1. Voting and Elections Chapter 13
American Government: Continuity and Change
9th Edition
to accompany Comprehensive, Alternate, Texas, and Essentials Editions
O’Connor and Sabato
Pearson Education, Inc. © 2008

2. Voting Behavior Conventional political participation
Political participation that attempts to influence the political process through well-accepted, often moderate forms of persuasion
Unconventional political participation
Political participation that attempts to influence the political process through unusual or extreme measures, such as protests, boycotts, and picketing

3. Patterns in Voter Turnout
Turnout: the proportion of the voting-age public that votes
40% of the eligible adult population votes
25% are occasional voters
35% rarely vote
Education: Voters tend to be more educated
Income: More voters have higher incomes
Age: Younger people vote less
Gender: Women vote at the same rate or slightly higher rate than men
Race and Ethnicity:
Whites vote more regularly than African Americans – related to income and educational differences in the two groups
Hispanics vote less than African Americans
Have potential to wield much influence given their increasing size
Interest in politics: Those interested in politics vote more

6. Why Is Voter Turnout So Low?
Too Busy
Difficulty of Registration
Difficulty of Absentee Voting
Number of Elections
Voter Attitudes
Weakened Influence of Political Parties

9. Efforts to Improve Voter Turnout
Easier Registration and Absentee Voting
Make Election Day a Holiday
Strengthen Parties
Other suggestions
Holding fewer elections
Proportional representation system for congressional elections
Saturday or Sunday election day
Making voting mandatory
Tax credits
Election weeks rather than election days
Internet voting

10. Does Low Turnout Matter?
Some argue it is a not a critical problem
Based on belief that preferences of nonvoters are not much different from those who do vote
So…results would be the same regardless
Nonvoting is voluntary
Nonvoting driven by acceptance of the status quo
Others believe it is a problem
Voters do not represent nonvoters
Social make-up and attitudes of nonvoters today are significantly different from those of voters
Tend to be low income, younger, blue collar, less educated and more heavily minority

11. Patterns in Vote Choice
Party Identification
Most powerful predictor voter behavior
Ticket-splitting: voting for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election
Race and Ethnicity
Whites increased tendency to vote Republican
African Americans vote overwhelmingly for Democrats
Hispanics also tend to identify with and vote for Democrats
Kerry 53 percent; Bush 44 percent
Asian Americans less monolithic
Women today more likely to support Democratic candidates
Gender gap varies by election
Poor vote more often for Democrats; wealthier for Republicans
Ideology related closely to vote choice
Conservatives for Republicans
Liberals for Democrats
Issues
Retrospective judgment
Prospective judgment
Retrospective judgment
A voter’s evaluation of the performance of the party in power
Prospective judgment
A voter’s evaluation of a candidate based on what he or she pledges to do about an issue if elected
Three requirements for prospective voting:
Voters must have an opinion on an issue
Voters must have an idea of what action, if any, the government is taking on the issue
Voters must see a difference between the two parties on the issue.

12. Purposes of Elections Regular free elections
guarantee mass political action
enable citizens to influence the actions of their government
Popular election confers on a government the legitimacy that it can achieve no other way
Regular elections also ensure that government is accountable to the people it serves

13. Purposes of Elections Electorate Mandate: Citizens eligible to vote
A command, indicated by an electorate’s voters, for the elected officials to carry out their platforms
Sometimes the claim of a mandate is suspect because voters are not so much endorsing one candidate as rejecting the other

14. Kinds of Elections Primary Elections:
Election in which voters decide which of the candidates within a party will represent the party in the general election.
Closed primary: a primary election in which only a party’s registered voters are eligible to vote
Open primary: a primary in which party members, independents, and sometimes members of the other party are allowed to vote
Crossover voting: participation in the primary of a party with which the voter is not affiliated
Raiding: An organized attempt by voters of one party to influence the primary results of the other party
Runoff primary: a second primary election between the two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes in the first primary

15. General Elections
General elections are those in which voters decide which candidates will actually fill elective public offices
Held at many levels.
Contests between the candidates of opposing parties

16. Initiative, Referendum, and Recall
An election that allows citizens to propose legislation and submit it to the state electorate for popular vote
Referendum
An election whereby the state legislature submits proposed legislation to the state’s voters for approval
Recall
Voters can remove an incumbent from office by popular vote
Are very rare

17. Presidential Elections
Primary elections or caucuses are used to elect national convention delegates which choose the nominee
Winner-take-all primary
Proportional representation primary
Caucus

19. Primaries v. Caucuses
Over years, trend has been to use primaries rather than caucuses to choose delegates
Caucus is the oldest, most party-oriented method of choosing delegates to the national conventions
Arguments for primaries
More democratic
More representative
A rigorous test for the candidate
Arguments for caucuses
Caucus participants more informed; more interactive and informative
Unfair scheduling affects outcomes
Frontloading (being first in the primary calendar) gives some primary states an advantage
Frontloading is the tendency to choose an early date on the primary schedule

20. The Party Conventions
Out-of-power party holds its convention first, in late July, followed in mid-August by party holding the presidency
Conventions were decision-making body in the 19th century
Today the convention is fundamentally different
Nominations settled well in advance of the convention

21. The Party Conventions: Delegate Selections
Unit Rule
A traditional party practice under which the majority of a state delegation can force the minority to vote for its candidate
Abolished by the Democrats
New Democratic party rule decrees that state’s delegates be chosen in proportion to the votes cast in its primary or caucus. (30% of votes = 30% delegates from that state) – proportional allocation
Superdelegates
Delegate slot to the Democratic Party’s national convention that is reserved for an elected party official
Some rules originating in Democratic Party have been enacted as state laws thus applying them to the Republican Party as well.

23. National Convention: National Candidates and Issues
Political perceptions and loyalties of voters are not influenced largely by national candidates and issues
Diminished the power of state and local party leaders at the convention.
Issues are more important to the new, issue-oriented party activists than to the party professionals
Party professionals no longer have monopoly on managing party affairs

24. National Conventions: The News Media
Changing nature of coverage
No prime time coverage on some days
Extending coverage on the final day of each convention
Reflects change in political culture
More interest in the candidates themselves
Convention still generates much coverage for the party

25. The Electoral College
Representatives of each state who cast the final ballots that actually elect a president
Total number of electors for each state equal to the number of senators and representatives that a state has in the U.S. Congress
District of Columbia is given 3 electoral votes

26. The Electoral College Result of compromise between:
Selection by Congress versus direct popular election
Three essentials to understanding the design of the Electoral College:
Constructed to work without political parties
Constructed to cover both the nominating and electing phases of presidential selection
Constructed to produce a nonpartisan president

27. The Electoral College in the 19th Century
12th Amendment (1804)
Attempt to remedy the confusion between the selection of vice presidents and presidents that emerged in the election 1800
Provided for separate elections for each office, with each elector having only one vote to cast for each
In event of a tie, the election still went to the House
Top three candidates go to House
Each state House delegation casts one vote

28. The Electoral College in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
Electoral college crises
At times a candidate can win the Electoral College vote without having won the popular vote
Reapportionment matters
Representation of states in the Electoral College is altered every ten years to reflect population shifts
Recent reapportionment has favored the Republicans
With the exception of California, George W. Bush carried all of the states that gained seats in 2000

29. The Electoral College Reconsidered
Popular Vote
Congressional District Plan
Keep the College, Abolish the Electors

31. Congressional Elections
Very different from presidential elections
Lesser known candidates, more difficulty getting media attention
Incumbency Advantage
Staff support
Media and travel
The “Scare-off” effect
Redistricting/Gerrymandering

32. Congressional Elections
When incumbents lose it is generally due to:
Redistricting
Gerrymandering
Scandals
Presidential Coattails

34. Midterm Congressional Elections
Election takes place in the middle of a presidential term
President’s party usually loses seats in midterms
Tendency for voters to punish the president’s party more severely in the sixth year of an eight year presidency - 6th year itch
Retrospective voting
Senate elections less inclined to the 6th year itch
2002 midterm elections were a remarkable exception
Bush picked up seats in the House and Senate
2006 midterm elections

38. Reforming the Electoral Process
Focus on the Electoral College
Other areas
Nomination
Regional primaries
Campaign Finance Reform
Online Voting
Voting by Mail
Modernizing the Ballot