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Candidates, Voting, & The Electorate. Who they are. 537 Elected federal officials Occupation Lawyers – 56 with JD, 49 practiced Business – Various backgrounds, 7 with MBA 19 Career Politicians, 2 MDs, 2 Military, and various others Race, Gender, Personal background - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Candidates, Voting, & The
Electorate
Who they are• 537 Elected federal
officials• Occupation
– Lawyers – 56 with JD, 49 practiced
– Business – Various backgrounds, 7 with MBA
– 19 Career Politicians, 2 MDs, 2 Military, and various others
• Race, Gender, Personal background– Predominantly white,
male, and Christian and straight
• Service vs. Self-interest
Eligibility• President: natural born citizen,
35 yrs old, 14 yrs residence• Vice-President: Same as
President, but must be from different state
• Senator: Citizen for 9 years, 30 yrs old and resident of state
• Representative: Citizen for 7 years, 25 yrs old and resident of state
Campaigning• Candidate-
Centered– Result of tech
advance and cost– Need for large
campaign organization• Raise money, get
media coverage, shape image, conduct research and polling
– Less dependence on Party• Increase in
Independents
Strategy• Political
Consultants– Hired to create
strategy and run campaign
– Tend to be partisan, expensive
• Three Pronged Strategy
1. Viability and Appeal2. Polling3. Focus Groups
Willard Mitt Romney• Republican• Age: 64 • Education: BA from BYU;
JD/MBA Harvard• Work experience: Founded
Bain Capital, Chaired 2002 Winter Olympics
• Government Experience: Governor of Massachusetts, 2003 – 2007
• Achievements: Romneycare, Education, 2002 Olympics, Bain,
Barack Hussein Obama II• Democrat• Age: 50• Education: BA Columbia, JD
Harvard• Work Experience: Community
Organizer, Civil Rights Lawyer, Law Professor
• Government Experience: IL state senate 97-04, U.S. Senate 05-08, POTUS 09 –
• Achievements: Obamacare, Recovery Act, Bin Laden
Eliminating Barriers • Historically, women and African Americans
have faced the greatest barriers to suffrage• 15th and 19th Amendments - Suffrage for
African Americans and women• 24th Amendment – abolished Poll taxes • Voting Rights Act of 1965 – empowered the
federal government to outlaw discriminatory practices
• 26th Amendment – lowered voting age to 18
Who Participates in Politics?• Forms of Participation
– Inactive– Voting specialists– Campaigners– Communalists– Parochial participants– Activists
• What Decides the Election?– Campaign issues
• Position• Valence
– Issues, Especially the Economy
• Prospective voting• Retrospective voting
– Party– The Campaign– Finding a Winning Coalition
Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections
Non-voters– 59.9 million people not
registered in 1992 – most common reason; may be due to high mobility
– No interest in politics, negative view of government, can’t make time, low voter efficacy
Are turnout rates cause for concern?• How to get out the vote
– Election day – Sunday?/National Holiday
– Make requirement – illegal to not vote in Brazil
– Appeal to direct participation: initiative, referendum, recall
Conduct of Elections• Australian Ballot
– Two common types: 1. Office Block (Mass) Ballot2. Party Collumn (Ind) Ballot
• Coattail effect• Mail Voting
– Typically absentee ballots, some states offer to entire electorate
– good way to increase turnout, but …– may lead to premature decisions, allow less secrecy, and
encourage fraud
BallotsOff ice Block Party-Column
Issues and Problems• Fraud
– provisional and absentee balloting
• Voter ID Laws– Fraud reduction or
voter suppression• Computerized
Voting– Optical scan vs.
touch screen