Test - Electoral process & direct democracy Flashcards
Frequency of elections
Local = Every 1 / 2 years
State = Every 2 years
Federal = Every 4 years
HOR V Senate electoral cycle
HOR = 2 year term
Senate = 6 year term
Main focus of US elections
Candidate and their personality and views, which gets them funding and attention
Primaries
Either open / closed / jungle
Secret ballot
Majority of states use it
First primary - New Hampshire
Primaries pros
Allows outsiders like Trump and Obama as it allows for ordinary voters to join in, instead of party bosses deciding “smoke filled rooms”.
Tests campaigning and fundraising abilities
Long and thorough, allowing for a wide range of states to influence outcome.
Primaries cons
Costly:
2016:
Dem. = 1.2 bil
Rep. = 1.1 bil
Open primaries can be raided, which happened to trump initially.
No focus on campaign, just personality
2020 both old white men, not diverse.
Caucuses
Informal, everyone can see each other vote, lasts hours.
Used in redneck states
Iowa is the first caucus
Caucuses - pros
Allows for more debates among party activists of candidates strength and weaknesses
No opportunity for raiding ballots
Caucuses - cons
Length of process causes voter fatigue, no one wants to go have a day out at a caucus
No secret ballot, no voter privacy.
Only attracts loonies
2020 Iowa caucus was problematic and failed due to technical issues… therefore hard to run
NNC’s
Coronate the party nominee once the primaries and caucuses counted.
Media focused, celebrities, balloons, weird hats, american fuckery etc
Held in swing states for dramatic effect
Useless really, candidates use it to give a speech on how their gonna win the election.
Electoral college
Used to elect the president alongside the popular vote, used as a check on the power of the people
Faithless elector, although less in recent times.
Amount of EC votes determined by the size of congressional district
Electoral college, pros
Normally delivers result which is indicative of the peoples choice.
Reflects federal nature of US
Has bipartisan support and bipartisan hate
If no EC, campaigning would be focused on only populous areas.
Faithless electors never influenced outcome of election
Clear winner, strong gov.
Electoral college, Cons
Winner of popular vote can fail to be president, e.g. 2000 and 2016
Smaller states over - represented in elections
Drawn up by founding fathers in a time when there was suspicion in allowing people to elect their own president.
Causes participation crisis, as many states use winner takes all EC votes system.
Up to 55% want replacement
Causes third parties to not receive representation as it is a majoritarian system.
Factors which influence outcome in US elections
Candidate
Funding
Media
Funding influencing elections
Funding influences elections the most, especially if incumbent. In 2020 senate elections, $28.6 million from incumbent raised, which only $5 from new.
However, money not always guaranteeing win, Hillary $768 v Trump $398
REPUBLICAN DONORS
Private donors such as the Koch brothers 88million to republican party
NRA
$5 million to the RNC and $3 million to Trump’s campaign.
DEMOCRAT DONORS
