POLS 2312 1st Edition Lecture 15 Outline of Last Lecture I Testing II Qualifications to Vote III Registration A Motor Voter Law IV Early Voting V Contributions to low participation rates in voting A Traditionalistic B Individualistic VI Political Structure and Political Culture Outline of Current Lecture I Primary Election A Runoff Primary B Open Primary C Closed Primary II General Elections A Write In Candidates III Special Elections IV Independents V Administration of Elections VI Types of Voting VII Absentee Voting VIII Interest Groups A Bundling Current Lecture l The primaries are devices for selecting political party nominees It is a ballot vote in which citizens select a party s nominee for the general election There are 3 historical types of primaries 1 Caucus Iowa is the only state that still does this one 2 Party Convention System none of the states do this 3 Direct Primary every other state besides Iowa Any party receiving 20 of the gubernational vote must hold a primary must be won by 50 plus 1 vote These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute A A runoff primary is held if no candidate receives a majority of the vote then the top 2 go against each other in a runoff primary B Open primaries are when voters choose on Election Day in which primary they will participate Any registered voter can participate in the election regardless of party affiliation C Closed primaries are where only members of a particular political party may participate ll General Elections is an election in which voters cast ballots to select public officials The last day to register to vote for this general election was Monday October 6 They are won by a plurality vote held on the 1st Tuesday of an even number of years and they re held on non presidential election years midterm elections 2 factors predominate in these elections 1 Party Identification 2 Incumbency A Write in Candidates are seldom successful and computer voting makes it very difficult for them to win because the voter must spell their name correctly or it doesn t count lll Special Elections are not held on a regular basis In Texas a special election is called to fill a vacancy in office to give approval for the state government to borrow money or to ratify the amendments to the Texas Constitution They are non partisan don t involve the primary and the winner must receive 50 plus 1 vote lV In 2006 there were 2 independents running for governor in Texas One was Kinky Friedman and the other was former Austin mayor Carole Keeton Strayhorn For independents to get on the Texas ballot they must 1 Obtain signatures on a petition from registered voters Signatures must equal 1 of total votes in the last governor s race 2 Signatures must come from registered voters who didn t participate in any political party primary election 3 Signature collection cannot begin until the day after the last primary election 4 Voters may sign only 1 candidate s petition If they sign both only the first signature provided will count V The Texas Secretary of State is Nandita Berry and she is the chief elections officer The Board of Elections arranges polling places printing of ballots a tax assessor collector process all voter applications and updates rolls and the county commissioner s court draws districts appoints election judges and voting devices Vl There are 3 different types of voting Paper ballots are still used as the primary way of voting because it leaves a trail Optical Scan is like a scantron and enables voters to mark their choices on pre printed ballots DREs Direct Record Electronic systems enable voters to record their choices electronically directly into the machine Vll Absentee voting is available 22 days before election day Any member of the U S armed forces anyone who s ill or an anticipated absence from the country can vote at this time The U S Constitution and the Texas Constitution guarantee the right of citizens to political participation through speaking writing and petitioning the government Vlll Interest Groups are organizations established to influence governments programs and policies The larger or better interest groups have several advantages 1 Time 2 Money 3 Expertise 4 Continuity They offer citizens an organizational structure that expresses their preferences to government They re private entities who seek to influence the government s decisions on behalf of their members They don t nominate candidates but endorse and support them They are also known as pressure groups and draw citizens into the political process They educate their members provide policy makers valuable info and promote narrow and selfish desires A Bundling is an interest group practice of combining campaign contributions from several sources into 1 larger contribution from the group so as to increase the group s impact on the candidate