U.S. Electoral Rules and Primaries

U.S. Electoral Rules

• House members are elected every two years.
• Senators are elected every six years, with staggered terms in three classes.
• States establish election rules unless Congress intervenes.
• The President and Vice President serve four-year terms. Electors are determined by the number of senators and representatives each state has.

Primaries

• Primaries are preliminary state elections used to select party candidates.
• Open Primaries: Any voter can participate, regardless of party affiliation.
• Closed Primaries: Only registered party members can vote.

Early Primary System

• From 1789 to 1824, the transition involved shifting away from unorganized idealism to organized party systems.
• The 1800 election between Jefferson and Burr led to the 12th Amendment, separating the presidential and vice-presidential voting processes.

Why U.S. Electoral Institutions?

• Key factors influencing the establishment of U.S. electoral institutions include historical context, concerns about tyranny, compromises between different factions, principles of federalism, and traditional practices.

Articles of Confederation

• Weaknesses: The Articles of Confederation lacked a president, a comprehensive taxation power, a strong military, and a unified judicial system.
• Strengths: Individual states held significant power in taxation, treaties, and budgeting.
• Result: The shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation led to the Constitutional Convention which created the US Constitution in 1787.

Representative Democracy Benefits

• Benefits include expertise of elected officials, efficiency in governance, and protection of minority rights.
• Elections: Allow for replacement of poor-performing officials and encourage responsiveness from elected officials between elections.

Invisible Primary

• This pre-primary phase involves securing endorsements, funds, and support to build candidate viability before formal primaries.

Party vs. Candidate-Centered Politics

• Party-Centered: Candidates gain support primarily from party insiders.
• Candidate-Centered: Candidates rely on fundraising and independent strategies, leading to a more competitive environment and potentially overriding party affiliation.

McGovern-Fraser Commission (1969)

• Reformed the Democratic Party delegate process to reduce elite control over nominations.

Debates

• Debates have become a staple feature of modern campaigns since 1988.
• Their impact can influence voter perceptions and shift public opinion polls.

Campaign Goals

• Campaigns focus on mobilizing voters who are likely to support the candidate, using accurate targeting and messaging.
• Negative political advertising can influence voters early in the campaign cycle, but is not always effective.

Electoral College

• The Electoral College balances power between highly populous states and smaller states.

Stereotyping in Elections

• Techniques: Employing association, demonization, codewords, and visual cues (images, music, colors) to create and reinforce stereotypes.

Candidate Types

• Professionals: Experienced and strategic.
• True Amateurs: Inexperienced and uncertain.
• Fake Amateurs: Famous individuals lacking formal political experience.

Underrepresentation of Women in Congress

• Barriers include societal gender bias, fundraising challenges, and party resistance.

Negative Partisanship

• Voters often vote against parties they dislike rather than in favor of parties they prefer, intensifying political polarization.
• The effect is a lack of focus on policy issues and an emphasis on partisan divides.

Information Shortcuts

• Utilizing shortcuts such as party affiliation, name recognition, endorsements, and single-issue voting, are prevalent in voter decision-making.

Rational Voter Model

• A model of voter decision making based on cost-benefit analysis; does a voter benefit more than cost from voting?

RAS Model

• Voters absorb campaign information through cognitive processing stages (receive, accept, sample).
• Political engagement influences the extent to which people receive, understand, and process political information.

Role of Media in Elections

• The media acts as a watchdog, a source of information and opinion, and a channel of communication between politicians and citizens.
• Elections frequently drive media profit, career success, and prestige goals.
• Media's accuracy and reliability are essential for a functioning democracy and informative elections.

Types of Media Bias

• Profit-driven motives
• Use of official sources
• Partisan and ideological biases
• Medium-driven distortions.
• Agenda-setting, as well as priming and framing, are crucial functions.

Polling in American Elections

• Polling is a form of public opinion research and forecasting to understand how people are likely to vote.
• Types of polls include pre-election polls, exit polls, tracking polls, and specific issue-focused polls; polls are a core constituent of campaigns and elections.

Campaign Finance and Elections

• Historical regulations such as the Pendleton Act (prohibiting federal employee political contributions), the Tillman Act (prohibiting corporate funding), and the Federal Corrupt Practices Act (setting spending limits), are notable aspects of a complex system.
• Supreme Court rulings like Buckley v. Valeo established further contours of campaign finance laws.
• Citizens United v FEC expanded independent expenditures; notable contributions of corporations and labor unions, etc..

Effects of Campaign Finance Regulations

• Campaign finance regulations limit the influence of large sums of money and encourage broader participation from smaller donors.
• However, these regulations present challenges in terms of complexity and compliance.
• Types of political contributions are regulated.

Incumbency and Electoral Connection

• Incumbents (individuals already holding office) often retain an advantage due to name recognition, established experience, and fundraising networks.
• Electoral connection emphasizes the importance of reelection as a driving force behind political strategies.
• Incumbents employ strategies such as advertising, credit claiming (highlighting accomplishments), and focusing on local concerns to secure re-election.

Redistricting and Gerrymandering

• Redistricting involves redrawing congressional districts every ten years.
• Gerrymandering is the practice of strategically drawing district boundaries to favor a particular political party.
• Gerrymandering practices include packing and cracking.

Explore the fundamentals of U.S. electoral rules, including the election cycles for House members and Senators, as well as the primary system used to select party candidates. Learn about open and closed primaries, and the historical evolution of the U.S. electoral institutions. This quiz will test your knowledge on the structure and functioning of the electoral system.