Vote of the delegates

What are the 3 manifestations of political parties?

1. Party in the electorate-includes all citizens who identify with the party 2. party as organization-comprises the institutions that administer party affairs 3. party in government-consists of the elected leaders and appointed government officials who shape party policy goals

What is the 2 factor process for allocation of delegates for the Democratic Party?

1. Population measure 2. Loyalty to party -This is dependent of the party,not the state

How are todays national conventions different?

Todays conventions have transformed from determinative political events into four day public relations specticles

2 goals of a presidential campaign

1. To amass a sufficient number of delegates to secure a party's nomination at the national convention 2. To win enough states in the general election to garner at least 270-a majority- of the 538 available Electoral College votes and thus win the presidency

How do you win the nomination at the convention?

A candidate has to accumulate delegates by winning an array of statewide elections, each with distinct rules over a period of several months

(Semi open primary) Do I have to be a member? Can Independents vote? Is there secrecy?

A registered voter need not publicly declare which political party's primary that they will vote in before entering the voting booth. When voters identify themselves to the election officials, they must request a party's specific ballot. Only one ballot is cast by each voter -Do not have to be a member -Independents can vote -There is secrecy

(Purely open primary) Do I have to be a member? Can Independents vote? Is there secrecy?

Anyone can vote -Do not have to be member -Independents can vote -There is no secrecy

Caucuses

Are relatively closed affairs in which registered partisans attend meetings at election precinct locations and vote to select delegates

Where do electors vote (Electoral College)

At State Capitals

(Semi Closed primary)

Both unaffiliated voters and those registered as members of the party can vote in that party's primary -You have to be a member -Independents can vote -There is secrecy

Advantages and Disadvantages of Open Systems

Crossover voting -less extreem candidates Dishonest crossover voting -Poor quality candidates

Direct Recording electronic Device

Direct recording electronic (DRE) devices are a second category of balloting methods. With these devices, the key distinction is that voters cast their ballot through the machine, and the count is tallied internally, rather than having a multi-step system of casting a ballot and separately counting that ballot.

Certificates of Ascertainment

Each Certificate of Ascertainment lists the: names of the Electors chosen by the voters and the number of votes received. names of all other candidates for Elector and the number of votes received.

How do you determine delegates at the national convention?

Primary Election

How do democrats award delegates

Proportional allocation

The role of the party as organization cont. (HISTORY)

Traditionally, the party organization also selected the party's nominees for general elections -Before 1972, unpledged party delegates selected presidential nominees at the national conventions -This changed with reforms to the presidential nomination system that emphasized primaries and caucuses

Plurality voting, or first-past-the-past voting

Under this method, the candidate with the most votes is declared the winner, regardless of the specific percentage of the vote garnered by the candidate

Audits

Usually happens in close elections -Audits are procedures that check to ensure that the tabulation of votes was completed accurately, and that all voting equipment performed without malfunction on Election Day.

'stringers'

What we see on television on election night are vote totals being collected by a number of freelance journalists, commonly called 'stringers'

When is ranked choice called instant runoff voting or the alternative vote?

When one individual is being elected (as opposed to multi-member districts

How can you award delegates in the Republican party (diff syst)

Winner Take All Winner Take most CD WTA Proportional System Proportional CD

Single transferable vote or STV voting

a form of ranked choice voting where voters can rank order their choices of candidates.

office block ballot

a voter must read each candidate's name or party affiliation and select their choice for that office.

block voting or multiple non-transferable vote

allowing our voters to each vote for three candidates

Delegates

an elected representative sent to a conference.

Super delegates

an unpledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is seated automatically and chooses for themselves for whom they vote

Optical scan ballots

are paper ballots where voters use one of a number of methods to designate their vote. These paper ballots are then read by an optical scanner.

sort-and-stack method

ballots are sorted into stacks depending on the vote for a particular office that is being counted (meaning only one race is counted at a time). Ballots can be stacked crosswise in a particular multiple for ease of counting, or a tally sheet can be used.

Optical scan ballots

have now become the most frequently used paper ballot across the country -optical scan ballots combine the familiarity of a hand marked ballot with the efficiency of a machine read punchcard.

How are ranked choice ballots counted?

in an instant-runoff system by first tallying the first preferences of all voters. - It may be the case that one candidate is able to amass a majority of the votes in this initial round of counting. If so, the candidate with the majority is declared the winner and counting ends. If no candidate is able to gather a majority of the votes, we then begin the instant-runoff process by eliminating the candidate who is in last place, and redistributing those votes to voters' second choices. -If, after this redistribution of votes, a candidate has the requisite majority of votes, that candidate is declared the winner and the election ends.

single voting, or single non-transferable voting

is one where each voter casts one ballot, and the three candidates with the most votes would win.

Party convention in the 19th century

its primary use was to nominate a large number of offices

read-and-mark system

one team of counters looks at the paper ballot and calls out each vote aloud. A second team makes a hash mark or similar tally for each vote, and those marks are then added up to determine the total number of votes for each candidate and race

Two methods are commonly used to count paper ballots

read-and-mark, and sort-and stack

Recounts

recounts are important in ensuring candidates and voters that the results of an election are accurate. -recounts can be initiated automatically, or a losing candidate may make a formal petition for a recount. Automatic recounts are triggered by the margin of an election. I

Ranked Choice

rely on a ranking of candidates in order to determine a winner. - Utilizing this voting system can ensure that the election winner will receive a majority of the votes, even when there are more than two candidates. -Voters rank order their choices rather than selecting one candidates. -HELPS AVOID SPOILER SYSTEMS

Two-round systems in the American context are often called

runoff elections.

election night reporting

some jurisdictions post unofficial vote totals on state or county websites.

Punchcards (Another balloting method)

the punchcard was a heavy paper card where data would be stored by creating (punching out) holes in the card -The election of 2000 brought widespread attention to many problems associated with punchcard technology. Specifically, the election highlighted the incidence of incorrectly punched cards. These ballots could be incorrectly marked in a number of ways.

Where is plurality voting used?

used in Congressional elections in the United States, as well as in a number of state races. Interestingly, while the Electoral College requires a majority of electoral votes, individual states generally allot their electoral votes on a plurality basis.

One styleof optical scan ballot that suffers from this problem more than others is

'connect the arrow' ballot

Winner take all system

-Advantage winners -Faster nomination -Faster front runners

The role of the party in government

-Also influences campaigns and election outcomes -Candidates with a party label are tied to the party's elected leaders -in other words, candidates with the party in power are judged on the basis of almost anything that occurs during their party's reign -Legislators also must work through their party to pass bills that benefit their districts, such as road projects

How do you essentially award delegates

-Depends on party -Depends on state

Proportional system

-Faster winners -Helps 2nd and 3rd candidates -Slower nomination

Advantages and disadvantages of closed systems

-Only party members (advantages) -More extreme candidates Registering new members (disadvantages) -less partisan -less extreme

How does the electoral college affect candidates?

Affects how and where candidates campaign

Blanket Primary

All candidates on one ballot -Found to be unconstitutional

Electoral college

Each state has a number of electoral votes equal to its total number of representatives to the U.S Congress -There are 538 electors (based on 435 House members plus 100 senators plus three electors from Washington D.C. -The strategic goal is to win some combination of states whose electoral votes total at least 270 -Electoral college essentially exagerates the popular vote

What are the major rules that affect parties?

Election laws and campaign finance laws

Lousiana- Jungle primary

Everyone runs on one ballot

Who selects the Electors?

First, the political parties in each state choose slates of potential Electors sometime before the general election. Second, on Election Day, the voters in each state select their state's Electors by casting their ballots for President.

Purpose of multiple round elections

If we have a race with only two candidates, we will be guaranteed to see a majority winner, however, if there are more candidates in the race, a single election is not guaranteed to produce a majority result. Often called run off elections. Two-round systems eliminate all but the top two candidates, and then proceed to have a second election at a later date between the top-two candidates.

How do most states allocate delegates?

In proportion to the percentage of the vote won by a candidate in the primary or caucuses -In this system, a candidate with 40% of the vote in a state's primary gets 40% of the delegates from that state

The role of the party in the electorate

Is as important as the volunteer base and cheering section for each party -Party supporters contact friends, family, etc. to try to convince them to support their party's candidates and encourage participation

Rules affecting primary elections

Legal disputes about the extent to which parties can control their own nomination process -Some states mandate open primaries, but many party organizations prefer closed primaries -Parties have also attempted to set their own dates for primary elections and administer the voting, but most states demand that party rules conform to state laws

Electors (Electoral College)

Most states require that all electoral votes go to the candidate who receives the plurality in that state. After state election officials certify the popular vote of each state, the winning slate of electors meet in the state capital and cast two ballots—one for Vice President and one for President. Electors cannot vote for a Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate who both hail from an elector's home state.

Purely Closed primary

Only the party can vote -You have to be a member -Independents can't vote -There is secrecy

Progressive States

Open process so more states can participate -increase democracy -Essentially pushed for the creation of the primary in order to reduce corruption from conventions

Whats the result of the rise of direct primaries for presidential and legislative elections?

Party organization leaders no longer have complete control over who becomes a party nominee -In the past, in presidential elections, the national party conventions used to select the presidential nominees

The role of the party as organization

Party organizations such as the national committees, state committees, and legislative campaign committees recruit candidates and raise money for them -Parties try to recruit quality candidates who are well known to the electorate and have relevant experience for the office they seek -Parties also work to minimize retirements within their ranks because incumbents are more likely to win elections than newcomers

Spoiler role

Since no candidate is required to win a majority, and since there is no runoff election in a plurality system, a third candidate that can draw enough support from one of the two top candidates could swing the election.

The safe harbor provision

The court's decision said the Florida Supreme Court had ruled earlier that the state legislature intended to take advantage of the safe-harbor provision. That meant, the justices said, that the recount issue could not be sent back for another round in court, because time had run out.

How does the Democratic party do the nomination process?

The democratic party uses a proportionality rule for its nomination process

canvass

The official count of ballots -The process of canvassing votes usually begins at the polling place. Voting machines and balloting equipment must immediately be properly secured when the polling place closes to prevent any further voting.

Hand Counted Paper Balloting

The simplest method for casting and counting ballots -Proponents of hand counts note that there are far fewer opportunities for fraud or corruption (assuming that the count is conducted publicly) than with newer electronic voting methods.