In this episode we will focus mainly on Congressional elections, with some discussion of what is the same and different in presidential elections.
In this episode we will focus mainly on Congressional elections, with some discussion of what is the same and different in presidential elections. Elections in the United States happen every two years, but most people really only pay attention during years, like this one, where it is a presidential election as seen in voter turnout.(1:15) In order to get on the ballot for the election in November, one must first win their primary. (2:10) We also look at the alternative called a caucus, which only happens for the presidential election. (2:50) The episode also looks at the role of the party convention past and present. (4:32) Finally, it explains the plurality election system here in the US and how it results in two main political parties.(5:44)
Today’s question of the day is (8:38):The popularity of caucuses continues to dwindle and many states have switched their system to primaries since the last election. There are now only 3 states that have a caucus. Can you name one?
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Hi and welcome to the APsolute Recap: US Gov Edition. Today’s episode will recap Elections
Lets Zoom out:
Unit 5 - Political Participation
Topic 5.8-5.9
Big idea - Civic Participation in a Representative Democracy
In honor of it being a presidential election year, we are going to take a step away from Unit 2 today and look ahead to Unit 5 which is about political participation. Specifically, we are going to focus on the electoral system here in the United States and how our choices are affected by that system. In this episode we will focus mainly on Congressional elections, with some discussion of what is the same and different in presidential elections. In the next episode, we will dig deeper in the Electoral College, the historical origins, and the ways in which it both reflects and limits democracy.
Lets Zoom in:
Elections in the United States happen every two years, but most people really only pay attention during years, like this one, where it is a presidential election. Elections that occur in between presidential elections are called midterm elections, and have a much lower voter turn out. Presidential elections typically have above 50% voter turnout, which is low by comparison to other democracies, but the midterm turnout is usually in the high 30s or low 40s. Simply put, if a president isn’t running, people are less likely to vote, even though if we recall from a previous episode, every member of the House of Representatives is up for re-election during the midterms. It is worth noting, that the poor midterm turnout didn’t occur in the last midterm of 2018. Voter turnout for that election was roughly 49%, and was the highest midterm turnout since the late 1960’s.
Let’s talk about how one gets on the ballot for a presidential election. We will look at other aspects of the campaign process in later episodes, but right now we are going to look at primaries and in the case of electing a president, caucuses. The purpose of both primaries and caucuses is to help determine which candidate will represent each party on the ballot in the general election in the fall. Primaries can either be open or closed and vary by state. An open primary means you can select any candidate to put forth for the general election from either party. In a closed primary, you may only put forth a candidate from the political party for which you are registered.
The caucus is also a way for people to express their preference for a candidate, in this case for president, however, people don’t vote using a ballot. Instead, people must show up at a fixed time and attend a 1-2 hour meeting of the candidates and then they cast their vote by going and standing in the corner of the room under the sign of the candidate they prefer. There is much less participation in a caucus vs a primary because of the time restrictions and the fact that one’s vote is made public. Since the early 1970’s, primaries and caucuses have been the way our country determines the nominations for president. However, for over a hundred years prior to that it was the party convention that determined who the nominee would be.
Party Conventions take place in the summer before a presidential election and announce both the candidates for president and vice president, and also the party platform for the next four years. The purpose is to use the primaries and caucuses to secure the support of the majority of delegates at the convention. Now the nominee is basically secured by the time of the convention, but it used to be that party leaders of each state would meet at the convention to cut deals and determine the nominee without much consideration for who the public wanted to see nominated. This changed after the 1968 election, when Hubert Humprhey won the nomination despite not even being on the primary ballot in 13 states. The only remaining element of the old system are something called “superdelegates.” A superdelegate is someone whose vote is not pledged based on the outcome of a state primary or caucus. These delegates are people who are party leaders or elected officials and are free to vote for whomever they like. That being said, superdelegates have never determined the outcome of the convention since the changes in 1968, but theoretically could if the states were closely split between two candidates.
Once a candidate is on the ballot the process, other than choosing the president, is fairly simple. Here in the United States we have a plurality system, also known as winner take all. The person with the largest percentage of votes wins. There is no prize for second place, and there are definitely no awards for participation. In practical terms, this means that a candidate can be elected, even if he or she doesn’t have 50% of the votes, as long as the percent won is greater than his or her opponents.
Since first place is the only one that matters, people tend to vote for candidates they see having a chance of winning, meaning third party candidates have almost no chance of winning a seat and casting your ballot for them is seen as throwing away your vote. Because a candidate needs broad public support in order to win, they cast the net pretty wide for voters. This is essentially why we have a 2 party system here in the US, Democrats and Republicans.
It takes a lot of time and money, either your own or donations, to run a campaign and get elected to government, but once you do, your chances of staying dramatically increase. A person who is running for a position which he or she already occupies is called an incumbent. Here in the US, incumbents have a substantial advantage over challengers because they already have a list of donors and accomplishments to draw on for re-election, not to mention name recognition. In the House of Representatives, incumbents in general win re-election over 90% of the time and in the Senate it is slightly less at over 80%. These numbers themselves often discourage new candidates from running since the chance of upsetting an incumbent is so slim.
Although you will not be asked about it on the AP exam, it is worth noting that there is no one size fits all approach to elections amongst the world’s democracies. And while some countries have adapted some elements of the US system (not the electoral college), most of them have made changes in order to better suit the situation in their respective countries. Most of these countries have at least some portion of their legislature awarded based on proportional representation, where seats are awarded based on the percentage of popular vote won.
To recap……
We have elections for the House of Representatives and ⅓ of the Senate every two years and President every four. Candidates used to be chosen by the party, but now the public is given a say who is on the final ballot via primaries. We have a winner take all system, so whoever gets the most votes wins the seat. Once elected, incumbents are very likely to continue to win their seat.
Coming up next on the Apsolute RecAP US Government Edition: The Electoral College
Today’s Question of the day is about caucuses
Question: The popularity of caucuses continues to dwindle and many states have switched their system to primaries since the last election. There are now only 3 states that have a caucus. Can you name one?