Analyze the components of a political

Campaigns and Elections

Chapter5

Learning Objectives5.1 Analyze the components of a political campaign,

specifically how the process of running and financing a campaign has changed over the years.

5.2 Describe the role that race and ethnicity play in politics, focusing on the importance of minority voters.

5.3 Describe the role that women have played in Texas politics and how that role has evolved.

5.4 Explain the complexities of voting and how the voting process promotes, and inhibits, voter participation.

5.5 Identify the differences among primary, general, and special elections.Copyright © 2016 Cengage Learning. All

rights reserved.2

Political Campaigns

§ Conducting Campaigns in the 21st Century§ Character/political style vs. issues

§ Physical appearance and personality

§ Importance of the media-

§ Hard to visit 254 counties

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Political Campaigns

§ Conducting Campaigns in the 21st Century§ Texas campaigners must rely more

heavily on television, radio, and social media exposure than do candidate in other states

§ In addition to television and radio, use social media/Facebook,Twitter, and emails for fundraising

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Political Campaigns

§ Conducting Campaigns in the 21st Century§ Independent candidate-a candidate who runs in a

general election without party endorsement or selection (Kinky Friedman)

§ Sound bite- a brief statement of a candidate's theme communicated by radio or television (10- to a full minute)

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Political Campaigns

§ Conducting Campaigns in the 21st Century§ Mudslide campaigns - negative

comments about someone's character or an issue they didn't address or aligned themselves with (Gun rights/gun control) Takes on precedence when character important in a campaign

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Political Campaigns

§ Campaign Reform§ Eliminating negative campaigning-

§ Media emphasizes poll results and the horserace appearance of a contest rather than basic issues and candidate personalities that relate to total leadership potential

§ negative commercials influence voters ( especially undecided voters) drawing their preference away from the candidate being attacked

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Political Campaigns

§ Campaign Reform§ Increasing free media access-

§ Increase broadcasters to make air wave more available at no cost to political candidates

§ (unlikely as media outlets necessary part of political campaigns and media outlets generate a significant source of revenue from political campaigns

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Political Campaigns

§ Campaign Reform§ Increasing free media access (cont)

§ Smartphone apps

§ Social media now used by most candidates (Twitter/Facebook/YouTube

§ Sometimes hard for candidates to monitor what others put on these sites

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Political Campaigns

§ Campaign Finance§ “Money makes the mare go”

§ Record spending in 2002 Texas gubernatorial campaign ($ 95 million)- Sanchez outspent Perry by more than two to one ($67 million to $28 million and still lost)

§ So money not always indicative of success but does help to get your name out and cover the state

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Political Campaigns

§ Campaign Finance§ Pales to California 2010 ($250 m) and New

York 2002 ( $148 m )

§ Candidates need to raise large amounts of cash at the local, state, and national levels; becomes more expensive as you go up the ladder.

§ PACs- organizations created to collect and distribute contributions of political campaigns, donate because they agree with a candidate's position on the issues

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Political Campaigns

§ Campaign Finance§ Donors receive “access” and not

necessarily control of officials policymaking decisions

§ Texas laws on campaign financing are relatively weak and tend to emphasize reporting of contributions with few limits on the amounts of donations (exception: judicial races)

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Political Campaigns

§ Campaign Finance§ Texas Ethics Commission-A state

agency that enforces state standard for lobbyists and public officials including registration of lobbyists and reporting of political campaign contributions (electronically)

§ Requires financial disclosure from political officials but Texas has no laws that limit political contributions 13

Political Campaigns

§ Campaign Finance§ Prohibiting political contributions to

members of the legislature while they are in session (Lonnie “Bo” Pilgrim handed out $10,000 checks on the Texas Senate floor, leaving the “payable to” lines blank, as legislators debated reforming the state's workers' compensation laws

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Political Campaigns

§ Campaign Finance (cont.)§ Federal and state laws

§ Campaign Reform Act-2002

§ prohibits soft money (unregulated political donations made to a national political parties or independent expenditure on behalf of a candidate)

§ Increased the limits on hard money(campaign money donated directly to candidate or political parties and restricted in amount by federal law)

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Political Campaigns

§ Campaign Finance (cont.)§ Federal and state laws

§ 2003- McConnell v. FEC- McConnell said Campaign Reform Act unconstitutional. Restrain on freedom of speech and also addressed the 30/60 limit on issue ads in primary and general elections but the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the “soft Money” ban (appearance of impropriety important)

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Political Campaigns

§ Campaign Finance (cont.)§ Federal and state laws (cont)

§ 2010-Citizens United v. Federal Election

Commission-overturned a provision of the Campaign Reform Act that banned unlimited expenditures by corporations, unions, and nonprofit organization in federal elections.

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Political Campaigns


§ 2010 SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission- Federal Appeals Court ruled that campaign contribution limits on independent organizations using the funds only for independent expenditures are unconstitutional. This decision led to Superpacs

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Political Campaigns


§ Super PAC – Independent expenditure- only committees that many raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, union, nonprofit organizations, and individuals

§ Able to spend limited sums to openly support or oppose political candidate; cannot coordinate with presidential or senatorial/representative campaign and must show who contributed

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Political Campaigns


§ 2014- McCutcheon v. FEC -Struck down the aggregate limits on the amount an individual may contribute during a two-year period to all federal candidates, parties and political action committee combined was unconstitutional ($117,000). So still the hard limits to candidates but can increase the number of candidates beyond the $117,000 limit 20

Political Campaigns


§ Texas 's state campaign finance laws have focused on making contribution information more easily available to citizens.

§ No limits on amount of donations- only restriction on the amount of donations only apply to some judicial candidates

§ File periodically with the Texas Ethics Commission(electronically) 21

Political Campaigns


§ 2003 Texas law requiring officials of cities with a population of more than 100,000 and trustees of school districts with enrollments of 5,000 or more to disclose the sources of their incomes as well as the value of their stocks and real estate holdings

§ Candidates for state political offices identify employers/ occupations of $500 or more to their campaigns and the “cash on hand”

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Political Campaigns


§ Prohibits state legislators from lobbying for clients before state agencies

§ “Dark money” money spent on elections by anonymous donors. In 2013 would have required nonprofit organizations that spent $25,000 or more on political campaigns to publicly disclose contributors who donate more than $1000. (don't have to disclose donors. Vetoed for privacy concerns)

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Political Campaigns

§ Campaign Finance (cont.)§ Learning check

§ Most Texas voters learn about candidates through newspaper editorials.

§ Which state commission requires financial disclosure from public officials?

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Racial and Ethnic Politics

§ Latinos§ LULAC and La Raza

§ Major impact beginning in 1960s-‘70s

§ New strategies and leaders in 1980s

§ Latino nominees to attract Latino voters- Bush- appointed many Latino candidates/Alberto Gonzales; Perry (Andrade/Sec. of State; Carrillo (RR Commissioner) and two to the highest Courts in the land

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§ Latinos§ George P. Bush (Florida)

§ Democrats Latinos for high level statewide offices Dan Morales to Texas Attorney General/ Julio Castro to mayor of San Antonio, Leticia Van De Pute (nominee for Lt. Gov)

§ Bilingual and immigration( many Republicans do not endorse the traditional immigration platform of the Republican party

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§ Latinos§ Candidates and Issue oriented (not

party-oriented)

§ Divisions occur between socioeconomic levels (greater than $50,000 more likely to support Republican candidates)

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§ Latinos§ In 2012- Republican National committee

launched the Growth and Opportunity project- strategies to expand to Latinos and African Americans

§ In 2014, Abbott garnered 40% of the Latino vote. Texas Latino voters vote more for Republicans than other Latino populations in the US

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Copyright © 2016 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

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Critical Thinking Question: How might developing a website in Spanish win support among Latino voters?

In an effort to win support among Latino voters, 2014 Rep. gubernatorial nominee Greg Abbott launched a website in Spanish.


§ African Americans§ African Americans not in statewide

offices until 1990s (Democrats-Morris Overstreet to Texas Court of Criminal Appeal)

§ Bush appointed Michael Williams at the Railroad Commission, now appointed by Perry to Commissioner of Education

§ Bush appointed Justice Wallace Jefferson and Dale Wainwright to Texas Supreme Court

§

§ Identify with Democratic Party

§ In 2014, no African Americans were candidates for statewide office

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§ African Americans§ Barbara Jordan (US Representative)

§ Ron Kirk- Dallas mayor and US Trade Representative

§ 10% of the state's population voters and identify with the Democrat Party though in recent years support for the Democrat Party has decreased

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Racial and Ethnic Politics§ African Americans§ 80% of Texans vote for Democrats; 5% for

Republicans and 5% Independent (growing)

§ In 2014, no African Americans were candidates for statewide office (They had retired as earlier noted or reassigned to other offices)

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Racial and Ethnic Politics§ Questions:§ Which party have Latinos

traditionally supported?§ In 2014, no African Americans

were holding statewide elected offices

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Women in Politics

§ Until 1990, only four women in statewide office

§ Notable Texas women in office:§ Governor “Ma” Ferguson

§ Governor Ann Richards

§ Mayor Annise Parker (Houston) Annette Strauss (1988-1991) mayor of Dallas

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Women in Politics§ 1990s—female mayors in 150 cities

§ Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison ( R ) and comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander ( R and later and Independent) led all candidates on either ticket in votes

§ Perry appointed (2013) Indian American Nandita Berry as Secretary of State

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Women in Politics§ In 1971, no women served in the Texas's

congressional delegation (US) and two served in the Texas legislature

§ 2009 44 women who served in the Texas Legislature and now 37; 7 in the Texas Senate and 30 in the Tx. Also many in the US House of Representatives

§ Presence of women changing public policy in education, family violence, sexual abuse 36

Voting

§ Obstacles to Voting§ Universal suffrage not until 1960s

§ Literacy tests (not used by Texas as a prerequisite for voter registration)

§ Grandfather clause-exempted people from educational, property, or tax requirements for voting if qualified to vote before 1867 or were descendants of such persons (Also, not used in Texas) 37

Voting

§ Obstacles to Voting§ All-white primaries-A nominating

system designed to prevent African Americans and some Latinos from participating in Democrat primaries from 1923-1944. (in Texas)

§ Smith v. Allright (1944)

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§ Questions:

§ Women candidates received the most votes for a single ofice in some elections early in the 21st century

§ By 2015, how many women had served as the governor of Texas

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Voting

§ Obstacles to Voting§ Poll tax- Levied in 1902 until voters

amended the Texas Constitution in 1966 to eliminate its poll tax (annual tax of $1.75; not paying it made you ineligible to vote in party primaries or in special and general elections)

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Voting

§ Obstacles to Voting§ Racial gerrymandering-drawing the

boundaries of a district designed to affect representation of a political party or group in a legislative chamber, city council, commissioners court or other representative body

§ Packing or Diluting minority votes

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Voting

§ Obstacles to Voting§ Although racial gerrymandering that

discriminates against minority votes is disallowed, federal law allows affirmative racial gerrymandering that results in the creation of “majority-minority” districts favoring election of more racial and ethnic minority candidates

§ Also known as minority opportunity districts

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Voting

§ Obstacles to Voting§ Districts must be reasonable in their

configuration and cannot be based solely on race. Shaw v. Reno, the US Supreme Court condemned two extremely odd-shaped African American minority opportunity districts in North Carolina

§ Used economics as a proxy43

Voting

§ Obstacles to Voting§ In 2011, The Texas legislature passed

controversial redistricting plans

§ In February 2012, the US District Court for the Western District of Texas agreed and drew interim congressional district maps that included two new districts with Latino majority and two new districts with Anglo majorities

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Voting

§ Obstacles to Voting§ In August 2012, three-judge federal

district court in Washington said was intentional discrimination but congressional and legislate redistricting maps were allowed for the November 2012 election

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Voting

§ Obstacles to Voting§ In Shelby County v. Holder (2013) the

US Supreme court declared unconstitutional Section 4b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which established a formula for determining which jurisdictions were required to obtain preclearance from the US Department of Justice before making any alteration to their election laws

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Voting

§ Obstacles to Voting§ Attorney General , Gregg Abbott ( now

Governor) announced that “redistricting maps passed by the Legislature could also take effect without approval from the federal government.”

§ US District Court didn't release Tx from preclearance just yet (motion to dismiss) but allowed the maps to be used as interim plans for the 2014 election

§ Still using Voter ID (2016 city election)47

Voting

§ Obstacles to Voting§ Minority voting strength may be diluted is

through the creation of an At- large majority district – A district that elects two or more representatives for state legislatures and city councils vs. the single member districts.

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Voting

§ Obstacles to Voting§ The votes of a minority group can be

diluted when combined with the votes of a majority group. Nevertheless, in Houston we have 5 at large with single member groups (overall vs select areas)

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Voting

§ Democratization of the Ballot§ Federal voting rights legislation

§ Voting Rights Act of 1965-Prohibits residency requirements of more than 30 days for voting in presidential elections

§ Requires states to provide some form of absentee or early voting

§ Allows individuals as well as Department of Justice (DOJ) to sue in federal court to request that voting examiners be sent to a particular area 50

Voting

§ Democratization of the Ballot§ Federal voting rights legislation (cont)

§ Requires states and jurisdictions withing a state to have different language ballots (Chinese, Vietnamese, and Spanish in Houston)

§ Texas voter ID law- certain ID's. Student ID's not allowed. Pros and Cons on page 183. Some changes made in 2016 51

Voting

§ Democratization of the Ballot§ Motor voter law- Requires certain

government offices ( motor vehicle licensing agency to offer voter registration applications to clients)

§ Second part of this law which has not been addressed by the DOJ is that states would be allowed to review the rolls to make sure individuals are eligible to vote ( check jury notices) 52

Voting

§ Democratization of the Ballot§ Two trends in suffrage

§ Steadily expanding- all persons, all genders 18 years or over

§ Movement toward uniformity in all states- Questionable???

§ Democratization of the ballot has been pressed on the states largely by the US Congress, by federal judges, and by presidents who have enforced voting laws and judicial orders

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Voting

§ Voter Turnout-The percentage of the voting-age population casting ballots in an election

§ In Texas, turnout higher in presidential election years than in mid-terms/local § But lower than national average (44% Tx. vs

54% for national average

§ 14% of residents ineligible (citizenship status)

§ Voting eligible (limited by illegals, felony incarceration) vs. voting age population (over 18)

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Voting

§ Voter Turnout§ Of all the socioeconomic influences on

voting, education is by far the strongest. As it rises, so does the likelihood of voting

§ Educated people more income, leisure time for voting, and knowledgeable about candidates

§ Education also strengthen voter efficacy, the belief that one's vote makes a difference

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Voting

§ Voter Turnout§ Income strongly affects voter turnout.

§ People of lower income often lack access to the polls (not as much true to today with all volunteers to drive) , information about the candidates (don't do the research as much as others), or opportunistic to learn about the system

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Voting

§ Voter Turnout§ Age Young people (18-25) have the lowest

voter turnout of any age group. Has increased in the last 10 years

§ People from 45-65 greatest turnout

§ Women more than men

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Voting

§ Voter Turnout§ Race and ethnicity

§ In Texas (2012), African Americans exceeded the average for all races

§ Latino vote slightly below the state average in both primaries and elections (narrowing)

§ Eligible voters (Latinos) was 12% below that of Anglos and more than 19% below that of African Americans and voting rate remained approximately two-thirds of state average 58

Voting

§ Voter Turnout § Factors influencing voting

§ Voter fatigue- the influence of pollsters and media consultants.

§ Influenced by many elections -Tx. Legislature limits most elections to two uniform elections dates (May and November) however many exceptions. ex. Runoff elections , local option elections, bond or levy, emergency elections called by governor or to fill vacancies by death

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Voting

§ Voter Turnout § Factors influencing voting

§ Psychological factors-negative campaigning by candidates

§ Lack of information about candidates

§ Costs (time, money, experience, etc.)

§ Cultural and socioeconomic factors

§ Education, income, gender, age

§ Ethnic/racial factors60

Voting

§ Administering Elections§ State responsibility (counties carry out

this responsibility)§ Texas Election Code-body of state law,

concerning parties,primaries, and elections

§ Qualifications for voting§ Citizen of U.S.

§ 18+ years old

§ Resident for 30+ days61

Voting

§ Administering Elections§ Resident of area covered by election

§ Registered 30 days before election

§ Not felon or mentally incompetent

§ Voting Early§ Mail-in ballot- over 65, physically disabled

(child birth), in jail, and military

§ Voting Early- anyone eligible can early vote 62


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Critical Thinking Question: With Texas’s new law requiring photo identification to vote, how might this affect astronauts’ ability to cast ballots from space?

NASA astronaut Michael Fincke, Expedition 18 commander, sent a message from the International Space Station urging all citizens to vote.

Voting

§ Administering Elections § Voting precincts-the basic geographic

area for conducting primaries and elections; Texas is divided into more than 8,500 voting precincts

§ Election officials → election judge,( appointed by the county commissioners court to administer an election in a voting precinct (trained by the county 64

Voting

§ Administering Elections § Voting systems

§ Paper ballot, optical scan and touch screen

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Critical Thinking Question: What type of voting system does your county use? Why do you believe your county commissioners selected this system?

An elections official explains the use of an electronic voting machine to a voter.

Primary, General and Special Elections§ Primary- A preliminary election conducted

within the party to select candidates who will run for for public office in a subsequent general election (2 or more Republicans or 2 or more Democrats (Need majority of the vote, so often run-offs)

§ General Election- Held in November of even-numbered years to elect county and state officials from among candidates nominated in primaries or (for small parties) in nominating conventions (Dem/Republican candidate. Only need the most votes

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Primary, General and Special Elections§ Development of Direct Primaries-

Political parties conduct primaries to select their nominees for public office. Usually occurs every two years (US Congress and many state, district, and county offices.

§ Presidential primaries occur every four years and allow the parties (Democrat/Republican) to select delegate to their parties' national conventions 68

Primary, General and Special Elections§

§ Direct primary-a nominating system that allows voters to participate directly in the selection of candidates to public office

§ Runoff primary-held after the first primary to allow party members to choose a candidate from the first primary's top two vote-getters

§ Closed primary- A primary in which voters must declare their support for a party before they are permitted to participate in the selection of its candidates

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Primary, General and Special Elections§ Open primary- A primary in which voters are not

required to declare party identification

§ Jungle primary-A nominating process in which voters indicate their preferences by using a single ballot on which are printed the names and respective party labels of all persons seeking. Nomination. A candidate who receives more than 50% of the vote is elected; otherwise, a runoff between the top two candidate must be held

§ Could possible have 2 Democrats/2 Republicans

§ Used in Louisiana and California

§

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Primay, General and Special Elections§ Texas Primaries§ 2014 elections primaries

§ Republican primaries in 246 counties

§ Democratic primaries in 231 counties

§ In Texas we have a mixture of open and closed primaries- Open in when you register to vote, you do not have to state if you are a republican or a democrat.

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Primay, General and Special Elections§ Closed primary, where voters declare

party membership by voting in one of the party's primary. So one declares at the time of voting rather than before, party membership by voting in one of the primaries. Card is stamped R/D

§ Closed in that one cannot go and vote in the other primary or participate in their convention once they have voted and may not not do so if there is a run-off

§

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Primay, General and Special Elections§ In the general election they can vote for

whomever they want regardless of any party affiliation they declared in the primary

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Primay, General and Special Elections§ Texas Primaries§ Crossover voting- A practice whereby a

person participates in the primary of one party, then votes for one or more candidates of another party in the general election

§ Crossover voting is evidence of a long-term trend toward voter independence of traditional party ties

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Primay, General and Special Elections§ Texas Primaries§ 1950 Democrats would cross over, vote in

the Republican primary, and then vote Democrat in the general election.

§ In 2008, Republicans crossed over to vote for Hillary to keep her in the race ( Operation Chaos)

§ Both are means of influencing the candidate of the other party ( the one less threatening in the general election)

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Primay, General and Special Elections§ Administering Texas Primaries

§ Most states, political parties sponsor and administer their own primaries

§ Texas Election Code allocates responsibility to each party's county executive committee. First Tuesday in March/even numbered years.

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Primay, General and Special Elections§ Renting facilities for polls, printing ballots

and other election materials, and paying election judges and clerks

§ 30% of the cost of holding Texas primaries has come from filing fees paid by candidates

§ The balance of these expenses is usually paid by the State of Texas. In 2014, Tx. Spend $13 million to assist with the cost

§

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Primay, General and Special Elections§ In lieu of paying a fee, a candidate may

file a nominating petition containing a specified number of signatures of people eligible to vote for the office for which that candidate is running

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Primary, General, and Special Elections§ General and Special Elections

§ General: first Tuesday in November

§ Off-year: Texas governor and other statewide office holders (so as not to be influenced by presidential elections)

§ In general election, must have a plurality (most votes) to win an election. Don't need majority of votes as primary.

§ Runoff of primary need plurality (Garcia and Alvardo)

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Primary, General, and Special Elections§ General and Special Elections

§ Special elections

§ The governor appoints Judicial appointments and executive appointments (bureaucracy) until the next election. Also will appoint US Senator in case of death or resignation until next upcoming election

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Primary, General, and Special Elections§

§ Special elections (cont)

§ Governor does not appoint for Texas Legislature (House and Senate) or US House of Representative. So special elections are conducted for vacancies in US congressional and state legislative offices

§ Bond issues and members of city councils and special districts 81

Primary, General, and Special Elections§

§ Questions:

§ Political parties are responsible for conducting primary elections

§ On which day are general elections held?

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Ann Richards as Texas Governor


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Analyze the components of a political