APUSG Review

Unit 3: Political Parties, Elections & Campaigns

Political Parties are organizations that sponsor candidates for office with the goal of getting them elected to advance an agendas. Today, most political scientists agree that a successfull democracy cannot exist without two major parties. In the United States, the two majority parties are the Democrats and the Republicans.

How to get on the ballot:

Caucus- Meeting of party leaders to determine candidates and party platform
Political Convention- Meeting of delegates to vote on candidates/platform
Party Convention- Held every 4 years over a series of days to vote for the Presidential candidate and Vice Presidential candidate.

Direct Primary- Voters choose nominees

3 Types of primaries- Open, Closed, and Crossover
Blanket Ballot- Everyone is on 1 ballot regardless of party for 1 vote. This type of ballot however it typically not used except in non-party elections.

The United States political system is set up by proportional representation, with the people of the US represented by a proportion of congressmen or women to population.

The US Congress is bicameral legislature set up of 435 House of Representatives Members and 100 Senators. Senators are elected every 6 years, while House members are elected every 2 years.

A Critical Election is an election in which party loyalty changes from one party to the other.

In addition to the two major parties of the US democracy, third parties, sometimes called independents also exist and play a role in the election process. These third parties or independents can exist in either party form, or a write in on a ballot.

While there are many third parties in the US, they very rarely ever win an election. Currently, only two congressmen hold such a position.
Third Parties however do play a major role in the elections. They can draw attention to issues that may be ignored by the majority parties. One of the other two major parties then may adopt this issue as their platform for the election. Third parties can also help the election by getting people to come out to vote, or by being used as a "protest vote" to show displeasure with the issue.

Running for President

Running for President is different compared to running for a state or national congressional position. The President and Vice President of the United States is elected based on the electoral college. Each state is given a number which each candidate needs to win. Larger states typically have larger numbers, such as California with 55 or New York with 31 in the 2008 election. These numbers per state can change from year to year after a Census is conducted. Due to larger states having higher numbers in the college, candidate tend to spend more time campaigning in these states. The magic number for a candidate to reach is 270.

Since the electoral college is not a direct election, a candidate can sometimes win without having the majority vote.