THE ELECTORAL PROCESS.

Nomination is where the field of candidates is narrowed.
General election is the regularly scheduled election where voters make the final choice of officeholder.

THREE WAYS TO NOMINATE:

• Self-Announcement
• The Caucus
• The Convention

Self-Announcement: person who wants to run for office announces their candidacy.

The Caucus: originally a private meeting of local bigwigs, fell out of favor for a nominating device during the 1820's.

The Convention: considered more democratic than the caucus, delegates selected to represent the people's wishes.

PRIMARY VOTING:

• Closed primary- only declared party memebes can vote.
• Runoff primary- two people with most votes run again.
• Nonpartisan primary- members don't state what party they belong to.

PETITION:

• Candidates must get a certain number of signatures on a petition
• Minor party/independent candidates required by state law to be nominated
• Petition is often used a local levels

Congress has the power to set a time, place, and manner of congressional and presidential elections.
State determines the details of elections for the thousands of state and local offices.

Most states provide absentee voting for people who can't be at the proper polling place on Election Day. Some states even allow early voting to increase voting participation.

A precinct is a voting district. This is the smallest geographic unit used to carry out elections. An election board supervises the voting in each precinct.

A polling place is where the voters who live in precinct go to vote. Conveniently located in or near each precinct.

HISTORY OF BALLOTS:

• Voting was initially done orally
• Paper ballots began to be used in the mid-1800s
• Late 1800s- ballot reforms cleaned up ballot fraud by standardizing

Electronic vote counting has been used since the 1960s. Punch card ballots are often used to cast votes. Vote-by-mail has one into use in recent years and online voting is a trend that may be used in near future.

MONEY AND ELECTIONS:

• Small contributors
• Wealthy supporters
• Candidates
• Nonpart groups such as PACs
• Temporary fund-raising organizations

WHY DO PEOPLE GIVE?:

• They believe in a party or candidate
• They want something in return
• Public recognization
• They want access to the government
• Influence policy, gets laws passed, changed, or repealed

Super PACs are a new kind of political action committee. May raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations, and individuals.