Parties and Elections in America: The Electoral Process

Parties and Elections in America: The Electoral Process

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Citizens register to vote in the precint where they live. Elections for the members of the U. House of Representatives are conducted among candidates who live in a particular congressional district , which may include any number of precints. According to Article I, Section 2 of the U. Constitution, the number of congressional districts each state may have is determined by its population.

A national census is taken every ten years to determine state populations. A congressional district may cover a large or small territory, but each district within a state contains approximately the same number of citizens. On election day registered voters go to the polls to vote. This means they appear in person at the official polling place in their precint. Public schools are often used for this purpose. The polls are open from early in the morning until late in the evening.

Members of the armed forces and civilians who are away from home may vote by absentee ballot and need not appear in person. At the polling place, the voter identifies himself or herself and is checked off an official list of registered voters.

Then the voter is led to a voting machine or handed a paper ballot, which lists the names of all the candidates from every party. Today most states use voting machines instead of paper ballots.

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Voting machines are either mechanical or computerized devices that keep count of the votes for each candidate. The voter makes his or her selections in a private voting booth. Then either the voting machine automatically records the vote, or the paper ballot which is folded or otherwise concealed from public view is deposited in a ballot box. After all the votes in a precint have been counted, a public official certifies the results and the winners for that precinct are declared.

In state and national elections, each state's secretary of state, who is the official administrator of the state's election laws, must be notified of the results. Other Types of Elections. Usually, if a candidate receives a majority of the votes, he or she is declared the winner.

However, in a race where there may be three or more strong candidates, it is possible that no one will receive a majority of votes. In such a situation, a runoff election may be held several weeks later. The two candidates who received the most votes run against each other again. Unless the election results in an exact tie, one candidate in the runoff will receive a majority of the votes and be declared the winner.

There are several types of elections in addition to primary, general, and runoff elections. Special elections may be held to fill an office whose occupant has died, resigned, or been recalled. An issues election, called a referendum , may be held to decide whether to accept or reject a piece of legislation. A recall election may be held to decide whether an office holder should be removed from office.

If the recall election succeeds in removing the elected official, the office may be filled by appointment by the president or governor, or by a special election. Under the American political system, general elections are held every fall, usually on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The choice of that time of the year for elections dates from the days when America was largely an agricultural society, and farmers were unable to take time to vote until the fall, after the harvests had been gathered.

In the United States, presidential elections are held every four years and congressional elections are held every two years. In congressional elections the entire House of Representatives and one third of the United States Senate are elected. There are state elections for governors and other statewide offices. The term of an American governor varies with the individual state — either two or four years. The state legislatures also must be elected at regular intervals. In addition, there are county, local, and city elections and even school-board elections, which are of vital interest to taxpayers and parents living in school districts.

Local elections are held at various times of the year.

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This round of federal, state, and local elections goes on in every community throughout the nation. No war or disaster has ever halted this vital function of the American electorate. From the time of the ancient Hebrews and Greeks, people have fought tyranny for the right to choose their own leaders. The early kings of Israel were chosen, as were the generals of the ancient Greek armies.

Xenophon's famous march across Asia Minor in B. The Greeks voted for their new leader while standing in the very shadow of the pursuing Persian hordes. The Teutonic tribes of Northern Europe elected the bravest members as their leaders. This habit of freely choosing their leaders was brought to Britain by the Anglo-Saxon conquerors some 1, years ago.

Thus, the right to vote for local officials became a part of English thinking and was brought to America by the early British colonists. The Constitution of the United States originally provided that the members of the House of Representatives would be elected by the people of each state — that is, the people who had the vote. In the early days of the Republic only about , people in a total population of more than 4,, could vote.

Each state had the right to restrict the vote. Voting was usually limited to free white men with certain property and religious qualifications. But by practically all the states allowed the vote to all white men over 21 years of age. After the Civil War the 15th Amendment to the Constitution gave the vote to men of all races. Suffrage the vote was not given to women in federal elections until , when the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified.

Elections are not really free unless the people voting in them are free from fear of those in power. The free and and secret ballot used in the United States and in many other democratic countries is one of the chief protections of voters and their right of choice. But this right was sometimes violated in the early days of the country, when much of the voting was oral, or spoken.

In the 's in New Jersey, certain counties used a written ballot, while others preferred the oral vote. In New England town elections, citizens often voted by a show of hands. In Virginia, during the lifetime of George Washington and for many years before and after, men voted by the spoken word. In , Pennsylvania ended the practice of oral voting with a ruling that stated: But the political parties continued to print the ballots.

With the spread of political machines and party bosses, the secret ballot no longer served to protect the voter and the honesty of elections. Ballots were printed in different bright colors by the major parties, thus destroying the secrecy necessary for freedom of choice. It was not until the 's that the Australian ballot came into general use in the United States. Under the Australian system the ballots are printed and distributed by the government rather than by the individual candidates or parties.

The introduction of the Australian ballot finally made elections genuinely secret. Today the use of voting machines has served to strengthen the safeguards sorrounding the secrecy of the vote. Since Cuba became a one-party republic and the Communist party became the official political party , the Cuban political system has been condemned by opposition groups , human rights groups, and foreign Western governments as undemocratic, a dictatorship or an authoritarian or totalitarian state, with all public elections considered to be only show elections.

Some observers say the same, describing it as a grassroots democracy , a centralized democracy , or a revolutionary democracy ; [3] not a liberal democracy. According to the constitution, Cuba is a socialist republic where all members or representative bodies of state power are elected and subject to recall and the masses control the activity of the state agencies, the deputies, delegates and officials.

Parties and Elections in America: The Electoral Process, Eighth Edition -

Elections in Cuba have two phases:. Candidates for municipal assemblies are nominated on an individual basis at local levels by the local population at nomination assemblies. Anyone older than 16 other than those mentally incapacitated, imprisoned, or deprived of their political rights can vote and be nominated to these posts. Suffrage is afforded to Cuban citizens resident for two years on the island who are aged over sixteen years and who have not been found guilty of a criminal offense.

The election of municipal assembly delegates involves nomination by voters in nomination assemblies, compilation of posting of candidate biographies, voting by secret ballot, and recall. Municipal elections are officially non-partisan. Nomination assemblies are held about a month before the election in areas within the electoral districts. In elections held on 21 October , turnout was reported to be 8. Municipal candidacy commissions submit nominations for provincial delegates to provincial candidacy commissions.

Parties and Elections in America: The Electoral Process

Cuba's national legislature, the National Assembly of People's Power , has members who sit for five-year terms. Members of the National Assembly represent multiple-member constituencies 2 to 5 members per district , with one Deputy for each 20, inhabitants. Candidates for the National Assembly are chosen by candidacy commissions chaired by local trade union officials and composed of elected representatives of "mass organisations" representing workers, youth, women, students and farmers. Elections to the National Assembly were held on 24 February According to the Cuban Ministry of External Affairs, at the October elections to the Candidacy Commissions which preceded the January National Assembly elections, "32, candidates were nominated for the 14, seats up for election in October at grassroots assemblies in which Article 88 h of the Cuban constitution , adopted in , provides for citizen proposals of law, prerequisite that the proposal be made by at least 10, citizens who are eligible to vote.

In supporters of a movement known as the Varela Project submitted a citizen proposal of law with 11, signatures calling for a national referendum on political and economic reforms. The Cuban National Assembly Constitution and Legal Affairs Committee tabled the Varela Project citizens' initiative and responded with a counter initiative, the petition for which collected 8.

The BBC reported that some citizens had felt pressured to sign the government petition. The Communist Party of Cuba is the official state party , [17] and various other political parties have been active in the country since their existence was legalised in Nevertheless, they, along with the Communist Party of Cuba, are prohibited from campaigning in elections or public political speech.

Members of all of those political groups are free to put themselves forward at open and public candidate selection "Town Hall" meetings and, if they command a simple majority of those present, will be entered onto the ballot paper and have their election materials posted. Fidel Castro made many statements insisting that Cuba is a democracy or has democratic features. If Government is of people and democratic, people can be consulted, as we are doing here.

What is more an example of pure democracy than meetings such as this one.

If they cannot call such meetings they are not democracies. We can speak to America and the world because we speak in names of a whole nation. For me, the starting point is the recognition that democracy should begin with Pericles 's definition — that society is for the benefit of the majority — and should not be imposed from outside. The Cuban government describes the full Cuban electoral process as a form of democracy. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: In practice a small group of leaders, under the direction of the president, selected the members of the highest policy-making bodies of the CP, the Politburo, and the Central Committee.

The CP was the only political party allowed to participate in the elections. A small minority of candidates did not belong formally to the CP but were chosen through the same government-controlled selection process. During the year there were elections for nearly 15 thousand local representatives to the municipal assemblies.

After the first run-off election, the government reported that While the law allows citizens not to vote, CDRs often pressured neighborhood residents to cast ballots. According to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights, the government blacklisted those who did not vote.

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Although not a formal requirement, in practice CP membership was a prerequisite for high-level official positions and professional advancement. Since , official European Union policy towards Cuba has stated an objective "to encourage a process of transition to a pluralist democracy via constructive engagement with the Cuban Government. When the National Assembly, which meets twice-yearly, is not in session the member Council of State wields legislative power. The Council of Ministers, through its 9-member executive committee, exercises executive and administrative power.

Although the Constitution provides for independent judiciary, it explicitly subordinates it to the National Assembly and to the Council of State. Involvement in decision-making and implementation through non-political actors has been institutionalised through national organisations, linked to the Communist Party, representing farmers, youth groups, students, women, industrial workers, etc.

The human rights situation in the island continues to cause major havoc in its international relations.

The EU has issued in the past demarches on concrete human rights issues in Cuba, e. Public political opposition in Cuba is not allowed, and political dissidents are pursued by the authorities. The Constitution and the Penal Code allow for severe sanctions against exercising freedom of expression if the activities of individuals are deemed to be "counter-revolutionary" or a "threat to national security. Every person having legal capacity is entitled to participate in the government of his country, directly or through his representatives, and to take part in popular elections, which shall be by secret ballot, and shall be honest, periodic and free.

In practice, however, these district assemblies are usually organized by the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution or the Communist Party, which makes the selection of an opponent of the regime most unlikely. In , the U. Freedom House is solely responsible for the objectives and planning of the project and for its administration. The Freedom House report states: Fidel Castro dominates the political system, having transformed the country into a one-party state with the Cuban Communist Party PCC controlling all governmental entities from the national to the local level.

Castro is responsible for every appointment and controls every lever of power in Cuba in his various roles as president of the Council of Ministers, chairman of the Council of State, commander in chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces FAR , and first secretary of the PCC. In October , some eight million Cubans voted in tightly controlled municipal elections. On January 19, , an election was held for the Cuban National Assembly, with just candidates - all supported by the regime - vying for seats.

All political organizing outside the PCC is illegal. Political dissent, spoken or written, is a punishable offense, and those so punished frequently receive years of imprisonment for seemingly minor infractions. In former U. Whilst calling for democratic change, Carter also stressed that he was not using a U.

It is based on some simple premises: The report from Human Rights Watch states:

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