Elections and

Voting Behaviors

Ch. 10
P.S.: Bold or Italicized words are words
you will need to know!

Introduction

Elections in the US are said to have

Legitimacy.
This means:
A characterization of elections by political
scientists meaning that they are almost
universally accepted as a fair and free method
of selecting political leaders.
When legitimacy is high, as in the US, even the
losers accept the results peacefully.

There are 3 types of elections in the US.

Can you guess what they are?

3 Types of Elections

1. Primary Elections
In Primary Elections, voters select party
nominees to run for an office.

2. General Elections
In General Elections, voters choose between the
party nominees as to who they want to elect to
office.

3. Initiative Petition
An Initiative Petition is a process where voters
may put proposed changes to a state
constitution to a vote.
Is proposed by voters who sign/collect

What gives us the right to

vote?

Suffrage is the legal right to vote.

But we all werent always able to vote
15th Amendment African Americans
19th Amendment Women
26th Amendment 18 Year Olds

The Problem With Turnout

2004?
In 2004, only 55% of the adult population voted in
the Presidential Election.

2008?
In 2008, only 57.1% voted

2012?
In 2012, only 54.9% voted

This is much lower than many other countries in

the world!!!!!!

Back in the Good

OlDays

1840 ?

80.2% voted

1860 ?
81.2% voted

1880 ?
79.4% voted

What the heck happened?!

Did we waste our ancestors time fighting hard to earn
the right to vote so we could throw this privilege away?

Voter Turnout

Increasing Voter
Turnout

To increase voter turnout, Congress created

the Motor Vehicle Act.
This act allows people to register to vote when
they get or renew their drivers license.
What could be some advantages of this?
Did it work?

It increased the number of voters, but it does

not appear that it has impacted turnout.

Why arent we
voting?

There are a hundred possible answers, ranging

from lack of transportation to not liking any of
the candidates. But here are two of the more
popular reasons:
1. People dont think their vote means much.
How could a single vote affect the election?
Its true, you have a much greater chance of
getting struck by lightning than participating in
an election that is decided by 1 vote.

Why arent we
voting?

2. Voting is somewhat costly.

Not in the sense that
rather in time.
You need to spend
You need to spend
You need to spend

you have to pay a fee, but

the time to become informed.
time making up your mind.
time getting to the polls.

If people have a work schedule that interferes with

the poll schedule, then they may not want to or
may not be able to take off work.
PSA: You can get your work to allow you 3 hours off
in the middle of your work day to go vote. With
certain paperwork, you can also get them to pay
you for your time!

Of those who do vote,

who has the highest
turnout?

The Answer: Americans with a college

education!
This is true across groups. For example,
minorities with a college degree are more
likely to vote than minorities without a college
degree.
Why do you think this is?

Personal
Characteristics

For those who do vote, what do you think is

the most important personal characteristic on
which voters base their decision?
The Answer: Competence!

What is competence?
Competence is a persons ability to do
something based on their past experiences.
Political experience, past successes, etc.

Policy Preference

If a person is to vote according to a policy

preference, the voter should:
1. Be familiar with each candidates position.
2. Be politically knowledgeable and know their
own position on the issue.
3. Must decide on which policies they want to
continue or change.
4. Must be able to distinguish political differences
between candidates.

Less Is More

So, whats your plan as President?

To keep America safe.
And how do you plan to do that?
By keeping America safe!

Vagueness

Can candidates keep voters from making a

decision?
Yes, candidates can hinder (keep) voters from
making their decisions by being vague.
If they dont take a clear position on the
issues, voters cant gauge his/her intentions
once in office.

For Example.

Candidate #1
Topic: Abortion (Nuanced Position)
I am personally opposed, but I believe a
woman should be able to make a decision
based on her faith, her husband, her god, her
medical condition

Candidate #2
Topic: Abortion
Abortion is murder and I support a
Constitutional Amendment to outlaw it!

What happens after we

vote?

The Electoral College happens after we vote.

What is the electoral college?

Electoral College

The electoral college is made up of chosen

electors who promise to vote for who the
people want. Each state has a different
number of electors.
Each state gets the same number of electoral
votes as it has members of the House and
Senate.
Think of election day as 50 separate elections.

Electoral College

So the candidate with the most votes in a

state gets all of that states electoral votes.
This is called winner take all.

So, if a candidate wins by 1 vote in California,

he/she still gets all of the electoral votes = 55!

The Electoral College

Vocab Terms/Need to
Know

Primary Elections
General Elections
Initiative Petition
Suffrage
15th Amendment
19th Amendment
26th Amendment
Motor Vehicle Act
Competence

Policy Preference
Group w/highest turnout
Why candidates are vague
Electoral College
How is E.C. made up/How # of votes determined

Review

How are the electoral votes of most states are

distributed?
Which group has the highest voter turnout?
Name the 4 conditions a person must meet to
vote according to their policy preferences.
Name the 3 Amendments that granted the
right to vote to those who didnt originally
have it?

Review

One of the most important personal

characteristics on which voters base their
decision is a presidential candidates.?
What is the Motor Vehicle Act? What is its
purpose?
How do candidates hinder voters from making
their decision?