TOPICS #38-41 — SUFFRAGE, VOTING, ELECTIONS, AND THE AMERICAN
PARTY SYSTEM
Suffrage under the early Constitution (review)
“Jacksonian Revolution”
15th Amendment (1870 — no abridgment of the right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude”)
Southern “Jim Crow” system
voter registration systems
19th Amendment (1920 — no abridgment “on account of sex”)
24th Amendment (1964 — no abridgment “by reason of failure to pay any poll or other tax”)
Voting Rights Act (1965)
26th Amendment (1971 — no abridgment “on account of age [18 or older])”
“actual vote” recorded Presidential vote
Voting turnout = =
“potential vote” voting age population
VAP vs. eligible voters vs. registered voters (“Motor Voter” Law)
popular vs. political science evaluations of political parties
elite vs. mass view of political parties:
lessons of Presidential selection:
nominating function
party competition: Joseph Schumpeter's revised definition of democracy
market model of democracy (Anthony Downs)
jury model of democracy
party competition as a check on “special interests” and unrepresentative activists
two vs. multi-party systems: electoral systems
majoritarian (SMD-plurality and Pres. election) => two-party convergence
factional/splinter ("flash") third parties
proportional (MMD-PR and parliamentary system) => multi-party divergence
weakness of American political parties
liberal political culture / social pluralism / "catch-all" parties
decentralized constitutional structure
absence of party discipline
the direct primary
American historical party systems (Kernell and Jacobson, p. 437)
sectional / urban vs. rural / class / etc. alignments
party systems separated by realignments
majority vs. minority party