AP Government Ch. 10

characterization of elections by political scientists meaning that they are almost universally accepted as a fair and free method of selecting political leaders - When _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ is high, as in U.S., even the losers accept results peacefully

state-level method of direct legislation that gives voters a chance to approve or disapprove proposed legislation or a proposed constitutional amendment

process permitted in some states whereby voters may put proposed changes in the state constitution to a vote if sufficient signatures are obtained on petitions calling for such a referendum

legal right to vote, extended to African Americans by the Fifteenth Amendment, to women by the Nineteenth Amendment, and to people over the age of 18 by the Twenty-Sixth Amendment

belief that one's political participation really matters - that one's vote can actually make a difference

belief that in order to support democratic government, a citizen should always vote

system adopted by the states that requires voters to register well in advance of Election Day registration

requires states to permit people to register to vote at the same time they apply for their driver's license - Went into effect for the 1996 election - Made voter registration easier by simply checking a box - Impact on turnout has thus far been disappointing

idea that the winning candidate has a mandate from the people to carry out his or her platforms and politics - Politicians like the theory better than political scientists do - President Bush asserted that he had a mandate to enact his proposed policies over the next four years - President Clinton - \"So Congress will know what the American people have voted for\"

electoral choices that are made on the basis of the voters' policy preferences and on the basis of where the candidates stand on policy issues

unique American institution, created by the Constitution,mprociding for the selection of the president by electors chosen by the state parties - Vote usually reflects a popular majority, the winner-take-all rule gives clout to big states

theory of voting in which voters essentially ask this simple question: \"What have you done for me lately?\"

voters select party nominees

contested between the nominees of the parties

voters engage in making or ratifying legislation

- No primaries, no nominating conventions, no candidate speeches, no entourage of reporters - Both incumbent President John Adams (Federalists) and challenger Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republicans) were nominated by their parties' elected representatives in Congress - Once nominated, candidates let their state and local organizations promote their cause - Communication and travel too slow for candidates to get message across themselves - Campaigning considered below the dignity of the presidential office - Newspapers tore candidates apart - Focus of campaign not on voters but on state legislatures, which had responsibility for choosing members of electoral college - Jefferson won a slim victory in terms of electoral votes - Original constitutional system says that each elector gets two votes and the top vote getter becomes president, runner up vice president - Jefferson didn't want Adams to be his Vice President so he got everybody who voted for him to vote for who he wanted to be vice president too - Ended up tying for first Burr tried to take presidency from Jefferson -> didn't work - First peaceful transition of power between parties via the electoral process in world history

- National nominating conventions well established - Republicans nominated former Congressman William McKinley - Major issues: gold standard and high tariffs - Gold standard linked money to this scarce precious metal so that debtors never got a break from inflation - Tariffs protected capitalists and their workers from foreign competition - Democrats - William Jennings Bryan - silver - Gave 600 speeches through 26 states - McKinley stayed in Ohio and ran a front-porch campaign - Bryan won oratory but McKinley won election - Eastern manufacturers contributed a small fortune to the Republicans - Only white southerners, westerners in the silver-producing states, and rural debtors lined up behind the Democrats - Republicans won overwhelmingly in the industrial Northeast and Midwest and became firmly entrenched as the nation's majority party for the next several decades - McKinley triumphed by a margin of 271 to 176 in electoral college - Nearly 80% of the eligible electorate voted in one of the highest turnouts ever

- George W. Bush became fourth Republican president since McKinley to win a second term - First to repeat Mckinley's feat of winning two consecutive elections while leading republicans to majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives - 2000 election Bush v. Gore Florida dispute/recount - Ended up in courts (played pivotal role in presidential election - Florida Supreme Court ruled in favor of Gore's request, ordering counties to apply the standard of \"the clear intention of the voter\" in evaluating ballots - U.S. Supreme Court overruled Florida Supreme Court and held that more precise and consistent standards for evaluating ballots would have to be applied in all counties - Not enough time to recount all the ballots in an orderly fashion by the time the electors were to vote - Thus, U.S. Supreme Court ultimately determined that George W. Bush would emerge the winner - Reshaped American public policy - Many of his decisions further polarized his political allies from his political opponents - Tax cuts praised by supporters as stimulating economy - Striking potential enemies before they could use WMD praised by supporters as keeping America safe from further strikes - Bush's campaign attacked Kerry to try and define him before he had a chance to define himself - Strong leadership in war on terrorism ended up being one of the people's major reasons for voting for Bush

- Education - ~ People with higher-than-average educational levels have a higher rate of voting than people with less education ~ Highly educated people are more capable of discerning the major differences between candidates ~ Educational training comes in handy in clearing the bureaucratic hurdles imposed by registration requirements - Age - ~ Older people are far more likely to vote than younger people ~ Younger citizens are less likely to be registered - Race - ~ African Americans and Hispanics are underrepresented among voters relative to their share of citizenry ~ Largely explained by their generally low levels of education ~ African Americans and Hispanics with high levels of education have a higher turnout rate than Whites with comparable educational achievement - Gender - ~ In an earlier period many women were discouraged from voting, but today women actually participate in elections at a slightly higher rate than men - Marital Status - ~ People who are married are more likely to vote than those who are not ~ True among all age categories and generally reflects the fact that married people are more tied to their community - Government Employment - ~ Having something at stake (their jobs and the future of programs they work on) and being in a position to know more about government impels government workers to high levels of participation

- Emergence of TV and candidate-centered politics -> parties' hold on voters eroded during 60s and 70s - 1950s - scholars singled out party affiliation as the best single predictor of a voter's decision - Modern technology makes it easy for us to evaluate and make our own decision about candidates - Election choices largely a matter of individual choice

- Each state, according to the Constitution, has as many electoral votes as it has U.S. senators and representatives - State parties select slates of electors, positions they use as a reward for faithful service to the party - Aside from Maine and Nebraska, each state has a winner-take-all system - Electors vote as a bloc for the winner, whether the winner got 35% or 95% of the popular vote in their state - Electors meet in their states in December, following the November election, and then mail their votes to the vice president (who is also president of Senate) - Vote is counted when new congressional session opens in January and is reported by the vice president - If no candidate receives an electoral college majority, then the election is thrown into the House of Representatives, which must choose from among the top three electoral vote winners - Significant aspect of balloting in House is that each state delegation has one vote, thus giving the one representative from Wyoming an equal say with the 53 representatives from California

- Maintains federal system of government and representation - Contributes to political stability of nation by encouraging a two-party system

- Less populated states are overrepresented - Candidates focus on winning states where polls show that there appears to be a close contest (winner-take-all)

required \"provisional ballots\" where eligibility would be determined later - States determine how to verify eligibility

people qualified to vote

party members vote to nominate their candidate for the general elections

special election initiated by petition to allow citizens to remove an official from office before his or her term expires

allows voters to petition to propose legislation and then submit it for a vote by qualified voters

only registered party members may vote

voters may choose the candidates of either party, whether they belong to the party or not

voters may vote for candidates of either party

when no candidate receives a majority of votes, an election held between the two candidates who received the most votes in the primary

election taking place in a year when no presidential elections are occurring - Midterm election

weaker or lesser-known candidates from the president's party profit from the president's popularity by winning votes

locally held meeting in a state to select delegates who, in turn, will nominate candidates to political office

voters select delegates to the presidential nominating convention

traditional majority power maintains power based on voters' party loyalty

minority party is able to win the support of majority party members, independents and new voters

sharp changes in the existing patterns of party loyalty due to changing social and economic conditions

when a minority party wins by building a new coalition of voters that continues over successive elections

party loyalty becomes less important to voters, and they vote for the other party candidate or independents

voting for candidates from more than one party in the same election

break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate building in 1972 that resulted in a cover-up and the subsequent resignation of President Nixon - Resulted in Congress amending the Federal Election Campaign Act to establish a Federal Election Commission to enforce the Act, and est. public financing for presidential candidates in primaries and the general election

freedom of speech or right to petition the government for redress as a First Amendment right

money distributed from a national political party organization that was not regulated by law - Restricted by the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002

Supreme Court ruled that spending limits established by the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974 were unconstitutional, ruling that those restrictions were in violation of the First Amendment's guarantees of freedom of expression - Also declared that the FECA ban on self-financed campaigns was unconstitutional

drawing of congressional districts to favor one political party or group over another