Chapter 9 Book Notes McCain proposed a town hall meeting with Obama in 2008 presidential elections o Audience members could pose questions o Questions were screened and selected by a moderator unlike real town hall o Candidates has set rules that limited interactions and audience members made meetings no decisions Representatives specialists in governmental making decisions Founding Father called such a representative government republican government Making Laws Key function of legislative branch is to make law All state legislatures make statutory laws and play significant role in amending state constitutions Executive judicial branches play role in implementing and interpreting laws after legislative branch has acted Representatives must have information before they can make a good law o Information should be provided by a variety of sources including legislative staff bureaucrats interest groups and citizen volunteers Public hearings provide opportunity for those concerned to engage legislators present opinions and propose solutions o Next legislators engage in deliberations through committee meetings and meetings of the entire chamber o Majority of those voting in each chamber must agree to an identical bill o Bills that pass state legislatures become law unless vetoed by governor Legislatures can override vetoes with supermajority votes in each chamber Some laws are passed only for symbolic importance o E g when legislature authorizes programmatic change or a new program but does not provide necessary funding o E g when legislature prohibits a certain behavior but imposes no penalty enforcement o Sometimes intended to help with reelection or maintain political relations Constituent Service Provided when legislators help individuals and groups from their districts o Generally involves helping a constituent with unresponsive negative bureaucracy seeking relief for a constituent who was hurt by a law E g local restaurant owner finding no smoking law costs him too much E g voter who opposes abortion E g Individual charged too much in income taxes State legislature staff coordinates meetings arrange tours welcome visitors write to congratulate district residents on achievements etc Bringing Government Funds to the District State legislators are as active as members of Congress in seeking funds and programs to benefit their districts Members of Congress tend to take more advantage of every opportunity to take credit for anything that boosts their district than state legislators do Legislators as Representatives Geographic Representation All legislators are chosen from geographically defined districts o Can we local small portions population below 500 000 or even state wide for US Senators State legislators establish their own districts and the districts for members of the US House of Rep Counties municipalities school districts local gov t set own districts Constitution says each state shall have two senators o Seats in House of Rep are to be apportioned by population Compactness and contiguity required for congressional districting beginning in 1901 o Compactness means that the district should closely match a square rectangle o Contiguity means all portions of the district must be in contact with each other o Common requirement that districts not divide counties municipalities Compactness is no longer an important consideration for legislative districts Contiguity remains only spatial requirement for contemporary geographic districts Problems of Geographic Representation In past representatives could easily see desired policies lack of rain poor soil threatening insects because they affected everyone equally in district Now we pay high costs for geographic selection of representatives More difficult to represent a heterogeneous district rather than homogeneous o Hetero mix of different people Make representation difficult but encourage compromise to win voter support before elections Winner must appeal to broad range of voters opinions Use statements with no substance It s time for a change or Let s get America moving o Homo identical people elections Make representation easier but force compromise to take place after Most modern districts lack compactness and any sense of identity Alternatives for Selecting Representatives WWII states began to allow absentee voting by mail for those out of town on Election Day o Oregon uses mail ballots Washington uses this some o San Diego and other local gov ts experimenting with voting by mail o More convenient not increased voter turnout Apportioning and Districting Population Equal Population Requirements Industrialization and the accompanying concentration of people in cities resulted in equal sized geographic districts no longer including the same number of people o Meant that selecting representatives from each county meant rural areas controlled legislatures because of many living in few urban areas and few living in many rural counties Few representatives of urban areas many rural representatives o Policies were not of majority because rural reps could easily outvote urban US Census of 1960 made inequity all the more evident o FL state senate districts ranged from 10 000 to 935 000 o LA CA with 40 of state s population holding only 1 of 40 seats in Senate Baker v Carr 1962 Gray v Sanders 1964 o TN case involving a poorly apportioned state legislature lower house o Federal district order reapportionment of TN lower house based on population o Justice Douglas declared the conception of political equality from the Declaration of Independence means one person one vote Wesberry v Sanders 1964 o Population based equality was the prime criterion for apportioning seats in state houses of representatives this case applied it to the House of Rep Reynolds v Sims 1964 o Legislators represent people not trees or acres o Dubbed one man one vote principle o Vote of any citizen is approximately equal in weight to that of any other citizen in the state States require districts with equal populations not voters Karcher v Daggett o US Supreme Court struck down congressional redistricting plan that had an overall range of less than 1 Congressional districts must be as equal in population as practicable Race and Ethnicity Requirements Voting Rights Act passed in 1965 requires that all laws and procedures concerning elections have no discriminatory effect against specified racial ethnic or language minorities o Section 5 requires certain areas of country
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