Ch.

1 – Electing Our Leaders

1) Our 2-Party System of Politics
a) Political Parties Past
i) Federalists
(1) Wanted the Consitution as the new government document
(2) John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison
(3) Wanted two level government – national and state
ii) Antifederalists
(1) Didn’t want the Consitution as the new government document
(2) Thomas Jefferson
b) History
i) 1st president – George Washington, no party
ii) John Adams – used party to get elected 2nd president and party died after
presidency
iii) Jefferson renamed party the Democratic-Republicans and used to become 3rd
president
(1) Jefferson retired and party split into:
(a) National Republican Party – John Quincy Adams
(i) JQA uses NRP to get elected, party dies after presidency
(b) Democratic Party – Andrew Jackson
(i) Jackson uses DP to get elected, same party as today
iv) After NRP died, Whigs formed
(1) Chose military generals:
(a) William Henry Harrison – pneumonia, 31 days
(b) Zachary Taylor – food poisoning, 2 years
v) Republican Party grew – Abraham Lincoln used the Republican Party to get
elected, same party as today
vi) 3rd parties:
(1) Bull Moose Party
(a) Formed by Teddy Roosevelt, Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson
won
(2) Reform Party
(a) Formed by Ross Perot over business, Democratic candidate Bill
Clinton won
(3) Green Party
(a) Formed by Ralph Nader, Republican candidate George W Bush won
c) Government Systems
i) 2-Party
(1) US & Great Britian
ii) Multiparty/Coalition
(1) France & Italy
(2) Elections are in two phases:
(a) 1st – which parties are elected into government and how many seat
each party gets
(b) 2nd – elects candidates to fill the seats
 (3) This system of government requires that parties form a coalition alliance
to pass bills
(a) In France, this works well because there are usually only 3 or 4 parties
in parliament
(b) In Italy, it doesn’t work as well because there are usually 30 parties
and no one can form a working alliance for more than a few months.
Still, Italians regard their government as more democratic than the
US’s two party system.
iii) 1-Party (Dictatorships)
(1) Religion – Iran
(2) Communism – Cuba, China, Vietnam, N. Korea
(3) Monarchy – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait
2) The Organization of Political Parties
a) Democratic and Republican national committees help people get elected to all
levels of government
i) They provide: money, lists of names of donors, staffing help, and help with
campaign management
b) Federal Election Campaign Act – requires candidate to keep a lists of donations
from individuals. Goes on list when individual donates as least $200
c) Revenue Act – individuals can only donate $2000 to a primary election and $2000
to a runoff election
d) PACs were formed so that people can donate as much money as they want
i) PACs now limited to $5000 every three months
(1) However, PACs are really unlimited because people just form more PACs
and donate that way
e) Presidential Election Campaign Fund – if a candidate takes matching funds, they
are limited to $50 million (comes from federal income tax form)
3) The Right to Vote
a) Federal government requires that states allow voting for those who can’t
read/write English
b) States can deny the right to vote for those in mental hospitals, in jail and those
who are out of jail but had been in jail for serious crimes
c) All states except California require that you be a citizen of the state and be
registered to vote to be able to vote on election day
d) Register as a Democrat, Republican, or Independent
e) Elections are in two stages:
i) Primary
(1) Closed Primary: Only Democrats and Republicans vote. Democrats vote
for Democratic candidates, Republicans vote for Republican candidates
(2) Open Primary: All candidates are listed on the same ballot and everyone
can vote. Two candidates (no matter their party) are chosen for the runoff
election
ii) Runoff
(1) After a Closed Primary: The top Republican and the top Democrat are put
on a ballot with all the third party candidates. A voter can vote for any
party and top vote-getter wins
 (2) After an Open Primary: has only two candidates. Voter can vote for
anyone and top vote-getter wins
f) Voting Trends:
i) 40 years old and younger – vote the “spilt ticket”
ii) Over 40 years old – vote the “straight ticket”
iii) 90% of African-Americans vote Democratic (down from 99% 20 years ago)
iv) 90% of Hispanic-Americans vote Republican (down from 99% 20 years ago)
g) How we vote:
i) Most places, you flip a lever, push a button, or use a touch-screen
ii) Some places still use punch card ballot – Florida, 2000 presidential election
iii) California uses paper and pen
(1) Law requires that ballots be printed in their native language as long as 5%
of the state or district’s population speaks it.
(2) Advantage: vote for a write in candidate
(a) Mickey Mouse has won elections in California – indicates that voters
want different candidates from same old same old. If any “unhumans”
win the election, a new election is held with all new candidates (old
candidates cannot run)
4) The Presidential Election Process
a) Presidential Primary
i) Election held in each state: 50 Democratic elections, 50 Republican elections.
Citizens vote for who they want the one candidate of their party to be. This
tells the state’s national convention delegates who the state wants to be the
one candidate for presidency
(1) Presidential Primaries are usually closed primaries.
b) National Nominating Convention
i) Delegates from all 50 states will attend their party’s convention in the summer
ii) Three major decisions are made:
(1) The states will announce which candidate their state will back. They will
then vote and whoever gets the most states will become the official party
nominee
(2) It will be announced who the president’s vice-presidential running mate
will be. This is usually based on geography: no winning team of pres/vice-
pres has won when the come from the same geographic region except in
the Clinton/Gore election that was influenced by a third party.
(3) Party platforms are officially created. Usual planks are:
(a) Repub party platform: pro-military/war, pro-business, anti-abortion,
pro-gun
(b) Demo party platform: anti-military/war, pro-worker, pro-environment,
anti-gun, pro-choice on abortion
c) Presidential Election
i) Popular Vote
(1) This is when citizens vote for the nominee but it is not official. This only
influences official. Happens “the first Tuesday after the first Monday in
November, every four years.”
ii) Electoral College Vote
 (1) Official vote, happens 5 weeks after the popular vote. Contains a
nationwide group of 538 ordinary everyday citizens who cannot be in any
official office on any level of government. Each states has a portion of
their votes based on the number of US Senators and Representatives a
state has.
(2) How it happens:
(a) Each states prepares 2 “slates” of EC voters, one Democratic, one
Republican. The Popular Vote either determines or influences which
slate will go to the state capital and how they will vote.
(i) In half the states, the slate that goes MUST be the one that one the
Popular vote.
(ii) In the other half of the states, the slate that goes could be either
one. Also, the slate can vote either way.
(b) 5 weeks after the popular vote, the EC slates will go to their state
capital and vote. Then, they will be sent to Washington D.C. for
counting.
iii) Counting the EC Votes
(1) On the first Monday in January, US Congress will count the votes and
announce the winner of the Presidency. To win, the candidate needs 1
more than half the EC votes, 270 of the 538 votes.
(2) The winner is sworn in as President of the US on Jan 20th.
5) Lagniappe
a) 14th – Rights of Citizenship
b) 15th – Right of Suffrage
c) 19th – Women’s Suffrage
d) 24th – Prohibition of Poll Taxes in National Elections
e) 26th – Voting Age Lowered to 18
6) Vocabulary
a) Caucus – as a nominating device, a group of like minded people who meet to
select the candidates thy will support in an upcoming election
b) Coalition – a temporary alliance of several group who come together to form a
working majority and so to control a government
c) Multiparty – a system in which several major and many lesser parties exist,
seriously compete for and actually win public offices
d) Nomination – the process of candidate selection in an electoral system
e) Platform – a political party’s formal statement of basic principles, stands on a
major issues and objectives
f) Political party – a group of person who seek to control government through the
winning of election and the holding of public office
g) Polling place – the place where the voters who live in a certain precinct go to vote
h) Presidential primary – an election in which a part’s voters (1) choose state party
organizations delegates to their party’s nation convention and/or (2) express a
preference for their party’s presidential nomination
i) Registration – a procedure of voter identification intended to prevent fraudulent
voting
j) Two-party system – a political system dominated by two major parties
k) Favorite sons or daughters – men or women in a state party, usually governors or
senators, who are nominated for President by that state’s delegates on the first
ballot of the nation nominating convention
l) Dictatorship – one person or political part is in control of the government and the
lives of the people
m) One party system – political system in which government control is held by a
single political party and in which all other parties are banned
n) Plank – each part of a political party’s platform
o) Political action committee – political arm of an interest group that collects
voluntary contribution from member and contributes it to political candidate and
parties it favors.
p) Poll watcher – part representatives at a polling place to see that an election is
conducted fairly
q) Precinct – a voting district