Extra cridet PS 202

PS 202: Introduction to State and Local Government

Issue 4

Political Parties

Republican.

Democrat.

Libertarian.

Green.

Non-affiliated.

What do these mean?

What are they?

How do influence elections?

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

What are Political Parties? Political Parties: Organizations comprised of people who nominate &

support candidates for elected offices.

Political parties organizations are not as dominant or have as much direct control as

once did.

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

What are Political Parties?

Why? : • Parties have become, or at least perceived to be, homogenous

• The ability of the major parties to adapt to the nation's political development has

resulted in a two parties dominating of the political process.

• Party identification-the self-proclaimed preference for one of the parties, has declined for

both parties and the resultant upsurge of independents/non-affiliated voters

• Development of Candidate–Centered Politics: • Politics in which candidates promote themselves & their own campaigns rather than

the party selecting the candidate

• Candidates self-select under a party label, candidates no longer have to come

up the ranks of the party, they go directly to voters i.e. Trump/Sanders

• Replacement of party conventions with primary elections

• Establishment of the merit system of hiring

History of Political Parties

• Parties used to dominate political and social organization • During the early 20th Century, political parties were unregulated, private

associations.

• Strong influence because: • Livelihoods revolved around party interests because political party machines controlled

jobs, government contracts, social benefits – they were the social services.

• Political Machines: Political organizations controlled by small number of people and run for partisan, controlled party nominations for public office and rewarded supporters with government jobs and contracts • Selected and ran slates of candidates, • Generally locally based, local party were more important actors

• Patronage: Ability of elected officials or party leaders to hand out jobs to their friends and supporters rather hiring through the merit system

• Party Conventions: Candidates were selected through Party Conventions • Meeting of party officials called to nominate candidates for office and establish party

platform – party leaders had enormous control over candidates

This led to the corruption in local and state elections,

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

Reforms of the weakened political parties

Selecting of Candidates

– Party Conventions were replaced with primary systems that include primary elections and caucuses to remove party leader control;

– Primary elections and caucuses are now used to select candidates for the general elections – elections are now about candidates, not just voting for the person with “D” or “R” next to their name;

– The manner in which party primary elections are conducted varies widely from state to state.

– Most primaries can be categorized as either open, closed or top- two. In other states, the primary type does not fall neatly into a category, but may represent a hybrid of these types.

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

Selecting of Candidates

• Caucus system: a caucus is a local gathering where voters

openly decide which candidate to support for election.

– Voting is conducted at local party meetings and can be done by raising hands or breaking up into groups.

- Characterize by low voter participation

– States choose whether they want to hold primaries or caucuses.

– Core members control (can be open or closed)

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

Selecting of Candidates

Primary System: Voters, through secret ballot, directly choose among several candidates within their party to determine general election nominee

Types of Primaries:

1. Closed Primary (11 states): Only voters who are registered to a specific party members can vote

2. Open Primary (11 states): Does not require party membership, any voter qualified to vote in general election can participate.

– This means that a Democrat could "cross over” and cast a vote in the Republican

primary, or vice versa, and an unaffiliated voter can choose either major party's

primary.

– Proponents say that this system gives voters maximum flexibility because they

can cross party lines.

– Opponents counter that this system dilutes a political party’s ability to nominate

its own candidate without interference from non-members.

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

Types of Primaries:

3. Top – Two (run-off) (4 states): all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, are listed on one ballot. Voters choose their favorite candidate, and the top two vote-getters become the candidates in the general election.

• The top-two model is not used for presidential primaries in any state.

• Proponents say that top-two primaries give independent voters an equal voice and

may help elect more moderate candidates from the major parties.

• Opponents argue that it can reduce ballot access for third party candidates and

lessen voter choice in that two Democrats or two Republicans could be the only

candidates in the general election.

There have been initiatives efforts in Oregon to change to a Top-Two system.

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

Types of Primaries:

4) Hybrid Systems

Many states use primary election systems that fall somewhere in between "open" and

"closed." Procedures are unique from state to state, and how to categorize these

primaries is a judgment call.

• Semi-closed primary: Participation is open to registered party members and

unaffiliated voters. State election rules determine whether unaffiliated voters may

make their choice of party primary in the privacy of the voting booth or in public by

registering with a party on Election Day.

• Semi-open primary: Any registered voter may participate in any party primary but

when they identify themselves to election officials they must request a party’s

specific ballot.

Types of Primaries:

5) Hidden primary: label for the informal competition

between candidates to gather endorsements and

contributions before the actual election season begins

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

If parties cannot control candidates

or how they are elected,

what is their role in elections?

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

Political Parties matter…..

• Provide identity for a candidate in state elections, whom voters’ are

not as familiar;

• Party label conveys meaning, implies social, cultural and fiscal

values

• Organize the electoral and government system Legislative majorities (parties) organize legislatures by:

•selecting leadership •setting agenda •determining rules •Coordinate policy-making

• Recruitment of candidates, particularly at the state and local level

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

• Provide organizational, campaign, and financial support to self-selected

candidates

• Parties are the conduit to money, branding, and marketing

• Utilize money to exert influence over candidates

• Candidates no longer need machines to reach voters, but need television –

provide money, polling, and consultants to connect with voters

• Independent Expenditures:

• Political activities that are run by party or outside groups without the direct

knowledge or approval of a particular candidate for office

• Commonly in the form of attack ads – keeps candidates hands clean

• Political Action Committee (PAC): groups formed for the purpose of raising

money to elect or defeat political candidates.

- Serve as financing arm of corporations, labor unions, trade associations

and political parties

How strong are political parties?

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

The strength of political parties is measured by the Responsible Party System

Responsible Party System: The responsible party model calls for each party to present distinct, comprehensive programs; carry out its program if elected; implement its programs if it is the majority party or state what it would do if it were in power; and accept responsibility for the performance of the government.

Parties are not strong: They are too decentralized to take a single national position and then

enforce it; parties do not have control over those who run under their labels;

and there is no mechanism for a party to discipline officeholders and ensure

cohesion in policymaking.

Registered Voters as of October 2016:

Total: 2,577,717

Democrats: 988, 848- Major

Republicans: 716, 953 - Major

Independent Party 119, 664 - Major

Libertarians: 19, 065

Pacific Green: 10, 252

Working Families 10,709

Constitutional 3,670

Other: 19, 096

Non-Affiliated: 687, 585

Parties are not strong: • They are too decentralized to take a single national position and then

enforce it; • Parties do not have control over those who run under their labels; and • There is no mechanism for a party to discipline officeholders and ensure

cohesion in policymaking.

There is no single party in the United States can ever be said to have firm control over the

government, the hard choices necessary to limit the growth of government are rarely

addressed.

Divided government has meant that neither party is really in charge, and each tries to blame

the other for failures and limitations of government.

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

With increase in cross-voting, nonaffiliated voters, why

have third parties not become a viable alternative?

Two-Party System: Institutional Advantages

• Duverger’s Rule: A two-party system develops in a plurality voting

system.

In a plurality system, voters have a single vote, which they can cast

for a single candidate in their district, in which only one legislative

seat is available.

If the winner of the seat is determined purely by the candidate with

the most votes, as occurs in the plurality vote, the two party system

is reinforced and the development of third parties is limited

because the other candidates get nothing.

• Lack of proportional representation

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

Two-Party System: Institutional Advantages

1) Access to the Ballot

Major parties: (those who have more than 5% of the registered votes) have automatic access to ballot

Minor parties need signatures of 1.5% of the number of voters in last gubernatorial election in district, or maintain .5% of electorate

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

Two-Party System: Institutional Advantages 2. District Design and Political Party Control

Single-member districts verse multi-member at-large districts:

– All of the voters are ultimately represented by the candidate who wins the most votes in the district and how voters are grouped into districts influences who represents them and what policies they fight for.

Redistricting: Redrawing of state legislative and congressional boundaries to ensure roughly equal population state and U.S. Constitution

- It is a political process because it has been used to ensure that only party can be elected

• “Gerrymandering”: drawing districts to favor specific political parties or interests

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

Two-Party System: Ideological Advantages

• Moderate ideological political culture

- Battle for middle ground leave little room for third party

- Appeal to broad range of citizens

- People are not terribly unhappy with parties, recognize the potential for

“wasted vote”

- True independent, few, people still have tendency

- Major parties co-opt minor parties, and bring them into the fold

- Adapt to changing political environment and rules

POLITICAL PARTIES: Role of Parties and why they matter?

Political Values Bell Curve

Liberal Moderate Conservative

Candidates must win their more extreme party loyalists in the

primary. The two major parties fight for the middle in the

general election.

Interest Groups: Organizations of like-minded individuals

who seek to influence specific policies, not control

government or elect members

• Objective is to influence decisions made by elected bodies

through participation and pressure

• Give specific voice to minority interests;

• Success is measured in terms of getting the group’s

preferences enacted or blocking actions that are detrimental

to them

• They come in all different sizes and types

Interest Groups vs Political Parties