1. Warm Up

2. Election Campaigns & Paying for Campaigns

3. Election Terms Candidate: an individual running for political office
Nomination: Naming those who will seek office

4. Ways to Nominate Candidates
self-announcement: personally nominate yourself
conventions: delegates nominate an individual to office
primary: intra-party election of a candidate
petition: nomination by voters’ signatures
caucus: meeting where people nominate candidates

5. Caucus

6. Types of Elections
Primary elections: an election where registered voters elect a candidate
General Elections: elections in which final selections of office holders are made
Vote on the 1st Tuesday after the 1st Monday in November
Referendum: citizens voting on local or state laws
Special Elections
Run-offs: held when there is no majority vote
Recall: vote to remove a public official from office

7. Presidential Elections
Presidential Elections have three main parts
Nomination of the Candidates
The Campaign
The Vote

8. Nomination of Presidential Candidate
Presidential Candidates are nominated like other candidates
Primary Elections
Caucus System
Self-Announcement
Petition

9. Presidential Campaigns
Presidential Campaigns start long before the election
Candidates travel across the country giving speeches, appearing on TV, and holding news conferences
Candidates may also face their opponents in televised debates

10. The Vote for President
The Electoral College: A group of people (electors) chosen from each state and the District of Columbia to select the President and Vice President

11. The Vote for President Continued…
Electoral College Vote the Monday after the 2nd Wednesday in December
Total votes = 538
Senators (100) + Representatives (435) + D.C. (3) = 538
NC has 15 Electors

12. The Vote for President Continued…
Winner-take-all System: The candidate with the most votes takes all the electoral votes within the states
To be President you need a majority of the Electoral Votes = 270 (51% of 538)

14. What are some problems with the Electoral College?

16. How do candidates finance a campaign?
There are laws that have been established by Congress and Supreme Court decisions about financing an election campaign

17. Federal Election Campaign Act
Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA)- law that requires candidates to publicly disclose how they spend campaign monies
Limits hard money donations from individuals and groups
The Federal Election Commission (FEC)- monitors election spending
Hard money- money given directly to a candidate in a election to assist his or her campaign

18. Funding
Public funding- tax payers can donate to the Presidential Campaign Fund; major party candidates receive equal shares of this fund
Political Action Committees (PAC)- non-party private groups organized to elect government officials to promote their interests; PAC’s play a major part in giving in hopes for legislation to be passed in their favor

19. Funding continued…
Candidate can also donate money themselves and have fundraisers to support their campaign
Most money comes from soft money
Soft Money- non regulated money for campaigns
examples: money for “party-building activities”, candidate recruitment, voter registration, etc.
soft money offers a loophole in the system

20. Spending on Media Many TV ads a paid for by Interest Groups
Interest Group- any association of individuals or organizations formed on the basis of shared concerns in attempts to influence public policy in its favor
Interest Groups help candidates they like
There are no limits on how much these groups spend