Campaigns and Elections Chapter 2

What are the qualifications to be a candidate for the House of Representatives?

-at least 25yrs old

-Citizen for 7 yrs

-inhabitant of the state that the district is in

What are the qualifications to be a candidate for Senate

-At least 30yrs old

-Citizen for 9yrs

What are the qualifications to be President

-At least 35yrs old

-U.S resident for at least 14 yrs

-Native-born citizens

What is the 15th amendment?

-Rights of citizens to vote shall not be taken away regardless of race, color, and/or creed

-I.E Black males can vote

What is the 17th Amendment?

Senate is elected by people

What is the 19th Amendment?

Women get to vote

What is the 24th Amendment?

Eliminates poll tax

What is the 26th Amendment?

right of 18yr olds to vote

What gives the right to vote?

Article I Section II Clause I

What is the 22nd Amendment?

Restricts POTUS to 2 terms

What is the 14th Amendment?

Equal protection clause

What values are reflected in the qualifications to seek office?

1. Age- Competence

2. Residency- Loyalty

What has the largest impact on who can run for office?

-Party membership and Term Limits

What is good and bad about a permanent campaign

Good

-May help improve the quality of deliberation in the campaign. because the longer the candidates campaign the more information citizens receive

-Can improve the quality of representation because a campaign keeps politicians in constant contact with citizens

Bad

-May dissuade good candidates from running

-Campaigning takes time away from learning about policy or writing legislation and therefore detract from good governance

SMDP

Single Member District Plurality

-States are divided into districts that are represented by the plurality winner of a general election

What is redistricting?

-every 10 years congressional districts are redrawn to reflect changes in population distribution

-process of drawing district boundaries

What is reapportionment?

process that determines the actual number of districts (seats) in each state

What is gerrymandering

redistricting towards the benefit of one party or group

What is malapportionment

-districts not having the same number of constituents

Describe the principle of one person, one vote

-because the 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection, states must have electoral systems where each person's vote counts equally

-Had implications for drawing district boundaries

Voting Rights Act of 1965

- Forbade states from intentionally diluting the voting power of minorities

-Prevents discrimination in the electoral process

-Singles out states and counties that have a history of discrimination and says that before they change their electoral laws they must get approval by the Justice Department

-Puts the federal government and not the states as the guarantor of the right to vote

Plurality vs majority

majority is 50%+1

plurality is just the most votes

Describe proportional representation

seats are allocated to parties in proportion to the percentage of the vote they received

What is Duverger's Law?

SMDP elections produce two party systems because of strategic voting and coalition building

Why do we have a two party system?

1. Federalism

- Each state has their own laws making it difficult for new political parties to get started

2. Small parties are ignored

3. SMDP

- Only one person elected. Whoever receives the most votes

4. Psychological- the two parties have strong historical claims on the loyalties of citizens

5. Organizational- The importance of the presidency causes diverse groups across the nation to coalesce into the same two parties within each state

Weakness of Two-Party Ststem

Discourages 3rd party candidates and new parties

Strength of the Two-Party Ststem

-Stability through political socialization

-Keep a broad base of support through compromise, consensus building, forming alliances within parties

Compare Two-Party System to a Multi-Party System

In Multi-Party:

-Citizens vote for Political Party, not the person

-Proportional voting- When votes are tallied each Party receives a % of the vote

-No vote is wasted. Every vote is counted toward a Political Party

-No single Member Districts, no Winner take all

All of this allows many political parties to gain power in government