The United States Of America

The Constitution And Democracy

Election
Election, a procedure for choosing officers or making binding decisions concerning policy by the vote of those formally qualified to participate. Elections are widely held in private organizations, such as corporations, church groups, or labor unions. Public institutions hold elections to select officers, to choose representatives, and to settle specific policy questions. Elections also may take place within specific governmental bodies or institutions as, in the United States, when members of a state legislature elect a speaker of the house. The discussion that follows, however, will focus on public elections for officers of governmental units or to decide public policy issues. Such elections commonly have a larger number of persons entitled to participate and are part of the total political process within the governmental system.

Functions of Elections 
Elections may perform a variety of functions within the governmental system. They are the formal procedure by which public offices are filled or specific policy measures are decided. In countries in which two or more candidates compete for the same office, elections decide the contest. To the extent that there are meaningful differences in the policy preferences espoused by the competing candidates, elections may affect the public policy choices made by the government.

In many countries elections also have a symbolic function. Citizens derive a sense of satisfaction from participating in the selection of their governmental leaders, and the selection of leaders through regularized election procedures appears to give the government a base of support--a sense of legitimacy--among the mass public.
Elections in Democratic and Nondemocratic Societies.

A fundamental question in an election is whether there is active competition between competing candidates. Democratic countries may have this competition for public office, but nondemocratic regimes do not. In elections in nondemocratic regimes, frequently as many as 99% of the votes are cast for the official party candidates, whose names often are the only ones on the ballot. In democratic countries, the winning candidate's share of the national vote is often less than 55% of the total.

Elections in nondemocratic regimes perform two of the functions mentioned above. They provide for the formal filling of public offices, and, through popular participation in voting, they may cultivate support for the regime. The extent to which nondemocratic regimes hold elections underscores the strength of the belief that elections confer legitimacy.

In democratic political systems elections also frequently provide a contest, or choice, between competing groups of office seekers. And elections are the technique of democratic regimes for coping with a problem faced by all governments--the problem of succession.

Elections under Parliamentary and Congressional Systems 
The parliamentary system of government is followed in Britain and in most countries of western Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations. Elections in a parliamentary system are linked with cabinet government and a fusion of the executive and legislative branches. The voters elect members of the legislature, or parliament. These legislators, in turn, elect a prime minister, usually a member of the legislature. Other political leaders are chosen by the prime minister to serve in the cabinet as ministers. Together with the prime minister, they serve as the formal leaders of the executive branch.

An individual voter may be aware that if a particular Political Party wins a majority of seats in the parliament, the leader of that party will be chosen as prime minister. But the vote is cast only for the parliamentary candidate running in that constituency.

The congressional system of government exists in the United States and predominates in Latin America. It usually features the presidential form of government, a separation of legislative and executive branches, and firm fixed dates for the election of both the legislature and the president. Individual voters may vote for president either directly or formally, as in the United States, by voting for members of a special Electoral College, which then elects the President. The mass electorate also votes directly for legislators.

Terms of office for elected officials vary. In the United States, where terms are fixed, elections for the president and members of Congress are held in even-numbered years--every two years for all members of the House of Representatives and for one third of the Senate, and every four years for president (and Vice President). The president may not serve more than two four-year terms. In Mexico, members of the lower house of the national legislature are elected every three years. The president and senators are elected for six-year terms. In countries having a parliamentary system there is usually a requirement that legislative elections be held within a set period of time. In Britain, for example, a general election must be held within five years after the preceding one. However, the government leaders may call an election earlier, usually when their prospects for winning appear bright. A government may also be forced to call a general election if it loses a vote in parliament on a major issue.

History of Elections 
Elections were held in the Greek city-states in the 5th and 6th centuries B.C. Most public offices in Greece were filled by lot--a reflection of the belief in the equality of those who had citizenship. But a few offices for which special qualifications were needed were filled by election. Voting was often by a show of hands in a public assembly. But written votes, and ballots in the form of pebbles, also were used.
During the Middle Ages, the tradition of elections was preserved in the church. Superior ecclesiastical officials, such as popes and bishops, often were chosen by a small electorate of those next in rank. Under feudalism, the position of the feudal emperor, overlord, or king was generally held to be limited by law and custom, and, to some extent, by the consent of his vassals. However, institutions and procedures for enforcing these limits often were nonexistent.

The Rise of Parliaments, Elections, and Political Parties 
When powerful centralizing monarchies began to develop in parts of Europe, the precise boundary lines of their power frequently were unclear. Particularly when they needed money, monarchs found it necessary to consult--first with feudal councils and then with assemblies that "represented" groups other than their immediate vassals.

Through a complex process of institutional development, national assemblies, or parliaments, gradually began to assert some power. At the same time, groups heretofore excluded from active participation in the governing process began to espouse revolutionary democratic ideas. A classic statement of these views was made by English popular leaders in the 1640s and 1650s, who argued, in effect, that all governments owe their powers to the consent of the governed and that this consent should be expressed by representatives freely elected.

Much of the significant political development in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries revolved around making real the theoretical power of national assemblies or parliaments and providing for elections (at first with a very limited franchise) for members of these assemblies. As the electorate expanded, it became necessary to organize sizable numbers of voters at the constituency level in order to win elections. These organizational efforts led, in time, to the development of political parties.

Evolution of Modern Electoral Systems 
During the 19th and 20th centuries, three broad trends could be discerned in the evolution of electoral systems throughout most of the world: (1) broadening the franchise; (2) equalizing the basis of representation in the government; and (3) standardizing electoral procedures.

At the beginning of the 19th century, a wide variety of practices limited the equality of citizens in participating in elections. In most countries the franchise was restricted by property qualifications and by religious, sex, or age requirements, among others. Even for those eligible to vote, the equality of influence of the vote was limited by variations in the ratio of population to representatives in different constituencies. In Britain, for example, before the Reform Act of 1832, both the rapidly growing industrial city of Manchester and Old Sarum, with seven inhabitants, had two members in the House of Commons.

Other inequities stemmed from traditional patterns of representation that gave some persons more than one vote. In Britain, until 1948, a graduate of Oxford or Cambridge could vote for members of Parliament both in his or her home constituency and in a special university constituency.

The trend since the 19th century has been toward broadening the suffrage; removing religious, property, and other restrictions; eliminating multiple voting; and equalizing population-representation ratios. Concurrenly, there has also been a trend toward lowering the voting age to 18.

In the United States the move toward suffrage for virtually all white males came relatively early, during the first third of the 19th century. But the struggle to ensure that blacks had full access to the vote continued into the last third of the 20th century.

By the end of World War I, the great majority of European countries and countries settled by Europeans had full manhood suffrage. Extension of the vote to women was slower, coming first in places settled from Europe (Wyoming, 1869; New Zealand, 1893; South Australia, 1895; all of the United States, 1920) and in the Scandinavian countries (from 1906 to 1921). British women were given partial enfranchisement in 1918 and full enfranchisement in 1928. Russian women got the vote after the 1917 Revolution. On the European continent, votes for women came later: Spain in 1931 and Italy and France after World War II. Swiss women were not enfranchised until 1971. Democracies that became independent in the postwar period usually provided for universal Suffrage, male and female.
The movement toward greater uniformity in population-representation ratios has also enhanced the equality of the vote. In the United States, equal districting was not enforced until after the Supreme Court decision of Baker v. Carr in 1962. Extensive redistricting thereafter brought the basis of electoral representation much closer to the principle of "one person, one vote."

A third major trend affecting modern electoral systems has been an increasing standardization of administrative procedures in all phases of the electoral process, including registration, balloting, tabulation of votes, and certification of winners. Many of these measures to regulate voting procedures became essential when formerly dependent socioeconomic groups were given the ballot. The objective was to free the voter from potential intimidation and pressure of groups previously dominant in their local areas.

One of the most important innovations was the secret Ballot. Originally developed in Australia in the 1850s, this "Australian ballot" spread rapidly through the United States in the 1880s and 1890s. Some countries dominated by landed interests retained the traditional oral voting into the 20th century: Denmark until 1901, Prussia until 1918, and Hungary until the 1930s.
Voting Age 

By 1946 most countries gave the vote to all citizens otherwise qualified who were 21 or older, and a trend toward lowering the voting age was mounting. The United States established the voting age at 18 for federal, state, and local elections by passage of the Voting Rights Act extension in 1970 and the 26th Amendment in 1971.

Types of Elections 
A number of different types of elections are held, the type depending on the office or policy issue to be decided. Nominating procedures sometimes require primary elections in the series of events leading to the general election.
Most commonly a general election is actually many elections, held simultaneously throughout a country, to make the final choice among candidates for all public offices to be filled at that time. In some countries voters may also vote directly on policy issues or constitutional amendments at the time of a general election. However, in some countries a national general election may also be held to fill only the office of the chief executive.

Mainly characteristic of the United States, Primary Elections are held in advance of the general election so that voters may participate directly in the selection of party candidates who will then run for public office. Primaries in the United States developed first in one-party areas of the South in the late 19th century. Wisconsin, a midwestern state, enacted the first comprehensive statewide primary law in 1903, and by 1917 most states required established political parties to make nominations through direct primary elections. Nonpartisan primaries are held in some jurisdictions.

Voter eligibility is limited to registered party members in closed primaries. In open primaries, which are less common, the voter may decide in which party primary to participate upon arriving at the polling place. Under the so-called blanket primary, in the state of Washington, the voter can vote in different party primaries for different offices. Many political analysts feel that the closed primary fosters party responsibility for the nomination of candidates by making it more difficult for voters who do not normally identify with the party to affect its nominating process. The number of potential voters who turn out to vote in primaries varies widely, but turnout for the primary is substantially lower than the turnout for the general election.

Run-off Elections 
Where no candidate wins a clear majority in a general election, a run-off election may be held between the two candidates polling the most votes. In France, for example, run-off elections have been held both for legislative and presidential elections. In the United States there is no provision for a run-off for president, but rather an arrangement for voting for president in the House of Representatives if the electoral college vote does not produce a majority. Otherwise, a simple plurality of the popular vote--the highest vote received--can determine the winner. Certain Southern states, however, make use of the run-off following primary elections that do not yield a majority.

Special Elections 
Where a public office is vacated by the incumbent--as through death or retirement--a special election may be held. This is common in the United States for seats in the House of Representatives and state legislatures. In Britain, elections to fill vacated seats in Commons are called by-elections. Often the turnout of voters in a special election is lower than the turnout in the same constituency at general election time.

Local Elections 
A wide variety of offices are filled by election on the local level, and elections are held to decide local policy questions. Local elections may or may not coincide in time with statewide or national elections.

Initiative, Referendum, and Recall 
Three types of election procedures, the initiative, the referendum, and the recall, might be mentioned. Briefly stated, the initiative is a procedure by which a specified number of voters may cause a popular vote to be held on a proposed law, amendment, or other public policy question, or to force the legislature to consider a measure. The referendum, used in France, the United States, and elsewhere, is an election in which an issue is submitted directly to a popular vote. In some jurisdictions recall elections, to remove a public official, are held when requested, usually by petition, by a specified number of voters.
 
Direct and Indirect Elections 
In a direct election each member of the electorate votes directly for the candidate of his or her choice, and, depending on the relevant rules, the candidate with a plurality or a majority of the popular vote is certified as the winner.
In certain instances, constitution makers, fearful of direct popular rule, have sought to limit it by providing for indirect election. In other cases, indirect election procedures have been used to limit the power and popular base of support for certain public officials.

Indirect elections are decided by vote of a special electoral body, whose members themselves usually are directly elected. In the Fifth French Republic members of the Senate, the second house in the national legislature, are elected by an electoral college composed of members of the National Assembly, the members of the general councils (departmental assemblies), and representatives of the municipal councils. In the United States a special electoral college elects the president. However, as political parties run slates of electors pledged to specific presidential nominees in the general election, the electoral college's power of independent judgment is sharply restricted. 

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