US Congress Midterm II (Voters & Electoral Rules)

pork-barrel spending

federal spending directed to specific local projects in a member's district or state (adding new money into budget for project a legislator likes)

earmarks in budget

a set amount of money that’s already been budgeted for and used for political benefit elsewhere

come from geograhic representation

• remnant of state autonomy

• result is legislators with clear responsibility for a geographic area

single-member districts (FPP elections)

only one candidate wins per district

tends to favor major parties and results in two-party dominant systems (duverger’s law)

attempts to increase minority representation in the US

creates majority-minority districts

Majority-minority districts

small, but significant gains in descriptive representation

mixed effect on substantive representation

complaints of unfairness

district maginitude

the number of representatives from each district

the greater it is, the fewer the votes winners need, and the more parties there will be

proportional representation

district maginitude = size of legislature

as district magnitude increases, the election result becomes more proportional

state control of electoral system affect c (cost in paradox of voting)

voter registration laws

polling places

ballot access laws

methods of counting

plurality rule

whoever gets the most votes, wins, even if it is not a majority

simple majority rule

count votes and whoever gets a majority wins

not decisive

majority rule with runoff

hold one election, then top two vote-getters face off