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Eligibility Requirements and Campaign Finance Regulation in U.S. Elections

Learn about the eligibility requirements to run for office in the U.S. and the regulations governing campaign finance. Explore the impact of campaign length, funding, and political parties on modern campaigns.

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Eligibility Requirements and Campaign Finance Regulation in U.S. Elections

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  1. Chapter 8 Campaigns, Elections and Voting Behavior

  2. Who Is Eligible to Run for Office ? • there are few eligibility requirements to run for most U.S. offices • President • must be a natural born citizen • must be 35 years old • must be a resident of the country for 14 years before inauguration • Vice President • must be a natural born citizen • must be 35 years old • must not be a resident of the same state as the presidential candidate

  3. Who Is Eligible to Run for Office ? (cont.) • Senate • must be a citizen for at least nine years • must be 30 years old • must be a resident of the state from which elected • Representative • must be a citizen for at least seven years • must be 25 years old • must be a resident of the state from which elected

  4. The Modern Campaign Machine • longer campaigns than in past times • greater emphasis on funds • lesser emphasis on political parties • greater reliance on political consultants, who are hired to devise a campaign strategy • greater emphasis on candidate visibility, or name recognition • greater use of polls and focus groups

  5. Regulating Campaign Finance • Federal Corrupt Practices Act of 1925 • limited election expenses for candidates • required disclosures • was ineffective because of its many loopholes • The Hatch Act of 1939 • prohibited groups from spending more than $3 million in a campaign • limited individual contributions to committees to $5,000 • restricted political activities of civil servants • designed to end influence peddling

  6. Regulating Campaign Finance (cont.) • Federal Election Campaign Act of 1972 • restricted mass media expenditures • limited contributions by candidate and family members • required disclosure of all contributions over $80 • Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974 • created the Federal Election Commission • provided public financing of presidential elections’ • limited presidential election campaign spending • limited contributions • required disclosure of contributions and expenditures

  7. Regulating Campaign Finance (cont.) Buckley v. Valeo (1976) declared the 1972 limitation on what an individual could spend on his or her own election unconstitutional The Bi-partisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002 – bans soft, limits interest group advertising, increases individual contribution limit to $2000

  8. Running for President • Types of Presidential Primaries • closed primary – only voters who are declared party members can vote in that party’s primary • open primary – voters can vote in either party primary without disclosing their party affiliation • blanket primary – voters can vote in primary elections for candidates of more than one party (a Democrat for the presidential nominee and a Republican for the Senate nominee, for example) • run-off primary – if no candidate receives a majority in the first primary, some states require a second primary between the top two candidates

  9. The Electoral College • Electors in the Electoral College actually elect the president and vice president of the United States • the numbers of electors in each state in equal to that state’s number of representatives in both houses of Congress • electors typically cast their votes for the candidate that receives the plurality of votes in that state • because of the winner take all system of the electoral college, it typically serves to exaggerate the popular margin of victory

  10. How Presidents and Vice Presidents are Chosen IF top presidential and vice-presidential candidates receive fewer than 270 electoral votes, decisions are made in the House and Senate. Each state gets one vote in the House, two votes in the Senate. Presidential candidate receives 26 votes or more. General Election (first Tuesday in November) Voters vote for electors Electoral College (1st Monday after second Wednesday in December) Electors vote for president and vice president respectively President elected If no pres. Candidate receives 26 votes by Jan. 20, and v.p. has been elected, v.p. becomes acting pres. until pres. is elected by the House. House Representatives vote for president by state. Majority is needed to win. If neither candidate is elected by Jan. 20, speaker of the House becomes acting pres. until pres. is elected by the House. Senate Senators vote for vice president (from top 2 candidates). Majority is needed to win. Top presidential candidate receives 270 votes or more Top vice-presidential candidate receives 270 votes or more If no v.p. candidate is elected by Jan. 20, and pres. has been elected, a v.p. is appointed by the pres. and approved by Congress. President elected Vice president elected Vice president elected Vice presidential candidate receives 51 votes or more.

  11. Factors that Influence Who Votes • age • educational attainment • minority status • income levels • two-party competition

  12. Figure 8-2: Voter Turnout for Presidential and Congressional Elections, 1900 to Present

  13. Hot Links to Selected Internet Resources: • Book’s Companion Site: http://politicalscience.wadsworth.com/schmidtbrief2004 • Wadsworth’s Political Science Site: http://politicalscience.wadsworth.com • Federal Election Commission: http://www.fec.gov • OpenSecrets.org: http://www.opensecrets.org • Center for Voting and Democracy: http://www.fairvote.org

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