10 14 13 Ch 10 Elections Institutions of Elections U S election laws Who Citizens over 18 How Vote in secret by Australian ballot Where Single member districts that have equal population What it takes to win Most votes Who o Voting Rights Act 1965 End Jim Crow Laws o 19th Amendment Women vote o 26th Amendment 1971 Voting age changed to 18 from 21 o Low voter turnout around 1890 s because Had to personally go register before registrar Required to register well before election Voters had to reregister to maintain edibility o Mostly educated high income white electorate o Motor Voter Bill 1993 o Participation declined with decline of party machines How Where o Secret o Australian ballot Gave rise to split ticket voting Led to divided control of government o Single member districts o Electoral college o Gerrymandering What it takes to win Plurality rule Electoral system in which victory goes to individual who gets most votes in election but not necessarily majority Majority rule 50 1 Proportional representation PR Multimember district system that awards seats base on percent of the vote won Direct Democracy Referendum Proposal or passed measure by a legislature is voted on by the electorate for approval or rejection Initiatives Process by which citizens may petition to place policy proposal on ballot for public vote Recall Removal of public official by popular vote How do Voters Decide Turnout in presidential elections are around 50 60 Voters o Older o Educated o Rooted in community Nonvoters Partisan loyalty o Feel vote is unimportant o Party ID Voter s psychological ties to one party Psychological attachment Reflects underlying ideologies of voters and policy positions of parties Reflects experiences with political leaders and representatives Issues o Issue voting Select candidate or party based on the extent to which the individual agrees with one candidate more than others on specific issues o Prospective voting Voting based on imagined future performance of candidate o Retrospective voting Voting based on past performance of candidate Candidate characteristics o Incumbent advantage Campaigns Money Media and Grass Roots Form for sole purpose of winning election Federal Elections Campaign Act 1971 o Established PAC s Buckley v Valeo 1976 Spending contributions on campaigns are a form of freedom of speech
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