ELECTIONS & VOTING Flashcards
Who was the president of the United States in 2000 and what was their political party affiliation?
George W. Bush, Republican
Who was the president of the United States in 2004 and what was their political party affiliation?
George W. Bush, Republican
Who was the president of the United States in 2008 and what was their political party affiliation?
Barack Obama, Democrat
Who was the president of the United States in 2012 and what was their political party affiliation?
Barack Obama, Democrat
What happens in primary elections?
political parties select their nominees
What are the five types of primary elections?
- closed primary
- open primary
- run-off primary
- blanket primary
- jungle/cajun primary
What happens in a closed primary?
Voters officially declare their party beforehand and vote in their respective party’s primary. They can only vote in their declared party.
What happens in an open primary?
Voters decide at the voting place which party they are voting for.
What happens in a run-off primary?
When nominees on the ballot do not win the majority (50% + one vote), voters choose between the top two candidates.
In Texas primaries, of the two parts of a run-off primary, which one is an open and which one is closed?
The initial vote is open while the run-off vote is closed. Whichever party a person voted for in the initial vote must be the party that person votes for in the run-off.
What happens in a blanket primary?
Now unconstitutional, a blanket primary allows voters to choose which party to vote for office by office.
What happens in a jungle/cajun primary?
All nominees regardless of party who are running for an office run against each other. Whoever gets majority vote becomes the officeholder, but because there are so many people competing, these primaries often require run-off primaries. This primary is most used on a local level.
Compare and contrast primaries and caucuses.
Primaries:
1. easier access (early voting, longer voting periods, shorter lines)
2. voters are less informed
3. votes are secret
Caucuses:
1. difficult to access (no early or mail-in voting, specific voting time, takes hours)
2. voters are more informed
3. votes are public (attendees discuss candidates and issues)
What was the Texas Two-Step?
The democratic party in Texas held both a primary and a caucus. It took place on election night after everybody voted in the primary.
What happens in caucus meetings?
Attendees
1. vote for a party candidate
2. select a chairperson and secretary to overlook the caucus meetings
3. select fellow attendees as delegates to represent the precinct
4. vote for resolutions that the precinct proposes that could potentially go up to the national convention party platform
What is a superdelegate?
An elite member of the Democratic party. They solely represent themself and vote for themself. They can influence close elections.
Does Texas have a caucus?
No. They do have separate meetings to select delegates, but because those meetings are largely inaccessible, the selected delegates end up being party elites.
What elections used in the U.S. give more power to the people?
- initiative elections
- referendums
- recall elections
What happens in initiative elections?
Citizens draft legislation and have a required amount of people sign a petition for that piece of legislation to be put on the ballot.
What happens in referendums?
Legislature drafts legislation and puts it on the ballot for people to vote on.
What happens in recall elections and how does they happen in Texas?
People vote to remove state/local officials from power. A petition must be made to initiate the recall election. In Texas, state officials cannot be recalled and must go through impeachment and trial. Recall elections are only applicable to Texas local officials.
Which party holds their party convention first?
the party out of power, does not control the white house
What are the common demographics of delegates that reach the national convention?
- far-leaning ideologies
- white
- wealthy
- well-educated
- older
What two ways are convention delegates selected and which party primarily use each method?
- winner-take-all: all delegates are given to the majority winner, used by republicans
- proportional representation: the percentage that a nominee wins gets the same percentage of delegates, used by democrats
What is the flaw of proportional representation in delegate allocation?
Because there is low turnout for selecting delegates, some groups take advantage of this and largely mobilize to get their preferred candidates more votes. This causes a candidate to get more delegates than they deserve.
What were the three reasons for the creation of an electoral college, starting with the most important one?
- An electoral college would override the will of the “unreasonable masses” when they vote for someone unfit to be president.
- The Founding Fathers were fearful that large states would have too much influence in the general election. This concern is not as applicable in modern day America, where the most populous states do not comprise the majority of the national population.
- An electoral college would ensure that some of the smaller states would have value in each election because candidates must win state by state. Although when in today’s context, more care is given to the smaller swing states rather than the larger loyal states. Candidates campaign and respond to the will of swing states more than they do larger loyal states because they can reliably count on those states’ vote.
How are the number of electors for a state determined?
determined by federal representation (number of House Representatives plus two senators)
What is the minimum number of electors a state can have?
three (one representative and two senators)
How many electors does Texas have?
40 (38 representatives and two senators)
How is D.C.’s number of electors determined and what is this number?
by the amount of electors as the state with the fewest votes, 3
What is the total amount of electoral votes in the United States, and how much comes from the House of Representatives?
538, 435
Hypothetically, how would a state added to the union get electoral votes?
They would get two senators and get HOR congress members from the existing 435 (which was what happened with Alaska and Hawaii).
How are electoral votes for a candidate determined by most states? Which states have a different method, and what is it?
winner-take-all; Nebraska and Maine give electoral votes based on a district-by-district basis, and the overall winner gets an additional two votes (from senator representation).
How many states and electoral votes did Al Gore win in the 2000 presidential election?
20 states + D.C., 266 electoral votes
Who was the “faithless elector” that did not vote for Al Gore and why?
Barbara Lett-Simmons, voted to
1. advocate for D.C. to become a state
2. protest D.C.’s lack of congressional representation
3. bring attention to the small amount of votes that Bush won by in Florida
How many states and electoral votes did Bush win in the 2000 presidential election?
30 states, 271 electoral votes
What happened in Bush v. Gore?
Bush won Florida by 1,200 votes. A machine recount was triggered, resulting in Bush winning again by ~537 votes. Al Gore asked for another recount, which the Florida Supreme Court allowed. Florida Supreme Court (heavily Democrat) did not standardize the recount method and ruled that the recounts be held in Democratic precincts. Recounts were varied across precincts. In December, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that while Gore was entitled to an across the state, uniform recount, they could not possibly do an accurate recount before the deadline, which is determined by the Constitution, for states to turn in their electoral votes. They had to ultimately refer to the last recount in which Bush won by ~537 votes.
What is important about the SCOTUS ruling in Bush v. Gore?
The court emphasized that the case could not be used as precedent for other cases in order to avoid ruling on political questions (which is a part of one of their doctrines) and give responsibility to the states.
How many states and electoral votes did Hillary Clinton win in the 2016 presidential election?
20 states + D.C., 227 electoral votes
Why did Hillary Clinton lose the votes that were supposed to go to her?
due to “faithless electors” voting for Collin Powers, Faith Spotted Eagle, and Bernie Sanders
How many states and electoral vote did Trump win in the 2016 presidential election?
30 states, 304 electoral votes
Why did Trump lose the votes that were supposed to go to him?
due to “faithless electors” voting for Ron Paul and Kasich
How did the parties fail in choosing their electors in the 2016 election?
They chose electors that were not loyal to their party candidate.
What reasons caused Trump’s win in the 2016 presidential election?
- Hillary Clinton lost the “Blue Wall” which she was expected to win (Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania).
- Trump condensed complex issues into simpler, catchy phrases.
- Trump had large influence over social media, especially Twitter and Facebook.
- The “Comey Effect” in which former FBI director Comey was forced to announce the investigation into the Hillary Clinton e-mails due to Trump supporters in the FBI threatening to leak the investigation. However, they did not announce the investigation into Trump potentially colluding with Russia.
- Fake, sensational news
- Russia and Wikileaks. Democratic party members’ e-mails were leaked, showing that most of them rallied behind Hillary Clinton and did not support Bernie Sanders. Those who supported Sanders withheld their votes in the general election.
- In the Obama coalition, Obama mobilized young voters and Hispanic voters. Hillary Clinton did not energize these voters in her campaign and thus lost their votes. Additionally, white blue collar workers started to lean Republican.
- Hillary Clinton had a small set of issues that Democrats could focus on: the Benghazi e-mails, the great amount of Black and brown men who were incarcerated under her husband’s presidency.
What are the four electoral college reform proposals?
- abolish the electoral college and create a direct democracy
This reform method requires constitutional reform and is unlikely to be done because Republicans have the upper hand in the electoral college. - congressional district plan
This is used already in Maine and Nebraska and would only require state-level reform. Democrats and Republicans do not want to give votes to each other and would both oppose this method. - keep electoral college but abolish electors
This would need constitutional reform. - states vote according to popular vote nationwide
Which of the four electoral college reform proposals are the most likely to happen and why?
congressional district plan and states voting according to the nationwide popular vote because these methods require only a state level reformation
