1.
Election
–
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated since the 17th century, Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and judiciary, and for regional and local government. This process is used in many other private and business organizations. Electoral reform describes the process of introducing fair electoral systems where they are not in place, psephology is the study of results and other statistics relating to elections. To elect means to choose or make a decision, and so other forms of ballot such as referendums are referred to as elections. Elections were used as early in history as ancient Greece and ancient Rome, and throughout the Medieval period to select rulers such as the Holy Roman Emperor, in Vedic period of India, the raja of a gana was apparently elected by the gana. The raja belonged to the noble Kshatriya varna, and was typically a son of the previous raja, however, the gana members had the final say in his elections. The Pala king Gopala in early medieval Bengal was elected by a group of feudal chieftains, such elections were quite common in contemporary societies of the region. In Chola Empire, around 920 CE, in Uthiramerur, palm leaves were used for selecting the village committee members, the leaves, with candidate names written on them, were put inside a mud pot. To select the members, a young boy was asked to take out as many leaves as the number of positions available. This was known as the Kudavolai system, ancient Arabs also used election to choose their caliph, Uthman and Ali, in the early medieval Rashidun Caliphate. Questions of suffrage, especially suffrage for minority groups, have dominated the history of elections, males, the dominate cultural group in North America and Europe, often dominated the electorate and continue to do so in many countries. Early elections in such as the United Kingdom and the United States were dominated by landed or ruling class males. However, by 1920 all Western European and North American democracies had universal male suffrage. Despite legally mandated universal suffrage for males, political barriers were sometimes erected to prevent fair access to elections. The question of who may vote is an issue in elections. In Australia Aboriginal people were not given the right to vote until 1962, suffrage is typically only for citizens of the country, though further limits may be imposed. However, in the European Union, one can vote in municipal elections if one lives in the municipality and is an EU citizen, the nationality of the country of residence is not required
Election
–
A
ballot box
Election
–
Roman coin depicting election
Election
–
A British election ballot paper, 1880
Election
–
Campaigners working on posters in
Milan, Italy, 2004
2.
Primary election
–
A primary election is an election that narrows the field of candidates before a general election for office. Primary elections are one means by which a party or a political alliance nominates candidates for an upcoming general election or by-election. Primaries are common in the United States, where their origins are traced to the movement to take the power of candidate nomination from party leaders to the people. Other methods of selecting candidates include caucuses, conventions, and nomination meetings, where primary elections are organized by parties, not the administration, two types of primaries can generally be distinguished, Closed primary. In the case of closed primaries, internal primaries, or party primaries, all voters can take part in an open primary and may cast votes on a ballot of any party. The party may require them to express their support to the partys values, in the United States, other types can be differentiated, Closed primary. People may vote in a primary only if they are registered members of that party prior to election day. Eleven states – Delaware, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, as in closed primaries, registered party members can vote only in their own partys primary. Semi-closed systems, however, allow unaffiliated voters to participate as well, depending on the state, independents either make their choice of party primary privately, inside the voting booth, or publicly, by registering with any party on Election Day. A registered voter may vote in any party primary regardless of his own party affiliation, eleven states - Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wisconsin - have open primaries. When voters do not register with a party before the primary, because of the open nature of this system, a practice known as raiding may occur. Raiding consists of voters of one party crossing over and voting in the primary of another party, the theory is that opposing party members vote for the weakest candidate of the opposite party in order to give their own party the advantage in the general election. An example of this can be seen in the 1998 Vermont senatorial primary with the nomination of Fred Tuttle as the Republican candidate in the general election, a registered voter need not publicly declare which political partys primary that they will vote in before entering the voting booth. When voters identify themselves to the officials, they must request a partys specific ballot. Only one ballot is cast by each voter, in many states with semi-open primaries, election officials or poll workers from their respective parties record each voters choice of party and provide access to this information. The primary difference between a semi-open and open system is the use of a party-specific ballot. In a semi-open primary, a declaration in front of the election judges is made. Certain states that use the format may print a single ballot
Primary election
–
The
New Hampshire primary is key to U.S. presidential nominating contests.
Hillary Clinton greets supporters after winning the 2008 primary.
3.
Recall election
–
A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before their term has ended. Recalls, which are initiated when sufficient voters sign a petition, have a history dating back to the ancient Athenian democracy and are a feature of several contemporary constitutions, in indirect or representative democracy peoples representatives are elected and these representatives rule for a specific period of time. But if any representative is not properly discharging their responsibilities, then they can be called back with the written request of specific number of voters, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia enacted representative recall in 1995. In that province, voters in a provincial riding can petition to have their representative in parliament removed from office, by January 2003,22 recall efforts had been launched. No one has been recalled so far, but one representative, Paul Reitsma, Reitsma resigned during the secondary verification stage and the recall count ended. While recalls are not provided for at the level in Switzerland, six cantons allow them, Bern. 30,000 signatures are required to trigger a recall referendum, there has been one unsuccessful attempt to recall the executive in 1852. Schaffhausen, Recall of the executive and legislative is possible since 1876,1,000 signatures are required to trigger a recall referendum. There has been one attempt to recall the executive in 2000 triggered by the lawyer. Solothurn, Recall of the executive and legislative is possible since 1869,6,000 signatures are required to trigger a recall referendum. There has been one attempt to recall the executive and legislative in 1995. Three further attempts failed to collect the number of signatures. Ticino, Recall of the executive is possible since 1892,15,000 signatures are required to trigger a recall referendum. There has been one unsuccessful attempt in 1942. In addition, recall of municipal executives is possible since 2011, signatures of 30% of all adult citizens are required to trigger a recall referendum. Thurgau, Recall of the executive and legislative is possible since 1869,20,000 signatures are required to trigger a recall referendum. There have been no recall attempts, uri, Recall of the executive and legislative is possible since 1888. Since 1979600 signatures are required to trigger a recall referendum, in addition, recall of municipal executives and legislatives is possible since 2011
Recall election
–
Submitting petitions for the recall of
Seattle, Washington mayor
Hiram Gill in December 1910; Gill was removed by a recall election the following February, but voters returned him to the office in 1914.
4.
Gerrymandering
–
In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice intended to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander, however, that word can refer to the process. The term gerrymandering has negative connotations, two principal tactics are used in gerrymandering, cracking and packing. S. Federal voting district boundaries that produce a majority of constituents representative of African-American or other racial minorities, Gerrymandering can also be used to protect incumbents. Gerrymandering should not be confused with malapportionment, whereby the number of voters per elected representative can vary widely without relation to how the boundaries are drawn. Nevertheless, the suffix has been applied to particular malapportionments. Sometimes political representatives use both gerrymandering and malapportionment to try to maintain power, the word gerrymander was used for the first time in the Boston Gazette on 26 March 1812. The word was created in reaction to a redrawing of Massachusetts state senate election districts under Governor Elbridge Gerry, in 1812, Governor Gerry signed a bill that redistricted Massachusetts to benefit his Democratic-Republican Party. When mapped, one of the districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a mythological salamander. The original gerrymander, and original 1812 gerrymander cartoon, depict the Essex South state senatorial district for the legislature of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, gerrymander is a portmanteau of the governors last name and the word salamander. The redistricting was a notable success, the author of the term gerrymander may never be definitively established. This cartoon was most likely drawn by Elkanah Tisdale, an early 19th-century painter, designer, Tisdale had the engraving skills to cut the woodblocks to print the original cartoon. These woodblocks survive and are preserved in the Library of Congress, the word gerrymander was reprinted numerous times in Federalist newspapers in Massachusetts, New England, and nationwide during the remainder of 1812. This suggests some organized activity of the Federalists to disparage Governor Gerry in particular, Gerrymandering soon began to be used to describe not only the original Massachusetts example, but also other cases of district shape manipulation for partisan gain in other states. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the acceptance was marked by its publication in a dictionary. Since the letter g of the eponymous Gerry is pronounced /ɡ/ as in go, however, pronunciation as /ˈdʒɛrimændər/, with a /dʒ/ as in gentle, has become the accepted pronunciation. From time to time, other names are given the suffix to tie a particular effort to a particular politician or group. These include the 1852 Henry-mandering, Jerrymander, Perrymander, and Tullymander, Gerrymandering is used most often in favor of ruling incumbents or a specific political party—the one drawing the map
Gerrymandering
–
This satirical map reflects the origin of the word "gerrymander", by Elkanah Tisdale in 1813.
Gerrymandering
5.
Cash For Vote
–
The 2015 cash-for-votes scam was a South Indian political scandal, the second scandal of its kind since the 2008 North Indian cash-for-votes scandal. The Telugu Desam MLA Revanth Reddy was arrested by the Telangana Police when he was offering Rs.50 lakhs to the nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson, Reddy was then presented before the court of justice and sent to jail. Similarly, the conversation, which was quoted as the voice of N. Chandrababu Naidu. The elections for the Council of Telangana Assembly were initiated and the notification for six upper house seats were released, five candidates from TRS, one from Congress and one from Telugu Desam got ready to contest the elections. The Telugu Desam and allied BJP together does not have enough votes to win the contest, then the news came out that they were trying to get votes from other parties. The Party President Chandrababu Naidu conducted meetings to analyze this matter, the rival parties have sensed that they are attempting to lure their MLA’s, so the respective party leaders became cautious. In this process a high drama took place at Stephenson’s place, the TDP MLA Revanth Reddy met Stephenson with the help of an aide. Following Revanth’s suggestion this aide tried to deliver Rs.50 lakh currency bundles, the videos of Revanth Reddy during this transaction turned out to be critical and aired on TV News channels. The video recording shows that Revanth Reddy spoke several matters with Stephenson and he mentioned that he is the active leader in Telangana and also said that his ‘Boss’ assigns crucial matters only to him. He assured that everything will be taken care by Boss, and mentioned that he reported about money matter. He stressed that everything is based on Boss instruction. Authorities arrested Revanth Reddy and later the video was telecasted in media, everyone understood that when a Party MLA refers someone as ‘Boss’ repeatedly, it may be none otherthan the Party President Chandrababu Naidu. As per the arguments of nominated MLA Stephenson, it is coming to know that Chandrababu was the one who doctored the entire episode, the sequential events began on May 28 when one by name Mattaiah met Stephenson. This Mattaiah tried to cash in regard to MLC elections. But, Stephenson approached ACB authorities believing that it is unethical, later Sebastian, another person from TDP and after him Revanth Reddy entered the course of events. On May 30 Sebastian along with Revanth Reddy went straight to Stephenson’s residence to negotiate the deal, the duo told him that a secret meeting with Chandrababu will be arranged. The same day evening they made him speak to Chandrababu over phone, Chandrababu assured him that he will take care of everything and mentioned that his persons informed him about the deal. He then assured him that the promises will be honored, the next day i. e. on May 31 Revanth Reddy along with his aides met Stephenson with cash
Cash For Vote
–
AP CM
Chandrababu Naidu
6.
Initiative
–
In political science, an initiative is a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote. The initiative may take the form of an initiative or an indirect initiative. In a direct initiative, a measure is put directly to a vote after being submitted by a petition, in an indirect initiative, a measure is first referred to the legislature, and then put to a popular vote only if not enacted by the legislature. It is a form of direct democracy, the Canadian province of British Columbia has a citizen initiative law known as the Recall and Initiative Act. The original proposal was put to voters in a referendum held in October 1991 and was supported by over 83% of voters and it was subsequently put into force by the incoming NDP government. The first referendum was held under this legislation on September 2011 on the subject of repealing the Harmonized Sales Tax, details of its use in BC are available on the Elections BC website. The rejected Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe included an indirect initiative right. The precise mechanism had not been agreed upon, critics underlined the weakness of this right of initiative, which did not ultimately entail any vote or referendum. A similar scheme under the name, European Citizens Initiative, has been put forward in the now ratified European Lisbon Treaty. It follows very similar rules to the ones outlined in the European Constitution and these citizens would thereby obtain the same right to request the Commission to submit a legislative proposal as the Council has had since the establishment of the European Communities in 1957. This, however, does require that the signatures come from a significant number of Member States and it is suggested that this significant number will need to be around a quarter of member states, with at least 1/500 of the citizens in those member states supporting the initiative. With the variety of languages within the European Union, this creates a significant hurdle for people to navigate. In 2013 the subjects of ongoing open initiatives of the European Citizens Initiative are e. g. about water and sanitation as a human right, unconditional Basic Income, or to End Ecocide in Europe. It remains to be if the ECI evolves into a full initiative or remains in its present state of a de facto petition. Since March 1,2012, groups of at least 50,000 Finnish citizens with suffrage have had the right to send a citizens initiative to the Parliament of Finland. A limited, indirect form of initiative was added to the French Constitution on 28 March 2003 as part of decentralization reforms. However, the only power these local referendum initiatives confer on citizens is the ability to add propositions to their local assemblys meeting agenda, the decision as to whether to submit citizen propositions to a popular vote rests with the local assembly. All German states have the right to initiative, however, there is no constitutional citizens initiative in Germany at a federal level
Initiative
–
Signature collection point at
The Body Shop in
Kluuvi shopping centre,
Helsinki, for one of the first citizens’ initiatives in Finland, about banning
fur farming.
7.
Secret ballot
–
The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voters choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous, forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation and potential vote buying. The system is one means of achieving the goal of political privacy, Secret ballots are used in conjunction with many different voting systems. The most basic form of secret ballot uses blank pieces of paper, without revealing the votes to anyone, the voter would fold the ballot paper and place it in a sealed box, which is emptied later for counting. An aspect of secret voting is the provision of a booth to enable the voter to write on the ballot paper without others being able to see what is being written. Today, printed ballot papers are provided, with the names of the candidates or questions. Provisions are made at the place for the voters to record their preferences in secret. The ballots are designed to eliminate bias and to prevent anyone from linking voter to ballot, a problem of privacy arises with moves to improve efficiency of voting by the introduction of postal voting and electronic voting. Some countries permit proxy voting, which some argue is inconsistent with voting privacy, in ancient Greece, secret ballots were used in several situations, like ostracism, and also to remain hidden from people seeking favors. In ancient Rome, the laws regulating elections were known as Tabellariae Leges. Today the practice of casting secret ballots is so commonplace that most voters would not consider any other method might be used. Other methods which had used and which are still used in some places. Other public voting methods include raising a hand to indicate a vote, article 31 of the Constitution of the Year III of the revolution states that All elections are to be held by secret ballot. The same goes with the constitution of 1848, voters could hand-write the name of their candidate on their ballot at home or receive one in a distribution in the street. The ballot is folded in order to prevent other people from reading its content, louis-Napoléon Bonaparte attempted to abolish the secret ballot for the 1851 plebiscite with an electoral decree requesting electors to write down yes or no under the eyes of everyone. But he faced an opposition and finally changed his mind. According to the web site of the Assemblée nationale, the voting booth was permanently adopted only in 1913. The demand for a ballot was one of the six points of Chartism. The London School Board election of 1870 was the first large-scale election by secret ballot in Britain, the original ballot box, sealed in wax with a liquorice stamp, is held at Pontefract museum
Secret ballot
–
Luis Guillermo Solís,
President of Costa Rica, votes behind a privacy screen
Secret ballot
–
The Polling by
William Hogarth (1755). Before the secret ballot was introduced, voter intimidation was commonplace.
Secret ballot
–
A British ballot paper from 1880
Secret ballot
–
New York polling place circa 1900, showing
voting booths on the left.
8.
Suffrage
–
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections. The right to run for office is sometimes called candidate eligibility, in many languages, the right to vote is called the active right to vote and the right to run for office is called the passive right to vote. In English, these are called active suffrage and passive suffrage. Suffrage is often conceived in terms of elections for representatives, however, suffrage applies equally to referenda and initiatives. Suffrage describes not only the right to vote, but also the practical question of whether a question will be put to a vote. The utility of suffrage is reduced when important questions are decided unilaterally by elected or non-elected representatives, in most democracies, eligible voters can vote in elections of representatives. Voting on issues by referendum may also be available, for example, in Switzerland this is permitted at all levels of government. The United States federal government does not offer any initiatives at all, Suffrage is granted to qualifying citizens once they have reached the voting age. What constitutes a qualifying citizen depends on the governments decision, resident non-citizens can vote in some countries, which may be restricted to citizens of closely linked countries. The word suffrage comes from Latin suffragium, meaning vote, political support, and the right to vote. The etymology of the Latin word is uncertain, with sources citing Latin suffragari lend support, vote for someone, from sub under + fragor crash, din, shouts. Other sources say that attempts to connect suffragium with fragor cannot be taken seriously, some etymologists think the word may be related to suffrago and may have originally meant an ankle bone or knuckle bone. Universal suffrage consists of the right to vote without restriction due to sex, race, social status, education level, or wealth. It typically does not extend the right to vote to all residents of a region, distinctions are made in regard to citizenship, age. The short-lived Corsican Republic was the first country to grant limited universal suffrage to all citizens over the age of 25 and this was followed by other experiments in the Paris Commune of 1871 and the island republic of Franceville. The 1840 constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii granted universal suffrage to all male and female adults, so Finland was the first country in the world to give all citizens full suffrage, in other words the right to vote and to run for office. New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant all citizens the right to vote, Womens suffrage is, by definition, the right of women to vote. This was the goal of the suffragists in the United States, short-lived suffrage equity was drafted into provisions of the State of New Jerseys first,1776 Constitution, which extended the Right to Vote to unwed female landholders & black land owners
Suffrage
–
Suffrage universel dédié à
Ledru-Rollin, Frédéric Sorrieu, 1850
Suffrage
–
German election poster from 1919: Equal rights - equal duties!
9.
Two-round system
–
The two-round system is a voting method used to elect a single winner, where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate. The two-round system is used around the world for the election of legislative bodies, for example, it is used in French presidential, legislative, and departmental elections. In Italy, it is used to elect mayors, but also to decide which party or coalition receives a majority bonus in city councils. Historically it was used in the German Empire of 1871–1918, in New Zealand in the 1908 and 1911 elections, the two-round system is known as run-off voting in the United States, where the second round is known as a run-off election. Run-off voting is sometimes used as a generic term to describe any method involving a number of rounds of voting. By this broader definition the system is not the only form of run-off voting. However the subject of article is the two-round system. In Canada, for example, candidates for party leadership. It is like a method, except the one candidate must win a simple majority. Candidates with the fewest votes or candidates who want to move their support to other candidates may move to remove themselves from the next vote. In both rounds of an election conducted using runoff voting, the voter marks a X beside his/her favorite candidate. If no candidate has a majority of votes in the first round. In the second round, because there are two candidates, one candidate will achieve an absolute majority. In the second round, each voter is free to change the candidate he votes for, even if his preferred candidate has not yet been eliminated. Some variants of the system use a different rule for choosing candidates for the second round. Under such methods, it is sufficient for a candidate to receive a plurality of votes to be elected in the second round. Under some variants of runoff voting, there is no rule for eliminating candidates. In both elections, the communist candidate, Ernst Thälmann, did not withdraw and ran in the second round, in 1925, that probably ensured the election of Paul von Hindenburg, rather than Wilhelm Marx, the centrist candidate
Two-round system
–
An example of runoff voting. Runoff voting involves two rounds of voting. Only two candidates survive to the second round.
10.
Political party
–
A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the good or furthering their supporters interests. While there is some international commonality in the way political parties are recognized, and in how they operate, there are many differences. Many political parties have a core, but some do not. In many democracies, political parties are elected by the electorate to run a government, many countries, such as Germany and India, have several significant political parties, and some nations have one-party systems, such as China and Cuba. The United States is in practice a two-party system, but with smaller parties also participating. Its two most important parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, the first political factions, cohering around a basic, if fluid, set of principles, emerged from the Exclusion Crisis and Glorious Revolution in late 17th century England. The leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole, who maintained control of the government in the period 1721–1742, as the century wore on, the factions slowly began to adopt more coherent political tendencies as the interests of their power bases began to diverge. The Whig partys initial base of support from the aristocratic families widened to include the emerging industrial interests. A major influence on the Whigs were the political ideas of John Locke. They acted as a united, though unavailing, opposition to Whig corruption and they finally regained power with the accession of George III in 1760 under Lord Bute. Out of this chaos, the first distinctive parties emerged, the first such party was the Rockingham Whigs under the leadership of Charles Watson-Wentworth and the intellectual guidance of the political philosopher Edmund Burke. A coalition including the Rockingham Whigs, led by the Earl of Shelburne, took power in 1782, the new government, led by the radical politician Charles James Fox in coalition with Lord North, was soon brought down and replaced by William Pitt the Younger in 1783. It was now that a genuine two-party system began to emerge, by the time of this split the Whig party was increasingly influenced by the ideas of Adam Smith, founder of classical liberalism. As Wilson and Reill note, Adam Smiths theory melded nicely with the political stance of the Whig Party. The modern Conservative Party was created out of the Pittite Tories of the early 19th century, in the late 1820s disputes over political reform broke up this grouping. A government led by the Duke of Wellington collapsed amidst dire election results, following this disaster Robert Peel set about assembling a new coalition of forces. However, a consensus reached on these issues ended party politics in 1816 for a decade, Party politics revived in 1829 with the split of the Democratic-Republican Party into the Jacksonian Democrats led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig Party, led by Henry Clay
Political party
–
In A Block for the Wigs (1783),
James Gillray caricatured Fox's return to power in a coalition with North. George III is the blockhead in the center.
Political party
–
Charles Stewart Parnell, leader of the
Irish Parliamentary Party.
Political party
–
A poster for the
European Parliament election 2004 in Italy, showing party lists
11.
Voting
–
Voting is a method for a group such as a meeting or an electorate to make a decision or express an opinion, usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holders of high office by voting, residents of a place represented by an elected official are called constituents, and those constituents who cast a ballot for their chosen candidate are called voters. In a democracy, a government is chosen by voting in an election, in a representative democracy voting is the method by which the electorate appoints its representatives in its government. In a direct democracy, voting is the method by which the electorate directly make decisions, turn bills into laws, a secret ballot has come to be the practice to prevent voters from being intimidated and to protect their political privacy. Voting usually takes place at a station, it is voluntary in some countries, compulsory in others. Different voting systems use different types of votes, a Plurality voting system does not require the winner to achieve a vote majority, or more than fifty percent of the total votes cast. In a voting system uses a single vote per race. A side effect of a vote per race is vote splitting, which tends to elect candidates that do not support centrism. An alternative to a system is approval voting. To understand why a vote per race tends to favor less centric candidates. If five marbles are assigned names and are placed up for election, the reason is that the three green marbles will split the votes of those who prefer green. In fact, in analogy, the only way that a green marble is likely to win is if more than sixty percent of the voters prefer green. If the experiment is repeated with other colors, the color that is in the majority will still rarely win, in other words, from a purely mathematical perspective, a single-vote system tends to favor a winner that is different from the majority. A development on the single system is to have two-round elections. The winner must receive a majority, which is more than half, if subsequent votes must be used, often a candidate, the one with the fewest votes or anyone who wants to move their support to another candidate, is removed from the ballot. An alternative to the Two-round voting system is the single round instant-runoff voting system as used in elections in Australia, Ireland. Voters rank each candidate in order of preference, votes are distributed to each candidate according to the preferences allocated. If no single candidate has 50% or more votes than the candidate with the least votes is excluded, the process repeating itself until a candidate has 50% or more votes
Voting
Voting
Voting
Voting
12.
Electoral system
–
Common electoral systems are majority rule, proportional representation and plurality voting, with a number of variations and methods such as first-past-the-post and preferential voting. The study of formally defined voting methods is called social choice theory or voting theory, depending on the meaning chosen, the common majority rule systems can produce results that the majority does not support. If every election had two choices, the winner would be determined using majority rule alone. However, when there are more than two options, there may not be an option that is most liked or most disliked by a majority. A simple choice does not allow voters to express the ordering or the intensity of their feeling, different voting systems may give very different results, particularly in cases where there is no clear majority preference. An electoral system specifies the form of the ballot, the set of votes, and the tallying method. This outcome may be a winner, as in the case of a presidential election, or may result in multiple winners. The electoral system may specify how voting power is distributed among the voters. The real-world implementation of an election is not considered part of the electoral system. An electoral system also does not specify whether or how votes are kept secret, how to verify that votes are counted accurately and these are aspects of the broader topic of elections and election systems. Different electoral systems have different ways of allowing individuals to express their votes, in ranked ballot or preference electoral systems, such as Instant-runoff voting, the Borda count, or a Condorcet method, each voter orders the list of options from most to least preferred. In range voting, voters rate each option separately on a scale, in plurality voting, voters select only one option, while in approval voting, they can select as many as they want. In electoral systems that allow plumping, like voting, voters may vote for the same candidate multiple times. Some electoral systems include additional choices on the ballot, such as write-in candidates, some systems call for a primary election first to determine which candidates will be on the ballot. Many elections are based on the principle of one person, one vote and this is not true of all elections, however. Corporate elections, for instance, usually weight votes according to the amount of each voter holds in the company, changing the mechanism to one share. Votes can also be weighted unequally for other reasons, such as increasing the weight of higher-ranked members of an organization. Voting weight is not the thing as voting power
Electoral system
–
Jean-Charles de Borda, an early voting theorist
Electoral system
–
In a simple
plurality ballot, the voter is expected to mark only one selection.
Electoral system
–
The Marquis de Condorcet, another early voting theorist
Electoral system
–
Kenneth Arrow, a pioneer of modern voting theory.
13.
Electoral fraud
–
Electoral fraud, election manipulation, or vote rigging is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about a result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates. What constitutes electoral fraud under law varies from country to country, many kinds of election fraud are outlawed in electoral legislation, but others are in violation of general laws, such as those banning assault, harassment or libel. Show elections, in only one candidate can win, are sometimes classified as electoral fraud. In national elections, successful electoral fraud can have the effect of a coup détat or corruption of democracy, in a narrow election, a small amount of fraud may be enough to change the result. Even if the outcome is not affected, revelation of fraud can have an effect, if not punished. A list of threats to voting systems, or electoral fraud methods considered as sabotage, is kept by the National Institute of Standards, Electoral fraud can occur in advance of voting if the composition of the electorate is altered. The legality of this type of manipulation varies across jurisdictions, deliberate manipulation of election outcomes is widely considered a violation of the principles of democracy. In many cases it is possible for authorities to control the composition of an electorate in order to produce a foregone result. One way of doing this is to move a number of voters into the electorate prior to an election. Many countries prevent this with rules stipulating that a voter must have lived in a district for a minimum period in order to be eligible to vote there. However, such laws can also be used for demographic manipulation as they tend to disenfranchise those with no fixed address, such as the homeless, travelers, Roma, students, another strategy is to permanently move people into an electoral district, usually through public housing. One notable example of this occurred in the City of Westminster in England under Shirley Porter, immigration law may also be used to manipulate electoral demography. A method of manipulating primary contests and other elections of party leaders is related to this, people who support one party may temporarily join another party in order to elect a weak candidate for that partys leadership. The goal ultimately is defeat of the candidate in the general election by the leader of the party that the voter truly supports. The composition of an electorate may also be altered by disenfranchising some classes of people, from the turn of the century into the late 1960s, most African Americans in the southern states of the former Confederacy were disenfranchised by such measures. Compared to most European nations, many states in the US have much more severe laws that prevent convicted felons who have served their sentences from ever voting again, groups may also be disenfranchised by rules which make it impractical or impossible for them to cast a vote. Communities may also be effectively disenfranchised if polling places are situated in areas perceived by voters as unsafe, in some cases voters may be invalidly disenfranchised, which is true electoral fraud
Electoral fraud
–
Transparent ballot box used in Russia to prevent election officials from pre-stuffing box with fake ballots.
Electoral fraud
–
A specialized ballot box used to assist ballot stuffing, featured in
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper in 1856.
14.
Referendum
–
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to vote on a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new law, in some countries it is synonymous with a plebiscite or a vote on a ballot question. Some definitions of plebiscite suggest that it is a type of vote to change the constitution or government of a country, however, some other countries define it differently. For example, Australia defines referendum as a vote to change the constitution, the addition of the verb sum to a gerundive, denotes the idea of necessity or compulsion, that which must be done, rather than that which is fit for doing). This determines the form of the plural in English, which according to English grammar should be referendums, the use of referenda as a plural form in English is thus insupportable according to the rules of both Latin and English grammar alike. The Latin plural gerundive referenda, meaning things to be referred, compare also, Agenda those matters which must be driven forward, from ago, to drive, Memorandum, that matter which must be remembered, from memoro, to call to mind, etc. The name and use of the referendum is thought to have originated in the Swiss canton of Graubünden as early as the 16th century. Today, a referendum can also often be referred to as a plebiscite, for example, Australia defines referendum as a vote to change the constitution, and plebiscite as a vote that does not affect the constitution. In contrast, Ireland has only held one plebiscite, which was the vote to adopt its constitution. Of that which has most definitely already occurred and this is in line with Eamon De Valeras oft stated belief that the people do not have the right to do wrong which in this context means to reject his new Eire constitution. The term referendum covers a variety of different meanings, a referendum can be binding or advisory. In some countries, different names are used for two types of referendum. From a political-philosophical perspective, referendums are an expression of direct democracy, however, in the modern world, most referendums need to be understood within the context of representative democracy. Australia ranked second with dozens of referendums, a referendum usually offers the electorate a choice of accepting or rejecting a proposal, but this is not necessarily the case. In Switzerland, for example, multiple choice referendums are common and this question can be resolved by applying voting systems designed for single winner elections to a multiple-choice referendum. Swiss referendums get around this problem by offering a separate vote on each of the options as well as an additional decision about which of the multiple options should be preferred. In the Swedish case, in both referendums the winning option was chosen by the Single Member Plurality system, in other words, the winning option was deemed to be that supported by a plurality, rather than an absolute majority, of voters. In the 1977, Australian referendum, the winner was chosen by the system of preferential instant-runoff voting, the 1992 New Zealand poll, was counted under the two-round system, as were polls in Newfoundland and Guam, for example
Referendum
–
Pro-Russian protesters in
Odessa,
Ukraine, demanding a referendum, March 30, 2014
15.
Referendums by country
–
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This article summarises referendum legislature and practice in various countries, on 19 March 2011 a constitutional referendum was held in Egypt, following the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. The reforms made it easier for candidates to run for president, in April 1993 nearly 1 million voters in Eritrea, cast ballots to become sovereign and independent of Ethiopia. This vote was the result of thirty years of war by Eritreans during their War of Independence, the result was a vote for independence by 99. 8% of the voters. There have been several referendums in Morocco, most of which were related to the Moroccan constitution, since becoming King, King Mohammed VI has led many reforms that made Morocco an exception from all the other Arab countries. On February 20,2011, thousands took to the streets of Rabat, Casablanca, Tangier and Marrakesh in peaceful protests demanding a new constitution, a change in government and an end to corruption. During a march on Hassan II Avenue in Rabat, demonstrators demanded a new constitution to bring democracy to the country. They shouted slogans calling for economic opportunity, education reform, better health services, on March 9, King Mohammed VI made a speech that was described as a historical speech in which he announced several reforms including a new constitution to the country. In a televised speech on Friday,17 June, King Mohammed VI announced a series of constitutional reforms, the proposed reforms would give the prime minister and the parliament more executive authority, and would make Berber an official language in Morocco, together with Arabic. The proposal would empower the prime minister with the authority to appoint government officials, a new constitutional provision would also confirm the kings role as the highest religious authority in the country. On 29 June 2011, the called for a boycott of the referendum. The referendum was held on June 1, and almost all Moroccans said yes to it with a 98% yes 2% No turnout, a constitutional referendum was held in Bangladesh on 15 September 1991. Voters were asked Should or not the President assent to the Constitution Bill,1991 of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, the amendments would lead to the reintroduction of parliamentary government, with the President becoming the constitutional head of state, but the Prime Minister the executive head. It also abolished the position of Vice-President and would see the President elected by Parliament, the result saw 83. 6% vote in favour, with a turnout of 35. 2%. East Timor, formerly governed by Indonesia, held a referendum on 30 August 1999, in which voters chose either to become a Special Autonomous Region within Indonesia, around 79% of voters opted for independence. This is often called a de facto referendum, the original five pan-democrat Legislative Councillors were re-elected, the turnout was much lower than the expectation of the two parties, due to the suppression of pro-Beijing Camp. Indonesian Constitution does not mention referendums at all, and as such, in 1985, the Peoples Consultative Assembly issued Law no. 5/1985 that officially recognized referendum as a political process in Indonesia
Referendums by country
–
Demonstration in Zurich to vote against a
referendum which banned minarets.
Referendums by country
–
Vladimir Putin (third, left),
Sergey Aksyonov (first, left),
Vladimir Konstantinov (second, left) and
Aleksei Chalyi (right) sign the
Treaty on the Adoption of the Republic of Crimea to Russia
Referendums by country
–
The
Scottish Parliament was created through the
Scottish devolution referendum, 1997.
Referendums by country
–
Citizens rallying in support of
California Proposition 8 in the city of
Fresno.
16.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
United States
–
Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764
United States
–
Flag
United States
–
The signing of the
Mayflower Compact, 1620.
United States
–
The
Declaration of Independence: the
Committee of Five presenting their draft to the
Second Continental Congress in 1776
17.
Ballots
–
A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election, and may be a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball used to record decisions made by voters, each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared. The voter casts his/her ballot in a box at a polling station, in British English, this is usually called a ballot paper. The word ballot is used for a process within an organisation. The word ballot comes from Italian ballotta, meaning a ball used in voting” or a “secret vote taken by ballots” in Venice. In ancient Greece, citizens used pieces of pottery to scratch in the name of the candidate in the procedures of ostracism. The first use of paper ballots to conduct an election appears to have been in Rome in 139 BC, in Ancient India, around 920 AD, in Tamil Nadu, Palm leaves were used for village assembly elections. The palm leaves with candidate names, will be put inside a mud pot, the first use of paper ballots in America was in 1629 within the Massachusetts Bay Colony to select a pastor for the Salem Church. Paper ballots were pieces of paper marked and supplied by voters, depending on the type of voting system used in the election, different ballots may be used. Ranked ballots allow voters to rank candidates in order of preference, in party-list systems, lists may be open or closed. The United States, a republic, has a unique politics of long, progressivists attacked the long ballot during the Progressive Era. Ballot design can aid or inhibit clarity in an election, poor designs lead to confusion and potentially chaos if large numbers of voters spoil or mismark a ballot. The butterfly ballot used in the Palm Beach County, Florida U. S. presidential election,2000 led to allegations of mismarked ballots. For example, one might count the number of ballots whereon the voter had crossed out the name of the party that nominated the candidate. In a jurisdiction using a system, voters choose by marking a ballot or, as in the case of Israel and France. In most jurisdictions the ballots are pre-printed with names of candidates, the Philippines and Japan are an exception. There, voters must write the names of their candidates on the ballot, election officials manually count the ballots after the polls close and may be recounted in the event of a dispute. In a jurisdiction using an optical scan voting system, voters choose by filling an oval or by completing an arrow on the ballot next to their chosen candidate or referendum position
Ballots
–
Ancient Greek
ostraca, 5th century BC,
Ancient Agora Museum in Athens, housed in the
Stoa of Attalus.
Ballots
–
Ancient Greek bronze secret ballots used to cast a juror's vote on a case, 3rd century BC,
Ancient Agora Museum in Athens, housed in the
Stoa of Attalus
Ballots
–
Perspective view of the infamous 2000
Palm Beach County, Florida "butterfly ballot".
Ballots
–
Top view of the same 2000 Florida "butterfly ballot".
18.
Age of candidacy
–
Age of candidacy is the minimum age at which a person can legally qualify to hold certain elected government offices. In many cases, it determines the age at which a person may be eligible to stand for an election or be granted ballot access. The first known example of a law enforcing age of candidacy was the Lex Villia Annalis, many youth rights groups view current age of candidacy requirements as unjustified age discrimination. Occasionally people who are younger than the age will run for an office in protest of the requirement or because they dont know that the requirement exists. On extremely rare occasions, young people have elected to offices they do not qualify for and have been deemed ineligible to assume the office. In 1934, Rush Holt of West Virginia was elected to the Senate of the United States at the age of 29. Constitution requires senators to be at least 30, Holt was forced to wait until his 30th birthday, six months after the start of the session, in 1954, Richard Fulton won election to the Tennessee Senate. Shortly after being sworn in, Fulton was ousted from office because he was only 27 years old at the time, the Tennessee State Constitution required that senators be at least 30. Rather than hold a new election, the incumbent, Clifford Allen, was allowed to resume his office for another term. Fulton went on to win the next State Senate election in 1956 and was elected to the US House of Representatives where he served for 10 years. In South Carolina, two Senators aged 24 were elected, but were too young according to the State Constitution, Mike Laughlin in 1969, on several occasions, the Socialist Workers Party has nominated candidates too young to qualify for the offices they were running for. In 1972, Linda Jenness ran as the SWP presidential candidate, Constitution requires that the President and Vice President be at least 35 years old, Jenness was not able to receive ballot access in several states in which she otherwise qualified. Despite this handicap, Jenness still received 83,380 votes, in 2004, the SWP nominated Arrin Hawkins as the partys vice-presidential candidate, although she was only 28 at the time. Hawkins was also unable to receive ballot access in several states due to her age, in the United States, many groups have attempted to lower age of candidacy requirements in various states. In 1994, South Dakota voters rejected a measure that would have lowered the age requirements to serve as a State Senator or State Representative from 25 to 18. In 1998, however, they approved a ballot measure that reduced the age requirements for those offices from 25 to 21. In 2002, Oregon voters rejected a measure that would have reduced the age requirement to serve as a State Representative from 21 to 18. During the early 2000s, the British Youth Council and other groups campaigned to lower age of candidacy requirements in the United Kingdom
Age of candidacy
–
In 1972,
Linda Jenness ran for President of the United States although she was only 31 at the time.
19.
U.S. State
–
A U. S. state is a constituent political entity of the United States of America. There are 50 states, which are together in a union with each other. Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a geographic territory. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons covered by certain types of court orders. States range in population from just under 600,000 to over 39 million, four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state, State governments are allocated power by the people through their individual constitutions. All are grounded in principles, and each provides for a government. States possess a number of powers and rights under the United States Constitution, Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a debate over states rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government. States and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a legislature consisting of the Senate. Each state is represented in the Senate by two senators, and is guaranteed at least one Representative in the House, members of the House are elected from single-member districts. Representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census, the Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50, alaska and Hawaii are the most recent states admitted, both in 1959. The Constitution is silent on the question of states have the power to secede from the Union. Shortly after the Civil War, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, as a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance
U.S. State
–
U.S. states
20.
Elections Clause
–
Article One of the United States Constitution establishes the legislative branch of the federal government, the United States Congress. The Congress is a legislature consisting of a House of Representatives. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, Section 1 is a vesting clause that bestows federal legislative power exclusively to Congress. Similar clauses are found in Articles II and III, the former confers executive power upon the President alone, and the latter grants judicial power solely to the federal judiciary. These three articles create a separation of powers among the three branches of the federal government and this separation of powers, by which each department may exercise only its own constitutional powers and no others, is fundamental to the idea of a limited government accountable to the people. The separation of powers principle is particularly noteworthy in regard to the Congress, the Constitution declares that the Congress may exercise only those legislative powers herein granted within Article I. It also, by implied extension, prohibits Congress from delegating its authority to either of the other branches of government. That the power assigned to each branch must remain with that branch, although not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, Congress has also long asserted the power to investigate and the power to compel cooperation with an investigation. The Supreme Court has affirmed these powers as an implication of Congresss power to legislate, since the power to investigate is an aspect of Congresss power to legislate, it is as broad as Congresss powers to legislate. However, it is limited to inquiries that are in aid of the legislative function. The courts are highly deferential to Congresss exercise of its investigation powers, Congress has the power to investigate that which it could regulate, and the courts have interpreted Congresss regulatory powers broadly since the Great Depression. Section Two provides for the election of the House of Representatives every second year, since Representatives are to be chosen. At the time of its creation, the Constitution did not explicitly give citizens an inherent right to vote, rather, it provided that those qualified to vote in elections for the largest chamber of a states legislature may vote in Congressional elections. Since the Civil War, several amendments have been enacted that have curbed the states broad powers to set voter qualification standards. The Fifteenth Amendment prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on race, the Nineteenth Amendment prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on sex. The Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibits the revocation of voting due to the non-payment of a poll tax. The Twenty-sixth Amendment prohibits the denial of the right of US citizens, eighteen years of age or older, in the 1960s, the Supreme Court started to view voting as a fundamental right covered by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. There is no requirement that a Representative reside within the district in which he or she represents, although this is usually the case, there have been occasional exceptions
Elections Clause
–
Opening of the
112th Congress, House of Representatives chamber, January 5, 2011
Elections Clause
–
Gilded Age monopolies could no longer control the U.S. Senate (left) by corrupting state legislatures (right).
Elections Clause
–
Republican Senator
Orrin Hatch of Utah, current
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
21.
Article One of the United States Constitution
–
Article One of the United States Constitution establishes the legislative branch of the federal government, the United States Congress. The Congress is a legislature consisting of a House of Representatives. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, Section 1 is a vesting clause that bestows federal legislative power exclusively to Congress. Similar clauses are found in Articles II and III, the former confers executive power upon the President alone, and the latter grants judicial power solely to the federal judiciary. These three articles create a separation of powers among the three branches of the federal government and this separation of powers, by which each department may exercise only its own constitutional powers and no others, is fundamental to the idea of a limited government accountable to the people. The separation of powers principle is particularly noteworthy in regard to the Congress, the Constitution declares that the Congress may exercise only those legislative powers herein granted within Article I. It also, by implied extension, prohibits Congress from delegating its authority to either of the other branches of government. That the power assigned to each branch must remain with that branch, although not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, Congress has also long asserted the power to investigate and the power to compel cooperation with an investigation. The Supreme Court has affirmed these powers as an implication of Congresss power to legislate, since the power to investigate is an aspect of Congresss power to legislate, it is as broad as Congresss powers to legislate. However, it is limited to inquiries that are in aid of the legislative function. The courts are highly deferential to Congresss exercise of its investigation powers, Congress has the power to investigate that which it could regulate, and the courts have interpreted Congresss regulatory powers broadly since the Great Depression. Section Two provides for the election of the House of Representatives every second year, since Representatives are to be chosen. At the time of its creation, the Constitution did not explicitly give citizens an inherent right to vote, rather, it provided that those qualified to vote in elections for the largest chamber of a states legislature may vote in Congressional elections. Since the Civil War, several amendments have been enacted that have curbed the states broad powers to set voter qualification standards. The Fifteenth Amendment prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on race, the Nineteenth Amendment prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on sex. The Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibits the revocation of voting due to the non-payment of a poll tax. The Twenty-sixth Amendment prohibits the denial of the right of US citizens, eighteen years of age or older, in the 1960s, the Supreme Court started to view voting as a fundamental right covered by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. There is no requirement that a Representative reside within the district in which he or she represents, although this is usually the case, there have been occasional exceptions
Article One of the United States Constitution
–
Opening of the
112th Congress, House of Representatives chamber, January 5, 2011
Article One of the United States Constitution
–
Gilded Age monopolies could no longer control the U.S. Senate (left) by corrupting state legislatures (right).
Article One of the United States Constitution
–
Republican Senator
Orrin Hatch of Utah, current
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
Article One of the United States Constitution
–
The
impeachment trial of President Clinton in 1999,
Chief Justice William Rehnquist presiding.
22.
United States Constitution
–
The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. The Constitution, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government, Articles Four, Five and Six entrench concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments and of the states in relationship to the federal government. Article Seven establishes the procedure used by the thirteen States to ratify it. In general, the first ten amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, offer specific protections of individual liberty, the majority of the seventeen later amendments expand individual civil rights protections. Others address issues related to federal authority or modify government processes and procedures, Amendments to the United States Constitution, unlike ones made to many constitutions worldwide, are appended to the document. All four pages of the original U. S, according to the United States Senate, The Constitutions first three words—We the People—affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens. From September 5,1774 to March 1,1781, the Continental Congress functioned as the government of the United States. The process of selecting the delegates for the First and Second Continental Congresses underscores the revolutionary role of the people of the colonies in establishing a governing body. The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first constitution of the United States and it was drafted by the Second Continental Congress from mid-1776 through late-1777, and ratification by all 13 states was completed by early 1781. Under the Articles of Confederation, the governments power was quite limited. The Confederation Congress could make decisions, but lacked enforcement powers, implementation of most decisions, including modifications to the Articles, required unanimous approval of all thirteen state legislatures. The Continental Congress could print money but the currency was worthless, Congress could borrow money, but couldnt pay it back. No state paid all their U. S. taxes, some paid nothing, some few paid an amount equal to interest on the national debt owed to their citizens, but no more. No interest was paid on debt owed foreign governments, by 1786, the United States would default on outstanding debts as their dates came due. Internationally, the Articles of Confederation did little to enhance the United States ability to defend its sovereignty, most of the troops in the 625-man United States Army were deployed facing – but not threatening – British forts on American soil. They had not been paid, some were deserting and others threatening mutiny, spain closed New Orleans to American commerce, U. S. officials protested, but to no effect. Barbary pirates began seizing American ships of commerce, the Treasury had no funds to pay their ransom, if any military crisis required action, the Congress had no credit or taxing power to finance a response. Domestically, the Articles of Confederation was failing to bring unity to the sentiments and interests of the various states
United States Constitution
–
Page one of the original copy of the Constitution
United States Constitution
–
Signing the Constitution, September 17, 1787
United States Constitution
–
Territorial extent of the United States, 1790.
United States Constitution
–
"We the People" in an original edition
23.
Plurality voting
–
The plurality voting system is a system in which each voter is allowed to vote for only one candidate, and the candidate who polls the most among their counterparts is elected. In a system based on single-member districts, it may be called first-past-the-post, single-choice voting, in a system based on multi-member districts, it may be referred to as winner-takes-all or bloc voting. The system is used to elect members of a legislative assembly or executive officers. It is the most common form of the system, and is used in Canada, the house in India, the United Kingdom. Plural voting is distinguished from a majority voting system, in which, to win, more votes than all other candidates combined. In some countries such as France a two-ballot or runoff election plurality system is used and this may require two rounds of voting. If on the first round no candidate receives over 50% of the votes, then a second round takes place and this ensures that the winner gains a majority of votes in the second round. Alternatively, all candidates above a threshold in the first round may compete in the second round. If there are more than two standing, then a plurality vote may decide the result. In political science, the use of the plurality voting system with multiple and this combination is also variously referred to as winner-takes-all to contrast it with proportional representation systems. This term is also used to refer to elections for multiple winners in a particular constituency using bloc voting. Plurality voting is particularly prevalent in the United Kingdom and former British colonies, including the United States, Canada and this makes the plurality voting system among the simplest of all voting systems for voters and vote counting officials. Under the plurality system, the winner of the election becomes the representative of the entire electoral district. In an election for a seat, such as for president in a presidential system, the same style of ballot is used. In the two-round voting system, usually the two highest polling candidates in the first ballot progress to the second round Run-off ballot, in a multiple member plurality election, with n seats available, the winners are the n candidates with the highest numbers of votes. The rules may allow the voter to vote for one candidate, or for up to n candidates, generally plurality ballots can be categorized into two forms. The simplest form is a ballot where the name of a candidate is written in by hand. A more structured ballot will list all the candidates and allow a mark to be next to the name of a single candidate
Plurality voting
–
An example of a plurality ballot.
24.
Conservative
–
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes retaining traditional social institutions in the context of culture and civilization. The term, historically associated with right-wing politics, has since used to describe a wide range of views. There is no set of policies that are universally regarded as conservative, because the meaning of conservatism depends on what is considered traditional in a given place. Thus conservatives from different parts of the world—each upholding their respective traditions—may disagree on a range of issues. In contrast to the definition of conservatism, political theorists such as Corey Robin define conservatism primarily in terms of a general defense of social. In Great Britain, conservative ideas emerged in the Tory movement during the Restoration period, Toryism supported a hierarchical society with a monarch who ruled by divine right. Tories opposed the idea that sovereignty derived from the people, and rejected the authority of parliament, Robert Filmers Patriarcha, or the Natural Power of Kings, published posthumously in 1680 but written before the English Civil War of 1642–1651, became accepted as the statement of their doctrine. However, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 destroyed this principle to some degree by establishing a government in England. Faced with defeat, the Tories reformed their movement, now holding that sovereignty was vested in the three estates of Crown, Lords, and Commons rather than solely in the Crown, Toryism became marginalized during the long period of Whig ascendancy in the 18th century. Conservatives typically see Richard Hooker as the father of conservatism, along with the Marquess of Halifax, David Hume. Halifax promoted pragmatism in government, whilst Hume argued against political rationalism and utopianism, Burke served as the private secretary to the Marquis of Rockingham and as official pamphleteer to the Rockingham branch of the Whig party. Together with the Tories, they were the conservatives in the late 18th century United Kingdom, Burkes views were a mixture of liberal and conservative. He supported the American Revolution of 1765–1783 but abhorred the violence of the French Revolution and he insisted on standards of honor derived from the medieval aristocratic tradition, and saw the aristocracy as the nations natural leaders. That meant limits on the powers of the Crown, since he found the institutions of Parliament to be better informed than commissions appointed by the executive and he favored an established church, but allowed for a degree of religious toleration. Burke justified the order on the basis of tradition, tradition represented the wisdom of the species and he valued community. Burke was a leading theorist in his day, finding extreme idealism an endangerment to broader liberties, despite their influence on future conservative thought, none of these early contributors were explicitly involved in Tory politics. Hooker lived in the 16th century, long before the advent of toryism, whilst Hume was an apolitical philosopher, Burke described himself as a Whig. Shortly after Burkes death in 1797, conservatism revived as a political force as the Whigs suffered a series of internal divisions
Conservative
–
Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
Conservative
–
Robert Peel (1788–1850)
Conservative
–
Joseph de Maistre (1753–1821)
25.
Liberalism
–
Liberalism is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality. Liberalism first became a political movement during the Age of Enlightenment. Liberalism rejected the social and political norms of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy. The 17th-century philosopher John Locke is often credited with founding liberalism as a philosophical tradition. Locke argued that man has a natural right to life, liberty and property. Liberals opposed traditional conservatism and sought to replace absolutism in government with representative democracy, prominent revolutionaries in the Glorious Revolution, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution used liberal philosophy to justify the armed overthrow of what they saw as tyrannical rule. Liberalism started to spread rapidly especially after the French Revolution, the 19th century saw liberal governments established in nations across Europe, South America, and North America. During the 20th century, liberal ideas spread even further as liberal democracies found themselves on the side in both world wars. In Europe and North America, the establishment of social liberalism became a key component in the expansion of the welfare state, today, liberal parties continue to wield power and influence throughout the world. Words such as liberal, liberty, libertarian, and libertine all trace their history to the Latin liber, which means free. One of the first recorded instances of the word occurs in 1375. The words early connection with the education of a medieval university soon gave way to a proliferation of different denotations and connotations. In 16th century England, liberal could have positive or negative attributes in referring to someones generosity or indiscretion, in Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare wrote of a liberal villaine who hath. confest his vile encounters. With the rise of the Enlightenment, the word acquired decisively more positive undertones, being defined as free from narrow prejudice in 1781, in 1815, the first use of the word liberalism appeared in English. In Spain, the Liberales, the first group to use the label in a political context. From 1820 to 1823, during the Trienio Liberal, King Ferdinand VII was compelled by the liberales to swear to uphold the Constitution, by the middle of the 19th century, liberal was used as a politicised term for parties and movements worldwide. Over time, the meaning of the word began to diverge in different parts of the world. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, In the United States, liberalism is associated with the policies of the New Deal programme of the Democratic administration of Pres
Liberalism
–
The
Agreement of the People (1647) was a manifesto for political change, proposed by the
Levellers during the
English Civil War. It called for
freedom of religion, frequent convening of
Parliament and equality under the law.
Liberalism
–
John Locke was the first to develop a liberal philosophy, including the right to
private property and the
consent of the governed.
Liberalism
–
The
Bill of Rights was a landmark piece of liberal legislation.
Liberalism
–
The
Philadelphia Convention in 1787 adopted the
United States Constitution, which is still in effect.
26.
First past the post
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First-past-the-post voting method is one of several plurality voting methods. It is a common, but not universal, feature of voting methods with single-member electoral divisions, the method is widely used in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and most of their current and former colonies and protectorates, and a few other countries. There is some confusion between highest vote, majority vote and plurality voting methods, all three use a first-past-the-post voting method, but there are subtle differences in the method of execution. First-past-the-post voting is used in two-round systems and some exhaustive ballots. First-past-the-post voting methods can be used for single- and multiple-member electoral divisions, in a single-member election, the candidate with the highest number – not necessarily a majority – of votes is elected. The two-round voting method uses a first-past-the-post voting method in each of the two rounds, the first round determines which two candidates will progress to the second, final-round ballot. In a multiple-member, first-past-the-post ballot, the first number of candidates – in order of highest vote, if there are six vacancies, then the first six candidates with the highest vote are elected. The Electoral Reform Society is a pressure group based in the United Kingdom which advocates abolishing the first-past-the-post method for all national and local elections. It argues FPTP is bad for voters, bad for government and it is the oldest organisation concerned with electoral methods in the world. States other than Maine and Nebraska use a form of simple plurality, first-past-the-post voting. Under a first-past-the-post voting method the highest polling candidate is elected, in this real-life example, Tony Tan obtained a greater number than the other candidates, and so was declared the winner, even though majority of voters did not vote for him. It is more likely that a party will hold a majority of legislative seats. In the United Kingdom,18 out of 23 general elections since 1922 have produced a single-party majority government. For example, the 2005 United Kingdom general election results in Great Britain are as follows, It can be seen that Labour took a majority of seats, 57%, the largest two parties took 69% of votes and 88% of seats. Meanwhile, the smaller Liberal Democrat party took more than a fifth of votes, another example would be the UK General Election held on 7 May 2015, Here, the Conservatives took 51% of the seats with only 37% of the vote. It should be noted that the Liberal Democrats also suffered under first-past-the-post, the benefits of FPTP are that its concept is very easy to understand, and ballots can be easily counted and processed. Alternative methods such as rank-based voting require far more work or processing power to tabulate results than a single choice, supporters of FPTP argue that it is the electoral method providing the best governance. It trades fairness in representation for more responsible government and its tendency to produce majority rule allows the government to pursue a consistent strategy for its term in office and to make decisions that may be both correct and unpopular
First past the post
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A graph showing the difference between the popular vote (inner circle) and the number of seats won by major political parties (outer circle) at the
United Kingdom general election, 2015
27.
Republican Party (United States)
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The Republican Party, commonly referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, the other being its historic rival, the Democratic Party. The party is named after republicanism, the dominant value during the American Revolution, there have been 19 Republican presidents, the most from any one party. The Republican Partys current ideology is American conservatism, which contrasts with the Democrats more progressive platform, further, its platform involves support for free market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defense, deregulation, and restrictions on labor unions. In addition to advocating for economic policies, the Republican Party is socially conservative. As of 2017, the GOP is documented as being at its strongest position politically since 1928, in addition to holding the Presidency, the Republicans control the 115th United States Congress, having majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a majority of governorships and state legislatures, the main cause was opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise by which slavery was kept out of Kansas. The Northern Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil, the first public meeting of the general anti-Nebraska movement where the name Republican was suggested for a new anti-slavery party was held on March 20,1854, in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. The name was chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jeffersons Republican Party. The first official party convention was held on July 6,1854, in Jackson and it oversaw the preserving of the union, the end of slavery, and the provision of equal rights to all men in the American Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877. The Republicans initial base was in the Northeast and the upper Midwest, with the realignment of parties and voters in the Third Party System, the strong run of John C. Fremont in the 1856 United States presidential election demonstrated it dominated most northern states, early Republican ideology was reflected in the 1856 slogan free labor, free land, free men, which had been coined by Salmon P. Chase, a Senator from Ohio. Free labor referred to the Republican opposition to labor and belief in independent artisans. Free land referred to Republican opposition to the system whereby slaveowners could buy up all the good farm land. The Party strove to contain the expansion of slavery, which would cause the collapse of the slave power, Lincoln, representing the fast-growing western states, won the Republican nomination in 1860 and subsequently won the presidency. The party took on the mission of preserving the Union, and destroying slavery during the American Civil War, in the election of 1864, it united with War Democrats to nominate Lincoln on the National Union Party ticket. The partys success created factionalism within the party in the 1870s and those who felt that Reconstruction had been accomplished and was continued mostly to promote the large-scale corruption tolerated by President Ulysses S. Grant ran Horace Greeley for the presidency. The Stalwarts defended Grant and the system, the Half-Breeds led by Chester A. Arthur pushed for reform of the civil service in 1883. The Republicans supported the pietistic Protestants who demanded Prohibition, nevertheless, by 1890 the Republicans had agreed to the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Interstate Commerce Commission in response to complaints from owners of small businesses and farmers
Republican Party (United States)
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Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican U.S. President (1861–1865).
Republican Party (United States)
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Theodore Roosevelt,
26th President of the United States (1901–1909)
Republican Party (United States)
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Dwight Eisenhower,
34th President of the United States (1953–1961)
Republican Party (United States)
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Richard Nixon,
37th President of the United States (1969–1974)
28.
Democratic Party (United States)
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The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The Democrats dominant worldview was once socially conservative and fiscally classical liberalism, while, especially in the rural South, since Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition in the 1930s, the Democratic Party has also promoted a social-liberal platform, supporting social justice. Today, the House Democratic caucus is composed mostly of progressives and centrists, the partys philosophy of modern liberalism advocates social and economic equality, along with the welfare state. It seeks to provide government intervention and regulation in the economy, the party has united with smaller left-wing regional parties throughout the country, such as the Farmer–Labor Party in Minnesota and the Nonpartisan League in North Dakota. Well into the 20th century, the party had conservative pro-business, the New Deal Coalition of 1932–1964 attracted strong support from voters of recent European extraction—many of whom were Catholics based in the cities. After Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal of the 1930s, the pro-business wing withered outside the South, after the racial turmoil of the 1960s, most southern whites and many northern Catholics moved into the Republican Party at the presidential level. The once-powerful labor union element became smaller and less supportive after the 1970s, white Evangelicals and Southerners became heavily Republican at the state and local level in the 1990s. However, African Americans became a major Democratic element after 1964, after 2000, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Asian Americans, the LGBT community, single women and professional women moved towards the party as well. The Northeast and the West Coast became Democratic strongholds by 1990 after the Republicans stopped appealing to socially liberal voters there, overall, the Democratic Party has retained a membership lead over its major rival the Republican Party. The most recent was the 44th president Barack Obama, who held the office from 2009 to 2017, in the 115th Congress, following the 2016 elections, Democrats are the opposition party, holding a minority of seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a minority of governorships, and state legislatures, though they do control the mayoralty of cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Washington, D. C. The Democratic Party traces its origins to the inspiration of the Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and that party also inspired the Whigs and modern Republicans. Organizationally, the modern Democratic Party truly arose in the 1830s, since the nomination of William Jennings Bryan in 1896, the party has generally positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party on economic issues. They have been liberal on civil rights issues since 1948. On foreign policy both parties changed position several times and that party, the Democratic-Republican Party, came to power in the election of 1800. After the War of 1812 the Federalists virtually disappeared and the national political party left was the Democratic-Republicans. The Democratic-Republican party still had its own factions, however. As Norton explains the transformation in 1828, Jacksonians believed the peoples will had finally prevailed, through a lavishly financed coalition of state parties, political leaders, and newspaper editors, a popular movement had elected the president
Democratic Party (United States)
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Andrew Jackson was the first Democratic
President of the United States
Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party (United States)
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The three leaders of the Democratic party during the first half of the 20th century: President
Woodrow Wilson (nominated in 1912 and '16) Sec. of State
William J. Bryan (nominated in 1896, 1900 and 1908),
Josephus Daniels,
Breckinridge Long,
William Phillips, and
Franklin D. Roosevelt (nominated for VP in 1920 and for president in 1932, 36,'40 and 44)
Democratic Party (United States)
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John F. Kennedy,
35th President of the United States (1961–1963)
29.
George H. W. Bush
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George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who was the 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993 and the 43rd Vice President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Republican Party, he was previously a congressman, ambassador, and he is the oldest living former President and Vice President. Prior to his sons presidency, he was referred to as George Bush or President Bush. Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to Prescott Bush and Dorothy Walker Bush. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Bush postponed his university studies, enlisted in the U. S. Navy on his 18th birthday and he served until the end of the war, then attended Yale University. Graduating in 1948, he moved his family to West Texas and entered the oil business, Bush became involved in politics soon after founding his own oil company, serving as a member of the House of Representatives and Director of Central Intelligence, among other positions. He failed to win the Republican nomination for President in 1980, but was chosen as a mate by party nominee Ronald Reagan. During his tenure, Bush headed administration task forces on deregulation, in 1988, Bush ran a successful campaign to succeed Reagan as President, defeating Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis. Foreign policy drove the Bush presidency, military operations were conducted in Panama and the Persian Gulf, the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and the Soviet Union dissolved two years later. Domestically, Bush reneged on a 1988 campaign promise and, after a struggle with Congress and his presidential library was dedicated in 1997, and he has been active—often alongside Bill Clinton—in various humanitarian activities. Besides being the 43rd president, his son George also served as the 46th Governor of Texas and is one of only two other being John Quincy Adams—to be the son of a former president. His second son, Jeb Bush, served as the 43rd Governor of Florida, George Herbert Walker Bush was born at 173 Adams Street in Milton, Massachusetts, on June 12,1924, to Prescott Sheldon Bush and Dorothy Bush. The Bush family moved from Milton to Greenwich, Connecticut, shortly after his birth, growing up, his nickname was Poppy. Bush began his education at the Greenwich Country Day School in Greenwich. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Bush decided to join the US, Navy, so after graduating from Phillips Academy in 1942, he became a naval aviator at the age of 18. He was assigned to Torpedo Squadron as the officer in September 1943. The following year, his squadron was based on USS San Jacinto as a member of Air Group 51, during this time, the task force was victorious in one of the largest air battles of World War II, the Battle of the Philippine Sea. After Bushs promotion to Lieutenant on August 1,1944, San Jacinto commenced operations against the Japanese in the Bonin Islands, Bush piloted one of four Grumman TBM Avenger aircraft from VT-51 that attacked the Japanese installations on Chichijima
George H. W. Bush
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George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
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George Bush in his
TBM Avenger on the carrier
USS San Jacinto in 1944
George H. W. Bush
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Bush with President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
George H. W. Bush
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Bush as ambassador to the United Nations, 1971
