Campaigns, Elections & the Expansion of Voting Rights

Political Participation: Categories & Focus of the Lesson

  • Political participation = any action citizens take to influence the political system that governs them.
  • Two broad categories used by political scientists:
    • Conventional / Traditional Participation
    • Common, low‐risk, most citizens do at least once.
    • Examples: voting, contacting representatives.
    • Unconventional / Non-traditional Participation
    • Less common, sometimes higher cost or visibility.
    • Examples: volunteering for campaigns, running for office, protests.
  • Lesson emphasis: voting—its constitutional base, evolution, and elections surrounding it.

Constitutional Framework for Voting & Elections

  • Original Constitution (Art. I § 2) offers minimal guidance:
    • House electors in each state must have the same qualifications as those for the state’s lower-house voters.
    • No affirmative right to vote stated (contrasts with explicit rights to jury trial, counsel, etc.).
  • States control:
    • Qualifications (age, property, felony status, etc.).
    • Time, place, manner of elections.
    • Whether registration is required/automatic, ballot design, poll-hours length.
  • Congress may regulate federal elections:
    • Set a single national Election Day (first Tuesday after first Monday in November).
  • Presidential selection left to the Electoral College (mechanics detailed later).

Defining “Electorate”

  • Electorate = all people in a given jurisdiction who are legally eligible to vote.
  • Expansion of the U.S. electorate traced chronologically below.

Early Republic Variations & Universal White-Male Suffrage

  • Huge inter-state variation after 1789.
    • PA & VT: no property requirement.
    • MA, NC, NH, NJ, NY: any free native-born resident meeting property test could vote (race‐neutral on paper).
    • NJ (pre-1806) even enfranchised unmarried land-owning women.
  • Typical formula ≈ White, male, 2121 yrs, property owner ⇒ only ≈ 1 in 12–15 adults could vote.
  • Movement toward Universal White-Male Suffrage (UWMS) in 1830s–1850:
    • Championed by Andrew Jackson (states-rights approach → parties lobby state legislatures).
    • Dorr Rebellion (RI, 1841–42): property-less businessmen rebel → spurs other states.
    • By 1850: virtually every white male ≥ 21 can vote regardless of property.
Simultaneous Retrenchment Against Non-Whites
  • NY imposed race-specific poll tax.
  • NJ formally restricted vote to white men.
  • All states admitted after 1819 limited franchise to white men.
  • By 1855 only 5 states still allowed Black men to vote (MA, ME, NH, RI, VT).
  • Women’s earlier scattered voting rights virtually eliminated.

Women’s Suffrage Origins

  • Seneca Falls Convention (1848) – issues Declaration of Sentiments.
    • States “all men and women are created equal.”
    • 12 demands: education, pay, property, “sacred right of the elective franchise.”
  • Civil War distractions + racist rulings (e.g., Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857) stall progress.

Reconstruction & 15th Amendment

  • Reconstruction Act of 1867: former Confederate states must (1) ratify 14th Am., (2) protect Black male suffrage in state constitutions.
  • 14th Amendment (1868): citizenship definition + due process/equal protection—but no voting guarantee.
  • 15th Amendment (1870):
    • "Right of citizens … to vote shall not be denied … on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."\text{"Right of citizens … to vote shall not be denied … on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."}
    • Grants Congress enforcement power.
    • Effect largest in Northern states (South already under Reconstruction rules).
  • Suffrage movement splits over 15th:
    • Some oppose (exclude women) → demand broader amendment.
    • Others support & plan separate women’s vote campaign.

Post-Reconstruction Backlash (Jim Crow)

  • Black office-holding spikes during Reconstruction (House, Senate, governorships).
  • End of federal oversight → Southern states devise race-neutral suppressions (poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, white primaries).
  • Results: decades-long near-zero Black representation (visualized as huge dip 1880s–1960s).

Women Finally Enfranchised: 19th Amendment (1920)

  • Supreme Court setback Minor v. Happersett (1875): voting not a privilege of national citizenship.
  • 19th Amendment language echoes 15th but bars sex-based denial.
    • Adds ≈ 8 million new voters, yet women of color in South still blocked by Jim Crow devices.

Modern Voting Rights Revolution

Voting Rights Act (VRA) 1965
  • Key provisions:
    1. Bans discriminatory tests (e.g., literacy tests).
    2. Preclearance (§ 5): jurisdictions with histories of discrimination must get any electoral change federally approved.
  • Immediate impact: Black registration triples; every covered Southern state surpasses pre-VRA high (NC’s prior 47 % → most soar ≥ 60 %).
24th Amendment (1964)
  • Abolishes poll taxes in federal elections: "shall not be denied … by reason of failure to pay any poll or other tax."
Other Relevant Amendments
  • 23rd (1961): D.C. gets 3 electoral votes (minimum any state may have).
  • 26th (1971): Lowers maximum voting age to 18 ("old enough to fight, old enough to vote"; WWII draft age 18; revived under Vietnam).

Measuring Turnout

  • Voter Turnout = % of electorate casting ballots.
  • Two denominators:
    1. VAP — Voting-Age Population (≥ 18). Easy via census but understates turnout (includes non-citizens, ineligible felons, etc.).
    2. VEP — Voting-Eligible Population. Adjusts for ineligibles → higher, more accurate % but harder to compute.
  • Long-term presidential trends: ~1900 ≈ ∼74%\sim74\% (VEP), mid-20th-century dip, recent climb (2020 ≈ 68%68\% VEP).
  • International comparisons:
    • US VAP turnout 2020 ≈ 66%66\% vs Uruguay ≈95%\approx95\%, Belgium/Brazil high (compulsory laws), Norway 69%69\%.
    • Among registered US voters 2020: 94%94\% turnout → major registration gap evident.
Why People Vote
  • Political interest, civic duty, strong partisanship, media engagement, belief in efficacy.
Why People Don’t Vote (100 Million Project, 2016 non-voters)
  • 18 % disliked candidates, 13 % felt vote meaningless, time constraints, lack of information, apathy, system “rigged,” etc.
  • Demographic skews (circa 2008 survey):
    • Women > men; White/Black > Hispanic/Asian.
    • Older 🌱 higher likelihood; 18–24 lowest.
    • Education ↑ → turnout ↑ (no HS ≈ 50 %, grad degree ≈ 85 %).
    • Income ↑, marriage, employment correlate w/ higher voting.
    • States vary: OK noted among 10 lowest VAP turnout in 2008.

Strategies to Raise Turnout

  1. Registration Reforms
    • Online registration/updates (OK: update only; full online promised for decades).
    • Automatic voter registration (e.g., PA adopts via DMV 2023).
    • Same-day registration + provisional ballot → higher turnout.
  2. Ease of Casting Ballot
    • Mail-in/“all-mail” states (higher participation; 2020 surge nationally boosts turnout).
    • Extended early-voting windows (more days → higher turnout; OK offers only Thu–Sat prior election).
    • Change Election Day: Tuesday origin (19th-c. travel + Sabbath constraints). Alternatives: weekend voting or federal holiday.
  3. Combating Suppression
    • Shelby County v. Holder (2013) struck down VRA preclearance formula → spike in restrictive laws.
    • Voter-ID laws: impacts vary by ID types allowed; evidence of targeting (NC sought data on Black voters, law struck for “surgical precision”).
    • Polling-place consolidation, limited early-vote sites, long lines → deter turnout.
    • Felon disenfranchisement (post-Civil-War legacy) – lifetime bans recently softened in IA, FL.
    • Moore v. Harper (2023) rejects “independent state legislature” theory—courts can review state election rules.

How Voters Decide

  • Heuristics / shortcuts because full information costly.
    • Issue (single or few) voting.
    • Partisan ID as cue.
    • Personal traits ("beer-test," relatability).
    • Performance-based (retrospective) evaluation: past record predicts future.

Why Hold Elections? (Even Authoritarians Do)

  • Confers legitimacy.
  • Organizes who controls institutions.
  • Signals public priorities to officials.
  • Occasionally grants “mandate” via landslides (rare in modern era).

Election Types & Their Mechanics

  1. Primaries (late-19th-c. Progressive reform replacing elite caucuses)
    • Voters pick party nominees.
    • Open vs Closed:
      • Open: any voter chooses one party’s ballot on primary day.
      • Closed: only registered party members vote in that party’s primary.
    • Concerns: crossover voting (benign) vs raiding (strategic sabotage), though negligible evidence of outcome changes.
    • Polarization effect: low-turnout, ideologically intense voters push nominees toward extremes; distances median voters (visualized as little overlap in bell curves).
    • Alternative remedy: Top-Two/Jungle primaries (CA, WA, LA) – all candidates compete; top two (any party) advance, intended to incentivize moderation.
    • Runoff primary (e.g., OK): if no one hits >50\%, top two compete in second round.
  2. General Elections: November contests (federal & most statewide offices).
  3. Ballot Measures
    • Initiative (citizen‐written, citizen-approved) – common in OK.
    • Referendum (legislature-referred, citizen-approved).
  4. Recall: mid-term removal by voters (rare; e.g., CA governors, WI officials).

U.S. Presidential Election Cycle (4-Year Rhythm)

  1. Exploratory Committee (≈ 18–24 mo. pre-election): gauge donors & viability.
  2. Announcement of Candidacy.
  3. Primaries/Caucuses (Jan–June election year):
    • IA caucus & NH primary traditionally first → front-loading arms race.
    • Super Tuesday (late Feb/early Mar): 18–25 states vote simultaneously.
    • Delegate rules:
      • Republicans: Unit Rule (winner-take-all) ⇒ quick clinches.
      • Democrats: Proportional (must meet 15 % threshold) ⇒ longer contests.
  4. National Conventions (Jul–Aug): official nomination, platform, VP pick; out-party goes first.
  5. General Campaign (Labor Day → Election Day): debates, ads, rallies.
  6. Election Day: First Tuesday after first Monday in Nov.
  7. Electoral College Vote: December.
  8. Congressional Certification: early January.
  9. Inauguration: Jan 20.

Electoral College: Structure & Politics

  • Electors chosen by state parties; usually loyal insiders.
  • Total votes: 538=100 (Senate)+435 (House)+3 (DC)538 = 100 \text{ (Senate)} + 435 \text{ (House)} + 3 \text{ (DC)}.
  • Winning threshold: 270270 (strict majority; 5382=269⇒269+1=270\frac{538}{2}=269\Rightarrow269+1=270).
  • Allocation:
    • Winner-Take-All in 48 states + DC (plurality statewide gets all electors).
    • Congressional-District Method (ME, NE):
    • 1 elector per House district (popular winner within district).
    • 2 “at-large” electors to statewide popular winner.
    • Example 2020 NE: Trump 4, Biden 1.
  • Tie (269-269): decided by House (1 vote per state), VP by Senate; potential for double tie.
  • Rationale (Founders): buffer against uninformed masses/demagogues (elite correction). In practice never operated that way.
  • Disproportionality:
    • Minimum 3 votes gives low-population states outsized weight; populous states underweighted.
    • Geographic concentration means popular-vote winners can lose EC (e.g., 1876, 1888, 2000, 2016).
  • Faithless Electors: 570+ in history; never changed outcome (e.g., 1976 Ford/Reagan vote).
Reform Proposals
  1. Abolish EC → National Popular Vote
    • Requires constitutional amendment; unlikely (partisans benefiting resist; small & swing states enjoy leverage).
  2. Universal District Method (ME/NE model)
    • Allows partisan minorities in each state some representation.
    • Would not have reversed 2000 or 2016; could increase gerrymandering incentives.
  3. Keep College, Drop Individual Electors (automatic votes)
    • Eliminates faithless-elector risk; minimal practical impact on legitimacy debates.

Ethical, Philosophical & Practical Implications

  • Right to vote never fully affirmed; Constitution lists prohibited reasons for denial instead.
  • Persistent tension: state autonomy vs federal protections (e.g., Shelby v. Holder, Moore v. Harper).
  • Expansion amendments show Constitution as living vehicle for inclusion, yet each expansion met counter-mobilization (Jim Crow, modern ID laws).
  • Turnout disparities (age, race, income) skew policy responsiveness—raises equity concerns.
  • Structural choices (Tuesday elections, EC weighting, closed primaries) embed historical compromises now questioned for democratic legitimacy.