1. Chapter 7: The Electoral Process

2. Chapter 7 Section 1: The Nominating Process
Nomination—the naming of those who will seek office
Nominating Methods
Self-Announcement
Caucus—Group of like-minded people who meet to select the candidates they will support in an upcoming election
Party members and supporters debate the merits of the candidates and then vote to select a nominee

3. Direct primary—Intraparty election
Convention
Local districts (or states) select delegates to represent them at higher-level (national) conventions where the nominee is chosen
Direct primary—Intraparty election
Held within party to pick candidates for the general election
Closed primary—only declared party members can vote (FL)
Open primary—aka “crossover primary;” any qualified voter can cast a ballot
Petition
Candidates collect a specified number of signatures from voters to qualify for the general election

4. Chapter 7 Section 2: Elections
*Administration, Ballots, and Voting Procedures*
Administration
Most election law is state law
Congress sets time, place, and manner of congressional and presidential elections (Article I, Section 4, Clause 1; 17th Amendment)
Congress sets time to choose electors, sets date for electoral votes (Article II, Section 1, Clause 4; 12th Amendment)
Congressional Elections—1st Tuesday following 1st Monday in Nov. every even-numbered yr
Presidential Electionos--1st Tuesday following 1st Monday in Nov. every fourth yr

5. Help American Vote Act (2002)
Upgrade voting machines and training of election officials
Computerize registration
Allow provisional voting (allow someone to vote even if not sure they are qualified, do the research, then count vote if qualified)
Most elections for state offices held on same day as national elections
Absentee voting
Early voting
Precincts—voting districts
Polling place—place votes are cast (must vote at assigned location except for early voting)
Precinct election board supervises
Poll watchers—one per party at each polling place

6. Instrument on which voter registers their choice
Ballots
Instrument on which voter registers their choice
Forms include paper, optical scanner, and touch screens
Secret ballots
Based on Australian ballot
Printed at public expense
All candidates listed
Given only at polls
Marked in secret—FYI: it’s not polite to ask someone who they are voting for
Office-group ballot—candidates for an office grouped together
Order of names rotated

7. Party-column ballot—candidates listed in column under party name
Sample ballots—help voters prepare
FYI: primary samples ballots might be green/blue; sometimes they are yellow or pink——typically colored based on party
Bed-sheet ballot—lengthy

8. Voting machine; often electronic
Voting Procedures
Voting machine; often electronic
FYI: paper ballot in LC
Optical Scanning—voters fill in and scanners read and record
FYI: LC
Direct response electronic voting—voters touch screen/push button and votes are recorded electronically
Vote by mail (absentee)
Military; traveling
Signed by you to mail back
Online voting

9. Chapter 7 Section 3: Money and Elections
Campaign Spending
Campaign managers and consultants
TV, radio, newspapers
Pamphlets, buttons, posters, bumper stickers
Office rent
Mass mailings
Web sites
Travel
*about $1.8B spent on House and Senate campaigns in 2010!

10. Total Campaign Spending, 1964-2008
Total Campaign Spending, * Sources: Federal Election Commission; Herbert E. Alexander Financing Politics *Presidential Elections only
Year
Estimated Spending
Voter Turnout
Spending per Voter
1964
$200 million
70.6 million
$2.38
1968
$300 million
73.2 million
$4.10
1972
$425 million
77.7 million
$5.47
1976
$540 million
81.6 million
$6.62
1980
$1.2 billion
86.6 million
$13.87
1984
$1.8 billion
92.7 million
$19.42
1988
$2.7 billion
91.6 million
$29.48
1992
$3.2 billion
104.4 million
$30.65
1996
$4 billion
96.5 million
$41.45
2000
$5.1 billion
105.4 million
$48.39
2004
$6 billion
120.2 million
$49.92
2008
$7 billion
130.9 million
$53.48

11. Using the data from the previous chart…
Which election year saw the largest increase in spending?
Which election year saw the largest turnout in voters?
Which election year saw the largest increase in spending per voter?
Were there any instances when price/voters dropped? Why?

12. Candidates and their families Political appointees
Fundraising
Small contributors
Occasional $5-$10
About 10% of voters
Wealthy contributors
“fat cats”—find it beneficial to donate
Candidates and their families DT
Political appointees
Donate to the campaign of the person that did or will appoint them to office
Political Action Committees (PACs)
Political arms of special-interest groups or other organizations with a stake in electoral politics
List at least 5 different PACs (their name and abbreviation), who/what they represent, and which candidate they support and why

13. Temporary organizations Fundraising events
Formed for the immediate purpose of a campaign, especially fundraising
Fundraising events
Expensive dinners ($100+ per plate, etc)
Mail, telethons, internet solicitation
Public subsidies
Federal and state treasuries
Grants
Contributors often want something in return
Appointments, social recognition, certain laws, administrative actions

14. Regulation
1907—Congress banned any corporation or national bank from contributing in any election
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971
FECA Amendments, 1974 and 1976
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), 2002
Federal Election Commission (FEC), est. 1974

15. Independent agency, part of executive branch
FEC
Independent agency, part of executive branch
6 members appointed by POTUS, approved by Senate
Require timely disclosure of campaign finance data
No contributions in another’s name
Cash gifts limited—no more than $100
Single campaign committee collects and spends contributions
Contributions, loans, or spending of more than $200 must be documented (source and date)
Must report contributions of more than $5k (within 48 hours)

16. Place limits on campaign contributions Individual contribution limits
No person can give more than $2,300 to any federal campaign candidate in a primary election
No person can give more than $2,400 to any federal candidate’s general election campaign
No person can give more than $5k/yr to a PAC –OR— $28,500 to a national party committee
Total of any person’s contributions must be limited to no more than $108, 200 in an election cycle (the 2 yrs from one general election to the next)
PAC contributions
No PAC can give more than $5k to any one federal candidate in an election or $10k per election cycle (primary and general election)
No limit on how many candidates a PAC can support (so it can give $5k to each candidate it chooses)
A PAC may also contribute up to $15k/yr to a political party

17. Place limits on campaign expenditures
Buckley v. Valeo, 1976—SCOTUS struck down most of FECA Amendments of 1974
used 1st amendment's freedom of expression—in politics “money is speech”
Provide public funding for several parts of the presidential election process
You can choose to give $3 when you file your taxes (goes to big dish for FEC)
Preconvention Campaigns (Presidential Primaries and Caucuses)
Contender must 1st raise $100k from individuals (not organizations or PACs)
Gathered in $5k format least 20 states
No more than $250 from each individual contributor
Purposely intended to discourage frivolous candidacies
FEC will match the first $250 of each individual contribution, up to total of half of overall limit on preconvention spending
2008—FEC could give $21million b/c preconvention spending limit was set to $42M
FEC does not match PACS

18. Presidential Election Campaigns
(continued from #4, previous slide)
National Conventions
Major party automatically receives grant, if it applies, to help pay for convention
Presidential Election Campaigns
Each major party candidate automatically eligible to receive subsidy
2008--$84.1 million
Candidate can refuse, and then is free to raise as much as possible from private sources
If accept public money, can spend no more than amount of the subsidy in general election and cannot accept funds from other sources

19. Soft money—funds given to parties or to other political organizations
Hard money—contributions that are given directly to candidates for their campaigns for Congress or the White House
Limited in amount
Must be reported
Soft money—funds given to parties or to other political organizations
Unlimited amounts
Used for “party-building activities”
Voter registration or get-out-the-vote-drives
“Soft money loophole”