1Legal Structures & Finance LawsLegal Structures & Campaign Finance Laws• Legal structures– Electoral College– Ballot forms and access– Campaign finance laws– Congressional redistricting• (Congressional elections lecture)Electoral College•History– Fear of popular elections in Constitution– Early electors chosen by state legislatures– 1836 -- popular vote to select Electors• Except South Carolina not until 1860Number of Electors• 538 in total• Each state– Two (one for each Senator)– Plus 1 to 53 more based on number of Representatives• Washington, D.C. = 3 electors• Numbers change with each census2Change in Electoral College Votes, 1992 - 2002+ 2 = AZ, Fl,GA, TX + 1 = CA, CO,NV, NC- 1 = CT, IL,IN, MI,MS, OH,OK, WI- 2 = PA, NYMicroCase, file = States, variable = 191) EC GAIN00Electoral College 2004File = States, variable = 190) ELECTOR00Rank1 California 552 Texas 343 New York 314 Florida 2718 Arizona 10(tied with 3 others)44-50 3(7 states and DC)Electoral College Process• Popular vote in state– Democratic or Republican slate of electors chosen– Plurality vote (except Maine & Nebraska)• Electoral College vote– Cast in December at state capital– Requires majority vote - 270 electors• Electoral College vote counted in JanuaryIf No Majority in Electoral College• House of Representatives chooses President– Top 3 candidates from election– Each state one vote– Need 26 votes to win3If No Majority in Electoral College• Senate selects the Vice President– Top 2 candidates from election– Each Senator gets one vote– Need 51 votesNo Electoral College Majority• 1800– Thomas Jefferson & Aaron Burr tied– Same party– No designation for President versus Vice President– House selects Jefferson– Led to 12th AmendmentAaron BurrThomasJeffersonNo Electoral College Majority•1824– 4 candidates from Democratic-Republican party– House chose John Quincy Adams• 1836 – Martin Van Buren (Democrat) won presidency– No Electoral College majority for Vice President– Richard Johnson (Democratic) disliked– Senate selected JohnsonJ.Q. AdamsVan BurenJohnsonPopular Vote Winner Not Elected• 1876– Democrat Samuel Tilden won by 3% of popular vote– SC, FL, LA delivered 2 slates of Electors to Congress– Congressional commission chose Republican Rutherford Hayes– 1887 law, states final authority on Electors, majority of both House & Senate to overturnTildenHayes4Popular Vote Winner Not Elected• 1888– Incumbent Democrat Grover Cleveland huge popular majority in 18 states– Republican Benjamin Harrison won slender vote margin in larger states– Popular vote difference = 110,476 (less than 1%) of total– Electoral College vote• Harrison – 233• Cleveland -- 168HarrisonCleveland2000 Presidential Vote• Democrat Al Gore– 50,999,897 48.38%• Republican George W. Bush– 50,456,002 47.87%• Difference– 543,895 .52%• Bush 271 Electoral College votes• Gore 266 Electoral College votesElectoral College Vote, 2000Bush - 271, Gore - 266Electoral College Vote, 2004Electoral College Vote, 2004Bush Bush --286286, , Kerry Kerry --252252Electoral College Effects• Typically magnifies presidential mandate• Typically disadvantages third party candidates• Influences candidates’ strategies52004 Presidential Campaign CommercialsWisconsin Advertising Projecthttp://www.polisci.wisc.edu/tvadvertising/Electoral College Debate•Pro– Federal system – Maintains 2 party system– Geographic distribution of presidential vote•Con– Minority presidents– Faithless electors– Turnout?– Not reflect national popular votePublic Opinion: Abolish Electoral College01020304050607080Gallup 1944Gallup 1948Gallup 1967Harris 1977CBS/NYT1987ABC/WP 1988Black 1993Abolish Keep No OpinionSource: Roper Center, http://ropercenter.uconn.edu/whats_new_elect.html 11/22/00Ballot Forms and Access• Australian ballot– Party column– Office block• Voting mechanisms• Ballot access6Early Ballot FormsParty printed ballot:1880 Iowa municipal electionAustralian ballot 1893 Iowa City Source: http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/voting/pictures/Party Column Office BlockDem. Rep.Governor Jones SmithSenate Brown GarciaHouse Jackson MooreMayor Olson CanonGovernorJones - Dem.Smith - Rep.SenateBrown - DemGarcia - Rep.HouseJackson -Dem.Moore - Rep.Types of Voting MechanismsSource for use of voting machines 2004: Election Data Serviceshttp://www.electiondataservices.com7%5%Mixed29%21%Electronic32%46%Optical Scan19%10%Punch Card13%9%Lever6%10%PaperVotersCountiesPaper Ballot299 counties (10%) .6% registered voters7Lever Machines2004: 270 counties (9%) 13% of registered votersPunch Card307 counties (10%) 19% registered votersOptical Scanners1,418 counties (46%) 32% of registered votersElectronic 699 counties (21%) 29% registered votersBallot use map on next slide from Newsweek, October 18, 2004, p. 32.8Arizona Ballot Form and Missing Presidential Votes, 2000Punch Card 4.18% Optical Scanner 1.03%Santa Cruz 5.84% Maricopa 1.66%Navajo 5.55 Graham 1.05Gila 4.71 Apache 1.02LaPaz 4.37 Yavapai .87Greenlee 3.99 Pima .54Cochise 3.89Yuma 3.68Coconio 3.40 $3.4 million to replacePinal 3.22 punch cards statewideMohave 3.11Source: AZ Secretary of State, Arizona Daily Star, 11/10/01, p. A12Palm Beach County, Florida, “Butterfly” BallotResults for Palm Beach County fromSource: http://lilt.ilstu.edu/gmklass/COW3Ballot Access• How minor party and independent candidates get on ballot• Arizona– Automatic if 5% of vote in prior election– Automatic if 2/3rds of 1% registered voters– Petitions signed by 1.33% of vote in last election (2000 = 13,565 signatures)2004 Presidential Candidates• Listing at http://www.politics1.com/p2004.htm9Campaign Finance Laws• Hard money – Limited sums– Directly to candidates– Reports to FEC• Soft money– Unlimited sums– New restrictions– Reports to FECHard Money Limits From Individual From PAC To candidate$2,000 $5,000 To party $25,000 $15,000 To PAC $5,000 $5,000 Total $95,000 over 2 year cycle No limit Soft Money• Soft money through 2000– To parties– Party building - get out the vote, generic advertisements• McCain-Feingold (Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act – BCRA) of 2002– Ban soft money to partiesSoft Money in 2000Party Receipts (in millions) To State &