Campaigns, Elections, and the Threat to Democracy: What Everyone Needs to Know®

Cover
Campaigns, Elections, and the Threat to Democracy
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Preface to the Second Edition: Why You Need to Know about Campaigns, Elections, and the Threat to Democracy
Acknowledgments
1 Voting and Participation
How does the United States conduct elections?
What’s the historical background on the right to vote in America?
Why was the Voting Rights Act of 1965 important? What’s the importance of the 2013 Shelby County and the 2021 Brnovich decisions?
Who votes more, men or women? Why is there a gap between the voting participation of women and men? What about Gen Xers and Millennials?
What are the rates of voting for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans? And what was the racial makeup of those who voted in recent elections?
Before 2020, had there been efforts to diminish voting participation?
Do convicted felons ever get back the right to vote?
Why do so few voters participate in elections, especially in state and local contests?
Compared to other democracies, how does the United States rank in terms of voting participation?
What would happen if every American adult were required to vote, as in some other countries?
After the 2000 presidential election exposed problems in local voting systems, Congress passed legislation to make sweeping reforms in the administration of voting procedures. Has that made any difference?
How vulnerable are state and local voting procedures to hacking and cyber threats?
How accurate are voting records?
Can a person be kicked off the voting rolls for failing to vote in previous elections?
Before the 2020 election, how did mail-​in ballots, absentee-​ballot voting systems, and early voting work out?
In recent years, there have been charges of widespread voter fraud. Are those charges believable?
2 Carving Out Legislative Districts
How do some states gain and some states lose congressional seats following reapportionment?
Why has redistricting been such a problem?
What are the requirements for creating legislative districts?
Who makes the decision about redistricting legislative districts?
What is partisan “gerrymandering”? How far can it go before it is unconstitutional?
Has there been any attempt to take redistricting and gerrymandering out of the hands of partisan legislators?
Why do all states get two senators no matter how big—​or small—​they are?
3 Political Parties and Elections
When did the two major political parties play an important role in elections and campaigns?
The South was once very Democratic but now is largely Republican. What happened?
What’s the difference between Republicans and Democrats?
Shouldn’t the Republican Party really be called the “Trump Party”?
Why are we so polarized today?
How much disagreement is there within the political parties?
Who has more followers, Democrats, Republicans, or independents?
How did we get the labels “red states” and “blue states”?
What are the Democrats’ “Blue Wall” and the Republicans’ “Red Wall”?
What are the states moving from one party to another?
Wasn’t the Tea Party a separate political party?
Do other political parties get involved in presidential elections?
Have the political parties surrendered their role in campaigning to wealthy donors and super PACs?
What’s happened to the Democratic Party and the Republican Party?
4 Statewide, Local, and Congressional Elections
How many state and local elections are there?
What are the rules and regulations controlling campaign financing at the state and local levels?
How do local candidates get out the message and let voters know about themselves?
Are more women running for political office than in previous years?
Does it cost a lot for local candidates to run for office?
Do states have public financing laws and, if so, what offices do they apply to?
How can an average citizen help a candidate or a cause at the local level?
Electing judges has become more and more like electing regular political candidates. Is there any danger to this?
Congressional incumbents hardly ever lose when they are up for re-​election. Why is that so?
5 Presidential Elections
Can anyone run for president, or is that just an old American myth?
Why do presidential elections last so long?
Why do we have so many primaries and caucuses?
What’s the difference between a caucus and a primary?
Why does Iowa go first?
How do you become a party delegate? What’s a “superdelegate”?
What is the Electoral College and how does it work?
Why did the Founding Fathers decide that we needed the Electoral College to determine presidential elections?
Who are the electors, and how do you get to be one?
What if “faithless” electors refuse to vote for the winner of the popular ballot?
What if the president-​elect dies before the Electoral College meets?
What happens if no candidate receives 270 votes when the Electoral College tallies the votes?
What’s the “winner-​take-​all” system?
What is a “battleground” state?
What states have had the most consistent record in voting on the winning side of presidential elections?
How close have recent presidential contests been?
What about third-​party candidates, with no chance of winning, acting as spoilers?
How much money is spent in presidential elections? Do the candidates (and their allies) who spend the most money always win?
What kinds of reforms have been suggested for our lengthy primary and caucus season?
Why don’t we just have a nationwide election where whoever gets the most votes wins, and not worry about the Electoral College vote?
What is the idea of a national popular-​vote compact?
6 The 2020 Presidential Election
How did Joe Biden win the crowded Democratic primaries?
How many people voted, and how many, thanks to Covid-​19, voted early or used mail-​in ballots?
How close was the election? Didn’t Biden win by over 7 million votes?
Weren’t many states heavily for Trump and others heavily for Biden?
But what about the razor-​thin results in some of the states?
How about the battleground states? How did Trump and Biden fare?
Were third-​party candidates a factor in 2020? Ever heard of Jo Jorgenson?
How was Biden able to win Georgia, which almost always goes Republican?
What about the recounts and audits in Georgia, Arizona, and other places?
How did voter turnout in 2020 compare to recent presidential elections?
If every eligible adult had voted, how many more people would that be?
How secure was the presidential election from Russian interference and cyberattacks?
7 The Big Lie and Its Aftermath
What was the “Big Lie”?
Did the “stop the steal” movement occur before Trump came along?
What groups were pushing the “Stop the Steal” and Big Lie efforts?
Why did so many Republicans believe the Big Lie?
Why did so many Republican members of Congress go along with the Big Lie?
To what lengths did Trump go to challenge and refute the election results?
Did Vice President Mike Pence have the authority to overturn the election?
How did state election officials react?
How successful were Trump and his supporters in the courts?
Didn’t Trump’s lawyers and allies get into trouble with the courts and the legal profession?
What about the defamation suit brought by Dominion Voting Systems?
In the end, has there been any proof of “massive voter fraud” and a “stolen election” as repeatedly charged by Trump and his supporters?
Have we ever seen a president or major candidate promote this kind of falsehood?
In really tight past presidential elections, how did the losing candidate react?
8 Money, Mega-​Donors, and Wide-​Open Spending
What federal rules and regulations controlled campaign financing before 1971?
What did the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 do?
Can individual candidates spend as much as they want on their own campaigns?
What’s the difference between “hard” money and “soft” money?
What are political action committees (PACs)?
What did the McCain-​Feingold Act do to fix campaign-​finance problems?
What do organizations do to get around campaign funding restrictions?
How did the Supreme Court undo campaign-​finance reform in Citizens United and subsequent cases?
What are 501(c) groups, and how do they impact campaign spending?
How do super PACs differ from ordinary PACs?
What is “dark money” and how important has it been in recent elections?
Who are the top individual mega-​donors, how much have they spent, and where do they stand politically?
What about regular people? Do they give money to political candidates?
How well has the FEC performed its job of enforcing campaign-​finance rules?
Didn’t the IRS get in trouble for trying to oversee these organizations?
Where does all that campaign money go?
What are the most expensive campaigns at the federal (but not presidential) level?
Do candidates who amass the most money always win?
What about self-​funded candidates?
Where are we now with federal campaign laws?
9 Inner Workings of Modern Campaigns
Why can’t candidates just run on their own, without the need for consultants and handlers?
What are the key elements of any successful political campaign?
What do you mean by political consultants, and what kinds of services do they provide?
What do media consultants provide?
What do pollsters do for a campaign?
How much information do political campaigns have on the average voter?
Who have been some of the most important political consultants over the years, and where are they now?
In 2016, it was Hillary Clinton’s race to lose. How did her consultants and strategists get it wrong, and did Trump show that consultants aren’t all that necessary or smart in getting a candidate elected?
What about Trump versus Biden in 2020? How did the campaign strategies fare?
10 Direct Democracy—​Ballot Campaigns
When and why did ballot campaigns become a part of American politics?
What’s the difference between initiatives, referendums, and recalls?
What states have direct democracy through ballot campaigns? What about at the local level?
How do political consultants get involved in ballot issues?
What was California’s Proposition 13?
How many people are affected by ballot initiatives?
How much money is spent on ballot campaigns, and who spends the money?
How successful are ballot issues? What is “choice fatigue”?
What are the downsides of ballot initiatives and direct democracy?
Is there a federal recall mechanism? Can voters recall a member of Congress, a cabinet member, or the president?
What about a national referendum? Is it allowed in the Constitution? What might the ramifications of a nationwide ballot initiative be?
11 How Campaigns Have Changed
Federal candidates now say, “I’m [name] and I approve this message.” When did that become a part of campaigning, and why?
How has the digital revolution changed campaigning?
Is regular television dead, or is there still room for national and local television news coverage in our digital age?
There is more polling done today than ever before. Is it worthwhile, and is it more accurate than past polling?
Has early voting changed the way campaigns are run? Has early voting been good for voters and for democracy?
How have outside voices expanded their impact on campaigns?
In sum, how have campaigns been transformed since the twentieth century in the first two decades of the twenty-​first century?
12 Threats to Democracy
What’s happened to our faith in democracy?
What is the global impact of the January 6 insurrection?
What has happened to trust in government and institutions?
Has any other president refused to participate in the inauguration of his successor?
Is voter suppression real?
Who was paying for these efforts to restrict voting?
Why can’t we just have one federal set of laws to protect voting rights?
Why are Republican lawmakers so intent on making voting more difficult?
Which is worse: international interference in our elections or domestic attempts to undermine them?
Why don’t more citizens participate in voting? Is registration the barrier?
What about voter apathy, especially among young voters?
Why not hold general elections on the weekend or make Election Day a national holiday?
How confident should we be about our decentralized election system?
How can we combat “fake news” and social media lies?
Do plutocrats control our elections?
Many consider the current campaign-​financing system to be a mess. Is there any way to reform it?
How can citizens find out which groups gave money to political candidates? For example, who received money from tobacco companies, pro-​choice organizations, unions, or the National Rifle Association?
Notes
Further Reading
Index