1 Voting Rights (13.2)

Voting is the most direct way for citizens to select policymakers. The Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments expanded the right to vote to include African Americans, women, and 18 years-olds and up.

• franchise/suffrage - the right to vote

• poll tax - a payment required by a state or federal government before a citizen is allowed to vote

• Fifteenth Amendment - prohibits states from denying the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous servitude"

• Seventeenth Amendment - provided for direct elections of Senators rather than selection by state legislatures

• Nineteenth Amendment - prohibits states from denying the right to vote based on gender

• Twenty-Fourth Amendment - prohibits Congress and the states from imposing poll taxes or other taxes as a condition for voting in federal elections

• Twenty-Sixth Amendment - reduced the minimum legal age to vote from 21 to 18

• Voting Rights Act of 1965 - outlaws discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War that prevented African Americans from voting

• voter turnout - the number of eligible voters who participate in an election as a percentage of the total number of eligible voters

1. The [19th] Amendment forbids states from excluding women from voting.

2. Most amendments in the Constitution expanded [franchise; suffrage], a term meaning "the right to vote."

2 Voter Turnout (13.3)

Voting is the most direct way for citizens to select policymakers. Demographic factors such as age, income, and educational attainment have an influence on an individual’s decision about whether to vote. Structural factors such as the timing of elections, registration, and identification laws affect voter turnout.

• registration requirements - the set of rules that govern who can vote and how, when, and where they vote

• rational choice voting - voting based on what a citizen believes is in their best interest

• retrospective voting - voting based on an assessment of an incumbent’s past performance

• prospective voting - casting a ballot for a candidate who promises to enact policies favored by the voter

• party-line voting - voting for candidates who belong only to one political party for all of the offices on the ballot

1. One demographic characteristic associated with non-voting is [lower education; younger age; race; sex; party identification; religious identification].

2. Though it represents an institutional challenge to voting, many states consider [voter registration] as critical to avoid voter fraud.

3 Political Parties (14.1, 14.2)

Political parties recruit, nominate, and support candidates for office. Parties provide labels that voters can use as shortcuts in identifying candidates close to their own political ideologies. In government, elected officials work to enact their party’s policies.

• political party - an organized group of party leaders, officeholders, and voters that work together to elect candidates to political office

• party identification - the degree to which a voter is connected to and influenced by a particular political party

• straight-ticket voting - voting for all the candidates on the ballot from only one political party

• split-ticket voting - voting for candidates from different political parties in the same election

• party platform - a set of positions and policy objectives that members of a political party agree to

• primaries - the first round of elections, especially presidential, where candidates seek to win their party's nomination

• general elections - the second round of elections where each political party's nominated candidate face each other head-to-head

1. Political parties' power to [nominate] candidates have diminished as more states adopt primaries and caucuses.

2. As a result of technological improvement such as the internet and social media and legal reforms to the process, candidates no longer rely on parties to [fundraise] for campaigns.

3. The "party in [government]" are all party members that coordinate action to advance the party platform. Though, the Republicans' recent struggle to unite members as a cohesive voting block has demonstrated how this function of party has severely weakened.

4 Third Parties (14.3)

A two-party system has been dominant for most of America's history. The United States uses a single-member plurality system for electing members of Congress, which means the Democratic and Republican parties win almost every office. The winner-take-all feature of the Electoral College contributes to the dominance of two major parties. Third parties often form around a particular issue or the personality of a candidate.

• two-party system - a system in which two political parties dominate politics, winning almost all elections

• proportional representation system - an election system for a legislature in which citizens vote for parties, rather than individuals, and parties are represented in the legislature according to the percentage of the votes they receive

• single-member plurality system - an election system for a legislature where the winner is the candidate who receives the most votes, even if the candidate does not receive the majority of the votes

• winner-takes-all system - the candidate who wins the highest percentage of the votes compared to the other candidates wins the whole office, meaning that the Democratic and Republican parties win almost every office (for example, the candidate wins the seat of a district or all of a state's electoral votes)

• third party - a minor political party in competition with the two major parties, often formed around a particular issue or the personality of a candidate

1. Unlike European democracies, the U.S. has a [winner-takes-all] single-member district election system. This has been the driving force for our strong two-party system.

2. Providing outlets for discontent, surfacing new policy ideas, and channeling positive political action are just a few benefits of [third parties]. Though they provide many benefits, they unfortunately do not win many elections.

6 Interest Groups (15.1, 15.2)

In Federalist No. 10, James Madison described factions as self-interest groups, either of a majority or a minority, that have potential to cause harm to the community. According to the participatory model of democracy, citizens impact policymaking through their activities as members of interest groups. Pluralist theory contends that political influence is distributed among groups, which compete for the policies they favor with groups that check each other's power. Elitist theories believe that wealthy interest groups have a disproportionate influence over policymaking. The free-rider problem arises when an interest group works for a collective good that people will benefit from even if they don't contribute to the interest group.

• interest groups - voluntary associations of people who come together with a goal of getting the policies that they favor enacted

• theory of participatory democracy - the belief that citizens impact policymaking through their involvement in civil society

• free-riders - individuals who enjoy collective goods and benefits from the actions of an interest group without joining

• campaign contributions - interest groups donate to preferred political candidates to help a like-minded person win an election and eventually support the policy preference for the interest group

• lobbying - interest groups speak with policymakers to convince them to support the interest groups' policy preferences, by creating and enacting policies, while the interest groups provide expertise and information to the policymakers

• litigation - interest groups challenge policies through a legal process, such as a lawsuit against the government in hopes of changing a policy or enacting a policy

• pressure campaigns (grassroots lobbying) - interest groups try to inspire the public to rally, support, or engage in a particular cause through protests, marches, social media, etc.; doesn't have clear outcome

1. The competition between groups and the compromises that result is one predicted benefit of interest groups espoused by adherents of the democratic theory of [pluralism].

2. A low-cost interest group tactic employed by groups that might not enjoy broad public appeal: [litigation].

3. The two purposes of campaign contributions are to get a like-minded person elected and to [gain access] to that official once they have been elected into office.

4. The high cost of campaigns and the access gained to policymakers by top contributors is one evidence of the democratic theory of [elitism].

5 Campaign Finance Reforms (13.5)

Campaigns are expensive, and candidates need money to hire professional consultants, pay for travel, and run media ads to reach potential voters. Several efforts have been made to reduce the influence of money in politics, including the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). In Citizens United v. United States (2010), the Supreme Court ruled that corporations and labor union are persons under the law and that the provisions of BCRA banning independent ads before elections violated the First Amendment.

• superPAC - an organization that may spend an unlimited amount of money on a political campaign, as long as the spending is not coordinated with a campaign

• Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) (McCain-Feingold Act) - a U.S. federal law enacted in 2002 with the primary aim of regulating the campaign finance laws in the United States and aimed to reduce the influence of money in politics

1. Money given to parties unregulated until the BCRA: [soft money].

2. SuperPACs may spend unlimited amounts of money on [independent expenditures] so long as there is no coordination with the candidates.

7 Electing a President (13.4)

Candidates are nominated by their political parties through primaries or caucuses and are announced at a national convention. Under Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution, presidents must be at least thirty-five years of age, natural-born citizens, and have lived in the U.S. for fourteen years. Presidents are selected indirectly through the Electoral College. Most states use a winner-takes-all system where the candidate who receives the most votes is awarded all of the state’s votes in the Electoral College. Candidates focus their campaigns on large battleground and swing states.

• nomination - the formal process through which parties choose their candidates for political office

• delegate - a person who acts as the voters’ representative at a convention to select the party’s presidential nominee

• primary election - an election in which a state’s voters choose delegates who support a candidate for nomination

• caucus - a process through which a state’s eligible voters meet to select delegates to represent their preferences in the nomination process

• front-loading - a decision by a state to push its primary or caucus to a date as early in the season as possible to become more influential in the nomination process

• national convention - a meeting where delegates officially select their party’s nominee for the presidency

• candidate-centered campaign - a trend in which candidates develop their own strategies and raise money with less influence from the party elite

• Electoral College - a constitutionally required process for selecting the president through states of electors chosen in each state, who are pledged to vote for a nominee in the presidential election

• winner-takes-all system - a system of elections in which the candidate who wins the plurality of votes within a state receives all of that state’s votes in the Electoral College

• battleground state - a state where the polls show a close contest between the Republican and Democratic candidate in a presidential election

• swing state - a state where levels of support for the parties are similar and elections swing back and forth between Democrats and Republicans

1. The fundamental purpose of presidential primaries and caucuses are to win [delegates] for the nominating convention.

2. Early primary states like Iowa and [New Hampshire] are large focuses for candidates campaigning.

8 Electing a Congress Member (4.2)

Factors that contribute to winning a seat in Congress include understanding one’s constituency, experience, and money. Incumbents enjoy an easier path to reelection, whereas challengers typically try to wait for the right circumstances to make a bid.

• constituency - a body of voters in a given area who elect a representative or senator

• apportionment - the process of determining the number of representatives for each state using census data

• redistricting - states’ redrawing of boundaries of electoral districts following each census

• gerrymandering - the intentional use of redistricting to benefit a specific interest or group of voters

• partisan gerrymandering - drawing district boundaries into strange shapes to benefit a political party

• majority-minority district - a district in which voters of a minority ethnicity constitute an electoral majority within that electoral district

• malapportionment - the uneven distribution of the population among legislative districts

• incumbency - being already in office as opposed to running for the first time

• incumbency advantage - institutional advantages held by those already in office who are trying to fend off challengers in an election

1. Before the general election, candidates for congressional races must first win the [primary] against other party members.

2. Voters in congressional primaries prefer [blanket or top-two] primaries whereas parties prefer closed primaries.

3. Name recognition and credit claiming provide a significant advantage to [incumbents] - Congressmembers seeking reelection.

4. One suggestion to reduce the high rates of Congressional reelection is to amend the Constitution to impose [term limits] on Congressmembers.

9 Media (16.3)

The media is a linkage institution, which allows the government to more easily communicate with the people. Pamphlets and, later, weekly and daily newspapers were among the first print media in the United States. Costs to produce newspapers decreased, making the news more affordable and able able to reach a mass audience. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw the rise of other technologies, such as the telegraph (which brought us wire services) and radio and television (which brought us broadcast news). Cable news offers around-the-clock news coverage, often with a partisan slant. Newer technologies, such as the internet, broadband, and social media, have not only increased the pace and volume of news content but have also blurred the lines between information and entertainment, and between citizens and journalists.

• news media - a broad term that includes newspapers, magazines, radio, television, internet sources, blogs, and social media postings that cover important events

• social media - forms of electronic communication that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking

• agenda setting - the media’s ability to highlight certain issues and bring them to the attention of the public

• mass media - sources of information designed to reach a wide audience, including newspapers, radio, television, and internet outlets

• wire service - an organization that gathers and reports on news and then sells the stories to other outlets

• investigative journalism - an approach to news gathering in which reporters dig into stories, often looking for instances of wrongdoing

• broadcast media - outlets for news and other content including radio and television that bring stories directly into people’s homes