Election and Campaigns

  1. First ______following the first Monday in November- ______Day
  1. Electoral Votes- votes of the electors (______)
  • Total number of representatives a state has in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
  • The total number of electoral votes are ______(435 in HOR+ 100 Senate+ 3 for DC=538
  • A candidate needs ______electoral votes to win the presidency
  • VA has 13; CA 54; NY 33; TX 31; FL 25; RI 3--- a candidate must campaign harder in large states (states that have a large number of electoral votes because they must get to the 270 needed to win the presidency.
  • ______is when the electors vote. The Monday after the second Wednesday in December.
  1. ______votes-the People’s vote. The candidate who wins the most votes in a state wins all of the states electoral votes

4. Federal Election Campaign Acts-

  • A presidential candidate can receive ______funding for elections
  • A______is set on how much a candidate can spend
  • Candidates must disclose or record all spending
  1. ______(PAC)-organizations that financially support candidates
  • A PAC can only donate up to $5000 to one candidate
  1. “______”—unlimited amounts of money that a group can give to a political party; not to an individual
  • ______bill—legislation to limit “soft money”
  1. Candidates and the media- the media can give a positive or negative image for candidates.
  • The first televised ______was in 1960 between Kennedy and Nixon
  1. ______voters of the electorate- Electorate- people entitled to vote
  • Campaigned are aimed towards the undecided voter because they do not know how they will vote.

THE ELECTORAL PROCESS

  1. Article II, Section 1—Established the______. It provided that each state would choose electors. They would meet and cast votes for two presidential candidates
  2. The Original System—Candidates receiving a majority of the electoral votes would be President. Candidates with the ______votes would be Vice President
  3. Problem—the President and Vice President could come from different political parties
  4. The ______—fixed the problem with the original system. Electors would case separate ballots for President and Vice President
  5. ______-Candidates from a political party run for President & Vice President together
  6. # in Electoral College—538===435(House of Representatives) + 100 (Senators) + 3 (DC)
  7. Winning-the Presidential candidates must have a majority of electoral votes to win—270
  8. The______—when electors vote
  9. Monday after the Second Wednesday in December at the Capitol Building
  10. ______—both houses of Congress meet in the House Chamber to count ballots.
  11. Election by the House—if a tie occurs in the Electoral votes or no candidates gets a majority, the House of Representatives votes
  12. Each of the ______gets one vote—the candidate with the majority wins
  13. If a tie occurs in the House vote—the Vice President breaks the tie
  14. Ideas for reforming the Electoral College--
  15. ______—candidates receive a vote for each district won (ex:VA has 11 districts—McCain gets 4 electoral votes for the 4 districts won/Obama gets 7 electoral votes for the 7 districts won. No winner take all)
  16. ______—candidate wins the percentage of electoral votes based on the % of the popular vote (ex: If Obama won 60% of the electoral vote in VA, then he would get 60% of VA 13 electoral votes and McCain would get 40% of VA’s electoral votes)
  17. ______the Electoral College—the popular vote would determine the president

Suffrage (the right to vote) barriers (19-3)

  1. Before the American Revolution-______ who didn’t own property could not vote (ONLY ADULT WHITE MALES WHO OWNED PROPERTY COULD VOTE)
  2. Early 1800-______tests for voting were outlawed
  3. Mid 1800s-all adult males who were white could vote
  4. 1870- ______(no state could deprive any citizen the right to vote on the basis of race)
  5. ______clause (could not vote, if grandfather had not voted before 1867)
  6. ______tests (reading/writing tests to vote)
  7. ______tax (pay a tax to vote)
  8. 1915- Supreme Court ruled the grandfather clause was unconstitutional
  9. 1919-______ gave women the right to vote
  10. 1965 –Voting Rights Act of 1965, 1970, 1975, 1982
  11. Ended literacy tests and poll tax (24th amendment—ended poll taxes)
  12. Federal government could register voters in districts with less than 50% blacks voting
  13. Outlawed unfair division of election districts
  14. Poll watchers
  15. Ballots printed in Spanish
  16. 1971-______–lowered the voting age to 18

Voting and Factors that Influence Voting

  1. Qualifications: ______& US citizen (national); not a convicted ______& legally sane (VA)
  1. ______: enroll with the appropriate local government
  1. ticket splitting: voting for candidates from different parties
  1. ______ballot: secret ballot
  1. ______ballot/when used: vote without going to the polls----used out of town on election day; hospitalized on election day; physically disabled; jail on a misdemeanor or awaiting trial; religious holiday
  1. Factors that influence voting :
  • ______- age, race, religion, education, income

--cross-pressured voter- one who is caught in conflict between elements in their life

  • ______to Political Party-

--straight party voter—always vote with their party

--Strong party voter--usually vote with party

--weak party voter—sometimes vote with party (also may be called an independent

  • Issues-the ______keeps us more informed today
  • ______- the candidate should have an image of trust, honesty, and a leader