Chapter 8

Campaigns and Elections

Introduction

• Voting in the COVID-19 pandemic

• Vote by mail

• Opposed by Republicans

• Long-term impact

Democracy, Representation, and Elections in Texas

• Citizens in a democracy

• Electoral system

• Essential qualities of democratic system

• Voter Qualifications and Registration

  • Who gets what

  • States have broad powers

  • Some have national oversight

  • Reconstruction Era (1865-1877)

  • Registration requirements

  • Motor Voter Act

  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

  • Permanent List

Types of Elections in Texas

• DIrect primary

• Preference primary

• Primary Elections and General Elections

  • Winner of a primary

  • Types of primary

    • Direct - people choose

    • Preference

  • Types of blanket primary

  • Constitutionally closed

  • Majority election

  • Plurality election

  • Runoff election

  • Cross-filing

• Direct Democracy Elections

  • Popular in western states

    • Emerged during progressive reforms

    • Referendum - when legislators that are elected suggest something and have the people directly vote for it

    • initiative - the same as a referendum but the law/policy originates from the people (petition)

      • If everyone passes it then it becomes a law

    • Recall petition

      • about removing someone in office that you put there

      • the “let’s change the decision we made plz” petition

      • Removing them early

      • State of texas no and city of laredo does

    • Direct democracy limited

      • reference to how the ancient greeks practiced democracy

      • ancient democracy - didn’t have a system of representation and didn’t need it because the population was smaller

        • You could meet in the public square and deliberate

        • more choice directly to the people

Voting and Voter Turnout

• number of people who vote in a given election

  • people who voted/ people who could have voted (the population or wtv)

• First Tuesday in November

• Advanced or early voting

  • voting early because you are on vacation or just want to

  • diff than absentee ballot

• Voter Turnout in Texas Elections

  • Health of democracy

    • the more people turn out to vote the more we can avoid systematic biases

  • Voter turnout

    • how many people actually went

  • Ways of calculating turnout

    • the math thing

  • Second-order elections

• Who Votes?

  • Texas one of the lowest

    • can be traced back to history

  • Men are less likely

    • lol

  • Non-Hispanic whites vote more’

  • African American turnout

  • Hispanic and Asian turnout

    • hispanic - democratic

    • Cubans tend to vote a lot

      • for republican

  • Younger versus older turnout

  • Consequences of low turnout

  • Changing Texas demographics

• Too Much Democracy?

  • Long ballot

  • Roll off

  • Party-line voting

  • Greater accountability of elected officials

  • Voters may rely on heuristics

  • Voter fatigue

Getting on the Ballot in Texas Elections

• Candidate requirements

• Party primary

• Independent candidate

• Write-in candidates

• Minor parties

• Electoral competition

• Incumbent

• Name recognition

• Position taking

• Credit claiming

• Casework

Campaigns in Texas

• Legendary status

• Race factor

• Radio and television impact

• Campaigns in Texas Today and in the Future

  • State’s size

  • Tech and social media

  • More cost-effective

  • Vulnerable to abuse

• Need funding

• Get message to voter

Campaign Finance in Texas

• Regulating Campaign Finance

  • Sources of campaign money

  • Organized interests “buy” favorable treatment?

  • Form of political speech

  • Spending and contribution limitations

  • Victory for free speech

  • Public financing

  • Private financing

  • Public funding standards

• Contribution Disclosure

  • Privately financed in Texas

  • Few restrictions

  • Disclosure

  • PACs

• Judicial Campaign Contributions

  • Covered by campaign finance laws

  • Further regulations

Winners and Losers

• Elections continue to evolve

• Groups that participate in politics

• Historical institutional barriers

• Federal government control

• Diversity of participation

• Age groups turnout

• Dominant parties win over niche parties

• Long ballot