Chapter 11: Voting, Campaigns, and Elections

15th Amendment

Granted African-American men the right to vote. Despite the amendment, by the late 1870s discriminatory practices were used to prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote.

19th Amendment

Granted American women the right vote, a right known as women's suffrage after almost a century of protest.

26th Amendment

Lowered the voting age of citizens to eighteen years and was actually a political move provoked by the Vietnam. The idea appealed to antiwar activists because young people were so prominent in their movement.

Soft Money

Money that goes indirectly to parties or committees and can come from an individual, political action committee or corporations and other sources and there is no limitations. But the money must be earmarked for party-building activities, such as advocating for the passage of a law and not directed to a particular candidate.

Hard Money

Money that goes straight to a specific political candidate and can come from an individual or a political action committee or PAC and must abide by the FEC limitations.

Coordinated Campaign Reform Act

Party committees make coordinated expenditures on behalf of candidates for activities such as polling, get-out-the-vote efforts, producing ads, and conducting research; the totals are, however, limited by law. Independent party expenditures are not limited and go for campaign activities (mainly advertising) that are not supposed to be coordinated in any way with the candidate's campaign.

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act

Regulates the financing of political campaigns and was designed to address two issues. The increased role of soft money in campaign financing, by prohibiting national political party committees from raising or spending any funds not subject to federal limits. And the proliferation of issue advocacy ads or special interest groups broadcasting ads that name a federal candidate and prohibiting any such ad paid for by a corporation.

Suffrage

Suffrage is the right to vote in public elections. Universal suffrage means everyone gets to vote, as opposed to only men, or property holders.

FECA and The FEC

The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 provided partial public funding for presidential campaigns and required full public reporting of the strict limits on all contributions and expenditures in federal elections. It also established the Federal Elections Commissions to enforce the law and to collect and public detailed information on campaign contribution and expenditures. Money that goes to a specific political candidate.

Influences on voter turnout

This includes past performance and incumbency, voters may treat an election as a referendum on the incumbent's or majority party's performance in office. Assessing the issues and policy option where individuals base their cost of voting by the positions they take on issues, by their overall ideological stances, or by their party affiliations, candidates offer choices among alternative national policies. The power of party identification where party identification has proved to be a strong predictor of the vote in any election in which candidates run under party labels. Voter cues and shortcuts where voters make predictions based on the candidate's' personal characteristics. One set of personal considerations includes qualities such as competence, experience, honesty, knowledge, and leadership skills.

Issues voting

Voting for candidates based on their positions on specific issues, as oppose to their party or personal characteristics.

Performing Voting

Basing votes for a candidate or party on how successfully the candidate or party performed while in office.

Independent Campaign Spending

Campaign spending-by a person or organization for or against a political candidate-that is not controlled by or coordinated with any candidate's campaign.

Buckley v. Valeo

The Supreme Court upheld the reporting requirements and contribution limits (to prevent "corruption or the appearance of corruption") but rejected spending limits on the ground that they interfered with political speech protected by the First Amendment. Presidential candidates, however, could be required to abide by spending limits as a condition of receiving public funds for their campaigns. Again on First Amendment grounds, ceilings on how much of their own money candidates could spend on their campaigns and on how much anyone could spend to agitate for or against candidates independently of candidates' campaigns.