Elections and Voting

__Voting requirements:__

  • You have to ^^register^^ to vote
  • Be a US ^^citizen^^
  • ^^Resident^^ of your home for at least ^^30 days before^^ the election
  • At least ^^18 years old^^ by the ^^next general election^^
  • Must not be serving a ^^sentence^^ or ^^felony^^ conviction

*Not required to show a gov-issued ID

Registering to vote allows a government to prepare for an election, verify their qualifications, etc. It allows people to assign voters to only a single voting place so a person cannot vote multiple times. You have to provide a driver’s license or your social security number.

You cannot require registration more than 30 days before the election.

__Reasons to vote__:

  • Voting is considered a ^^right^^ and ^^responsibility^^ of citizenship
  • Chance to ^^choose^^ government leaders
  • Express ^^dis/satisfaction^^ over performance
  • A ^^voice^^ in how community, state, and country are ran

Reasons people do not vote:

  • Voter apathy
  • “Too busy” to vote
  • People do not re-register when moving/are not registered to vote

State elections are a two-part process that include the primaries and general elections

  • ^^Primaries^^: Election to choose who ^^represent your party^^ in the general election. Happens between the people of the same party.

    • ^^Closed primaries:^^ An election where only declared members of a party are allowed to vote
    • ^^Open primaries:^^ An election where voters do not need to declare their party preference

  • ^^General Election^^: The election where the candidates chosen by the primaries go against each other. Party v Party.

    • This is where people from independents also enter the election.
    • People never win if they are just an independent -- most running for a party and then declaring themself independent after election.

Elections are determined by who has the ^^majority^^ votes (50%). If nobody gets over 50% + 1, a ^^runoff^^ is held between the two with the highest percent of the votes.

  • Some states use the ^^plurality system^^, where the most votes determines election (50% majority not being required to win).
  • A few states use the ^^ranked choice^^ rating system, where voters rank the candidates and count the amount of people with first place votes, second place, etc.
  • Louisiana uses the ^^blanket primary system^^, where all candidates, no matter their party affiliation, run together in the primaries. Whoever gets the most votes goes to the general election
    • It can end up being two republicans, democrats, etc.

Presidential elections occur every four years, with January marking when they begin running in the primaries (and it goes onto June).

  • States do not host primaries at the same time, but rather, all on different days. Presidential candidates have to go from state to state, campaigning so people will vote for them.

The winner of each primary wins delegates from that state (the amount being determined by the state), and the candidate needs a certain amount of delegates to be the nominee for the party.

In August, ^^party conventions^^ are held to spread their platform and announce what they are running on.

The delegates won during the primaries come to this convention to vote to nominate the person who will be the party’s candidate for president.

  • Democrats have ^^super delegates^^, where if an election is not going the right way, super delegates can vote (and their votes have more power) and completely turn the tide of election.

On the first Tuesday of the first full week of November, it is the official election day. This day is when electors are voted for, and these electors officially vote in the electoral college in December to decide who wins the general election.

  • ^^Suffrage^^: which citizens are qualified to vote (EG: women’s suffrage)
  • ^^Franchise^^: the basic right to vote
  • ^^Electoral^^: Those who go to the polls and vote

Those who are disenfranchised lack suffrage.

Originally, the only people allowed to vote were white, property owning men. However, the Jacksonian era allowed for all men to vote, not just property owners.

Suffrage Amendments and Acts

  • ^^15th amendment^^: African American Male suffrage

  • ^^19th amendment^^: Women’s suffrage

  • ^^23rd amendment:^^ Allows DC citizens to vote

  • ^^24th amendment^^: Abolished the poll tax

  • ^^26th amendment^^: 18+ to vote

  • ^^Voting Act of 1965:^^ Outlawed discriminatory practices used in the south, including abolished literacy tests

    • An addition to the act allowed people 18 or older to vote

  • ^^Grandfather clause^^: This clause stated that someone could only vote if their grandfather voted

    • Abolished in 1915 for being unconstitutional.

  • ^^Oregon v. Mitchell^^: A SCOTUS case that ruled Congress could determine the voting age for federal elections, but not on a state or local level.

  • ^^Voter turnout^^: People who went out to vote

  • ^^Voter Apathy^^: Indifference or lack of interest in voting

  • ^^Political Efficacy^^: The citizen’s trust in their ability to change and influence the government and their actions.

Voter apathy has gone up while all other voting metrics have gone down.

Voter demographics

  • Men tend to skew Republican.
  • Married women tend to skew Republican.
  • Single women tend to skew Democrat.
  • Older people tend to have higher voter turnouts and skew conservative.
  • Minorities skew Democrat.
  • White people skew Republican.
  • Business owners skew Republican.
  • Union workers skew Democrat.

^^Party Loyalty^^ helps to predict voter behavior because people tend to vote within their party.

Ethnicity, social background, etc, can determine a person’s perception of a candidate. Their personality and whether they’re the party’s platform candidate also influence this.

  • ^^Rational choice^^: Research their candidates, issues, promises, and platforms and vote to benefit themself.
  • ^^Retrospective voting^^: Determines who a person votes for by the candidate’s past performance in elections / office.
  • ^^Perspective voting^^: Determines who a person votes for by a candidate’s future performance.
  • ^^Party line^^: Votes for the party they identify as.

__Spatial issues__: A person’s view on an issue exists on a wide spectrum

__Valence issues__: There is a broad agreement among voters on this issue.

  • __National Voter Registration Act of 1993__: Requires states to allow citizens to ^^register at any state-run agency^^
  • __Help America Vote Act of 2002__: ^^Improves standards^^ on voting and election management
    • Forced states to switch to ^^electronic^^ voting.

__Types of ballots__

  • __Australian Ballots__ (used in all states)
    • ^^Printed and distributed^^ at public expense
    • Shows ^^all names^^
    • Only available in ^^polling places^^ and taken in ^^private^^
  • __Provisional Ballots__
    • Set aside so people can ^^vote at the correct place^^ (if they moved, are inactive voter, etc)
  • __Absentee allots__ (+ early voting)
    • Typically ^^2 weeks pre-election^^
    • 37 states allow early voting

__Voter ID Laws__:

  • Pro: decreases ^^voter fraud^^
  • Con: Tends to make it more difficult for ^^lower socioeconomic groups^^ to vote

__Voter Suppression__:

  • The ^^more time spent waiting^^ in line to vote, the ^^less likely they are to vote^^ in the next election
  • Suppresses ^^hourly workers^^ more.