Campaigns and Elections

What are "faithless electors"? Are they common or uncommon? What are some of the reasons for this?

"Faithless electors" are electors who vote against the popular vote in their state. These are very uncommon and normally happen to prove a point.

Which of the following states do you think would receive more attention from presidential candidates - California or Florida? Why?

Florida, because it is a swing state.

Why do some presidential candidates, like Jon Huntsman, who would likely be very popular among voters on Election Day in November have very little chance of ever becoming president? [Hint: Explain how one of the features of the U.S. presidential election process tends to weed out many moderate presidential candidates.]

Many candidates who's would be popular among both sides of voters are too moderate to make it past the primary's. Since the primary elections tend to bring out the extreme members of their party, the most extreme candidates tend to win, and the moderate candidates who would be good in the general election don't win.

What are primary elections and what are general elections? What are the characteristics of the people who tend to show up to vote in primary elections, compared to the people who tend to vote in general elections?

Primary elections are elections in a party to deiced what candidate will represent that party in the general election. The general election decides the president. Primary elections tend to bring out the people most dedicated to their party, the most extreme liberal or conservative. General elections tend to bring out more people from all groups, the moderate and the extreme.

What is proportional representation? Is it used in the U.S. House of Representatives? What is significant about the distribution of U.S. House members from the states of Oklahoma and Connecticut, and how does this relate to proportional representation?

Proportional representation is when the representatives are proportional to what the people are. If you have five reps, and your states is 20% republicans and 80% democrats, you would have 1 Republican rep and 4 Democratic reps. It is used in the House of Representatives.

What are some of the main criticisms of the Electoral College?

The Electoral College can sometimes not elect the winner of the popular vote. It is also a really confusing system and doesn't make sense and scares people.

Why would it be virtually impossible to eliminate the Electoral College? Does this mean that there is no way to change the way presidents are selected, in order to address the major criticisms of the Electoral College? Explain.

The Electoral College in in the constitution and it's hard to change the constitution. It could be done, but it would be hard to change because of the challenging alteration process of the constitution.

Comparing the United States to other advanced democracies, does it tend to have a relatively high voter turnout rate or a relatively low one? What are some of the factors that might cause this level of turnout?

The US has one of the lowest voter turnout in the world because the election day is on a Tuesday and is not considered a holiday, so many people are unable to go to their polling place and vote. Other countries vote on a Saturday or make their election day a holiday to increase voter turnout.

How would you explain the Electoral College to someone who is completely unfamiliar with it? Thoroughly explain this system of selecting the president.

The electoral college is a group of 538 electors who select the president. The electors are everyday people who are selected depending on the states rules. In the electoral college, majority rules with 220 votes or more. In most states it is a winner takes all, where all of a states votes go to the winner of the popular vote. The only place where they don't do that is Maine and Nebraska, where the votes are split by the percentage of the popular vote. The number of electoral votes a state gets is equal to the number of representatives the state has in Congress.

Is the U.S. electoral system centralized or decentralized? In other words, which level of government has greater control over how elections are administered - the national level or the state level? Explain.

The electoral system is decentralized, the laws about elections vary from state to state.

Why do presidential candidates often try to appear moderate during general elections?

They want to appear moderate to voters on both sides and the moderate member of their party

What is run-off voting and how does it differ from standard majority/plurality voting? In the context of voting, what is the difference between a majority and a plurality?

runoff voting: Two-round system, a voting system used to elect a single winner, whereby only two candidates from the first round continue to the second round. Plurality system, electoral process in which the candidate who polls more votes than any other candidate is elected. It is distinguished from the majority system, in which, to win, a candidate must receive more votes than all other candidates combined.