Campaigns
A campaign strategy designed to organize and mobilize the electorate at the local level (e.g., knocking door-to-door, phone banking, making signs, recruiting volunteers, etc.).
Especially useful for candidates with limited finances.
What are Grassroots campaigns?
Ted Cruz in 2012 is an example of a candidate whose campaign used grassroots tactics.
Modern campaigns often dominated by campaign consultants instead.
A tax that Texas and some other states used to require people to pay in order to become registered voters.
Discouraged minorities and poor whites from participating.
What is a Poll tax?
Declared unconstitutional in the 1960s (by the 24th amendment of the US Constitution).
Must be registered at least 30 days prior to an election.
Must be a US citizen and a resident of the county where the individual intends to vote.
Must be at least 18 years of age.
What are Voting requirements in Texas?
An upcoming example of this type of election will take place in 2020, when President Donald Trump competes against the Democratic Party's nominee for re-election to the Presidential office.
May be for state, federal and county offices. Held in November of even-numbered years. Ballot includes candidates nominated by the two major parties.
What is a General election?
In Texas, ballot may also include any third-party candidates who have submitted petitions supported by a number of registered voters equaling at least 1% of the vote in the previous gubernatorial election.
The most important and primary agent of political socialization.
What is Family/Parents?
You're extremely likely to identify with the political party of your parents (if both share the same party).
An event staged by an officeholder or political candidate designed to attract media (especially television) coverage.
What is a media event?
Candidates often spend half of the campaign budget for television + radio advertising.
A type of exam introduced during the late 1800's under the Jim Crow Laws.
Intended to prevent blacks from voting by requiring them to pass difficult reading/writing exams in order to become registered voters.
What are Literacy tests?
Abolished by Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The pattern of voting for all of a specific party's candidates.
i.e., a party has candidates running for 10 different offices, and a voter opts for all of them (without necessarily looking at individual candidates).
What is Straight ticket voting?
Contrast with Split ticket voting.
The type of elections used by the Democratic and Republican parties (in most states) in order to choose its nominees for public offices.
This type of election doesn't determine who wins office, but instead, it determines who a party will support in the election that DOES determine who wins office.
What is a Primary election?
Held on the 2nd Tuesday in March in even-numbered years.
An extremely important part of making sure polling data is accurate and representative of a population. Random digit dialing is one example of how to achieve this.
A lack of this led to a respected magazine wrongly predicting the defeat of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936. A lack of this also results in Sampling error.
What is Random sampling?
Roughly what % of Sampling error is acceptable?
Committees representing specific interest groups (or employees of a specific corporation) that collect money from their members in order to distribute it among political candidates.
A major source of business funding for political candidates.
What are Political Action Committees (PACs)?
Texas places no limits on the amount of money individuals or PACs can contribute to most political candidates.
Criticized for diluting minority representation in most communities in which it is used. A system in which officeholders are elected by voters from across entire cities or districts (rather than smaller, more representative sub-districts).
What are At-large elections?
Along with racial gerrymandering and single-member districts, often challenged in court systems under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Voting within a (roughly 2 week) period prior to the regularly scheduled election date.
Anyone can now vote early, without having to state an excuse.
What is early voting?
For absentee voting (voting by mail), one must be either 65 years old or older, disabled or outside of the county during voting.
The type of election required when no candidate in a primary election receives a majority of all votes cast (50% + 1). The top two vote-getters then face each in a second round of voting.
What is a runoff election?
Turnout is consistently lower than during first round of primaries.
A specific, local voting area created by a county. The number of these within a county is determined by population, political boundaries and available voting sites.
Professor Taylor describes these as the basic building blocks of political parties.
What is a Precinct?
A precinct is presided over by a Precinct chair, who serves on the party's county executive committee.
The case in which the US Supreme Court ruled that political donations (i.e., money) is protected as "freedom of speech" under the First Amendment.
Led to a dramatic growth in 501(c) organizations and 527 committees that independently campaign for or against political candidates/issues.
What is Citizens United v. Federal Elections Committee?
501(c) orgs and 527 committees are named after their IRS tax-exemption codes. Often not required to disclose their sources of funding (not transparent).
The term describing the state laws and party rules that once denied blacks the right to vote in Texas Democratic primaries.
What are White Primaries?
Essentially the same as preventing blacks from voting in General elections (because Texas was a one-party state).
Ratified to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, giving women the right to vote in all elections throughout the country.
What is the 19th Amendment?
Women won the right to vote in Texas party primaries in 1918.
26th Amendment lowered voting age from 21 to 18 in 1971.
A type of election set by legislature or called by the governor for a specific purpose (e.g., constitutional amendments or filling vacant legislative offices).
What is a Special election?
Local governments may also call special elections.
e.g., bond issues, local initiatives & referenda, recall of local officials.
Tend to have extremely low turnout rates.
A historical political party, literally meaning (People United), which sought to advocate for Hispanic interests during a time in which Hispanic voting strength had been minimized by the system.
It later lost prominence after its platform and goals were absorbed by the Democratic Party.
What is La Raza Unida?
An example of a third party.
Following the Sharpstown scandal, the legislature enacted a major campaign finance disclosure law in 1973 which is now administered by this entity.
What is the Texas Ethics Commission?
Does not limit the size of political contributions, but requires candidates to disclose identities of donors & the amounts contributed.
A law adopted by many southern states following the Reconstruction era that made literacy tests and poll taxes unnecessary for anyone whose grandfather had been able to vote prior to Reconstruction (1870).
What are Grandfather Clauses?
Essentially, allowed whites to bypass laws designed to prevent blacks from voting.
What is the National Voter Registration Act (Motor Voter Law)?
Initially vetoed by George H. W. Bush, for fear that it would benefit the Democratic Party.
This type of election may described as either "open" or "closed".
In states using an open system, all voters may vote regardless of their party affiliation (by choosing which party they'd like to participate with on the day of the election).
In states with a closed system, voters may only vote for candidates if they are already registered members of the party that the candidates identify as.
What are Primary Elections?
Open Primary vs. Closed Primary
Conservative Texas Democrats led by Alan Shivers who supported Dwight Eisenhower (a Republican) in the 1952 Presidential election over their national party's own candidate.
Who are the Shivercrats?