What is the meaning of electorate?
Definition of electorate. 1 : the territory, jurisdiction, or dignity of a German elector. 2 : a body of people entitled to vote.
Is voting a legal right in the United States?
In the U.S., no one is required by law to vote in any local, state, or presidential election. According to the U.S. Constitution, voting is a right. Many constitutional amendments have been ratified since the first election. However, none of them made voting mandatory for U.S. citizens.
What is the right to vote in a democracy?
The right to vote is the foundation of any democracy. Chief Justice Earl Warren, for example, wrote in Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 555 (1964): "The right to vote freely for the candidate of one’s choice is of the essence of a democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strike at the heart of representative government. [...]
How are electors allocated in a US election?
In 48 of the 50 states, state laws mandate the winner of the plurality of its statewide popular vote shall receive all of that state's electors; in Maine and Nebraska, two electors are assigned in this manner, while the remaining electors are allocated based on the plurality of votes in each of their congressional districts.
Which amendment directs the election of senators?
What is the 17th amendment?
Why did the People's Party rise?
What was the purpose of the Race Rider?
Who removed the race rider?
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What is the term for an electorates right to vote directly for or against legislation already on the books quizlet?
popular referendum. electorate's right to vote directly for or against legislative measures.
What is the term for an electorate is right to draft legislation?
what is the term for an electorates right to vote directly for or against legislative measures. popular referendum. what is the term for the requirement that certain types of measures, such as constitutional amendments, must be approved by the electorate. legislative referendum.
What is it called when citizens are allowed to directly vote on whether to accept or reject a proposed law?
The REFERENDUM allows citizens, through the petition process, to refer acts of the Legislature to the ballot before they become law. The referendum also permits the Legislature itself to refer proposed legislation to the electorate for approval or rejection.
Is plebiscite the same as referendum?
Referenda are binding on the government. A plebiscite is sometimes called an 'advisory referendum' because the government does not have to act upon its decision. Plebiscites do not deal with Constitutional questions but issues on which the government seeks approval to act, or not act.
What does referendum mean?
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative.
What is a referendum quizlet?
Referendum. A state-level method of direct legislation that gives voters a chance to approve or disapprove proposed legislation or a proposed constitutional amendment.
What is the initiative referendum and recall?
Initiative, Referendum and Recall are three powers reserved to the voters to enable them, by petition, to propose or repeal legislation or to remove an elected official from office.
How does a referendum work?
A referendum is only passed if it is approved by a majority of voters across the nation and a majority of voters in a majority of states—this is known as a double majority. Territory voters are only counted in the national majority. If a referendum is successful, the change is made to the Constitution.
What is the name for an election that lets citizens remove and replace a government official before that official's term of office ends?
A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which, in certain polities, voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of office has ended.
What is a plebiscite vote?
A plebiscite or referendum is a type of voting, or of proposing laws. Some definitions of 'plebiscite' suggest that it is a type of vote to change the constitution or government of a country. Others define it as the opposite.
What is an example of a direct democracy?
Switzerland is a rare example of a country with instruments of direct democracy (at the levels of the municipalities, cantons, and federal state). Citizens have more power than in a representative democracy.
Is a referendum legally binding?
Referendums are normally not legally binding, so legally the Government can ignore the results; for example, even if the result of a pre-legislative referendum were a majority of "No" for a proposed law, Parliament could pass it anyway, because Parliament is sovereign.
What are the forms of legislative drafting?
Legislative drafting mainly deals with the drafting of bills intended to become a part of statute law. It also includes the drafting of bye-laws of corporations, municipalities and other forms of subordinate legislation.
What are the principles of legislative drafting?
Legislative drafting requires abundance of knowledge of the language, its Grammar, the technical requirements of the from of legislation and perform the task in a non-partisan manner and keeping totally away from political controversies.
What is a legislative proposal?
Legislative proposal or "proposal" means any proposal relating to a bill which may be considered or is presently being considered by the general assembly for enactment.
What is Indian legislative drafting?
"Legislative Drafting is the skill of a Legislative Drafter who is a lawyer trained in the discipline of mastering the use of words and knowledge to effectively communicate policies and intentions into simple, clear and intelligible laws, and analysing the future to produce workable and realistic solutions which will ...
How Are Senators Elected? - Reference.com
Senators are elected by popular vote in each state. The candidate who receives the most votes wins the election, though in some states, when no candidate receives at least 50 percent of the vote, the candidates with the two highest vote counts compete in a runoff to determine the winner.
Election of Senators - GPO
Each state has two Senators who are elected to serve six-year terms. Every two years one third of the Senate is up for reelection. To be able to run in an election for the Senate one must be 30 years old by the time one takes the oath of office, a citizen of the U.S. for at least nine years, and a resident of the state from which one is elected.
How were U.S. Senators originally chosen? - CliffsNotes
Senators of the United States Congress were originally chosen by state legislatures. Citizens would vote for their state legislators, and those legislators would vote a man into the U.S. Senate.
Why did the People's Party rise?
The rise of the People's Party, commonly referred to as the Populist Party, added motivation for making the Senate more directly accountable to the people. During the 1890s, the House of Representatives passed several resolutions proposing a constitutional amendment for the direct election of senators. Each time, however, the Senate refused ...
What was the purpose of the Race Rider?
However, it included a “race rider” meant to bar Federal intervention in cases of racial discrimination among voters.
What is the 17th amendment?
17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Direct Election of U.S. Senators. En Español. Americans did not directly vote for senators for the first 125 years of the Federal Government. The Constitution, as it was adopted in 1788, stated that senators would be elected by state legislatures. The first proposal to amend the Constitution ...
Which amendment directs the election of senators?
17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Direct Election of U.S. Senators | National Archives.
When was the first amendment to the Constitution made?
The first proposal to amend the Constitution to elect senators by popular vote was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1826, but the idea did not gain considerable support until the late 19th century when several problems related to Senate elections had become evident.
Who removed the race rider?
A substitute amendment by Senator Joseph L. Bristow (R-KS) removed the “race rider.”. The amended Joint Resolution was adopted by the Senate on a close vote in May of 1911. Over a year later, the House accepted the change, and the amendment was sent to the states for ratification.
What is the name of the federal law that created the new way to register to vote?
The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993 created new ways to register to vote. It also called for states to keep more accurate voter registration lists. The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 authorized federal funds for elections. It also created the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC).
What act allowed people to vote by mail?
The Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act of 1984 required polling places to be accessible to people with disabilities. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986 allowed members of the U.S. armed forces and overseas U.S. voters to register and vote by mail.
What amendments made it harder for African Americans to vote?
Some states used literacy tests and other barriers to make it harder to vote. The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, gave American women the right to vote. The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, eliminated poll taxes. The tax had been used in some states to keep African Americans from voting in federal elections.
What laws prohibited discrimination based on race, color, or membership in a language minority group?
1960. 1964. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited voter discrimination based on race, color, or membership in a language minority group. It also required certain places to provide election materials in languages besides English. The act also placed limits on certain states with a history of voter discrimination.
How to report voter suppression?
The Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division. If you witness or suspect voter intimidation or suppression, there are three ways you can report it: Contact your state or territorial election office.
What are the three federal election crimes?
Federal election crimes fall into three broad categories: Campaign finance crimes, such as when candidates accept funds that violate the amounts or donors permitted under the law . Civil rights violations, involving voter intimidation, coercion, threats, and other tactics to suppress a person’s ability to vote.
What is the federal campaign finance law?
Federal Campaign Finance Laws. Federal law puts limits on campaign contributions to candidates for president and Congress. It requires the candidates to report all the money their campaigns receive and spend. Open All +.
How does the electoral college affect voting?
According to this criticism, the electoral college reduces elections to a mere count of electors for a particular state, and, as a result, it obscures any voting problems within a particular state. For example, if a particular state blocks some groups from voting, perhaps by voter suppression methods such as imposing reading tests, poll taxes, registration requirements, or legally disfranchising specific minority groups, then voting inside that state would be reduced, but as the state's electoral count would be the same, disenfranchisement has no effect on the overall electoral tally. Critics contend that such disenfranchisement is partially obscured by the Electoral College. A related argument is the Electoral College may have a dampening effect on voter turnout: there is no incentive for states to reach out to more of its citizens to include them in elections because the state's electoral count remains fixed in any event. According to this view, if elections were by popular vote, then states would be motivated to include more citizens in elections since the state would then have more political clout nationally. Critics contend the electoral college system insulates states from negative publicity as well as possible federal penalties for disenfranching subgroups of citizens.
What are the arguments against the electoral system?
Arguments between proponents and opponents of the current electoral system include four separate but related topics: indirect election, disproportionate voting power by some states, the winner-takes-all distribution method (as chosen by 48 of the 50 states, and the District of Columbia), and federalism. Arguments against the Electoral College in common discussion focus mostly on the allocation of the voting power among the states. Gary Bugh's research of congressional debates over proposed constitutional amendments to abolish the Electoral College reveals reform opponents have often appealed to a traditional republican version of representation, whereas reform advocates have tended to reference a more democratic view.
What is the 12th amendment?
If no candidate for president receives an absolute majority of the electoral votes (since 1964, 270 of the 538 electoral votes), then the Twelfth Amendment requires the House of Representatives to go into session immediately to choose a president . In this event, the House of Representatives is limited to choosing from among the three candidates who received the most electoral votes for president. Each state delegation votes en bloc —each delegation having a single vote; the District of Columbia does not get to vote. A candidate must receive an absolute majority of state delegation votes (i.e., at present, a minimum of 26 votes) in order for that candidate to become the president-elect. Additionally, delegations from at least two thirds of all the states must be present for voting to take place. The House continues balloting until it elects a president.
How many proposals have been made to reform the electoral college system?
Since 1800 , over 700 proposals to reform or eliminate the system have been introduced in Congress. Proponents of these proposals argued that the electoral college system does not provide for direct democratic election, affords less-populous states an advantage, and allows a candidate to win the presidency without winning the most votes. None of these proposals have received the approval of two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the states required to amend the Constitution.
What is a faithless elector?
A "faithless elector" is one who does not cast an electoral vote for the candidate of the party for whom that elector pledged to vote. Faithless electors are comparatively rare because electors are generally chosen among those who are already personally committed to a party and party's candidate. Thirty-three states plus the District of Columbia have laws against faithless electors, which were first enforced after the 2016 election, where ten electors voted or attempted to vote contrary to their pledges. Faithless electors have never changed the outcome of a U.S. election for president. Altogether, 23,529 electors have taken part in the Electoral College as of the 2016 election; only 165 electors have cast votes for someone other than their party's nominee. Of that group, 71 did so because the nominee had died – 63 Democratic Party electors in 1872, when presidential nominee Horace Greeley died; and eight Republican Party electors in 1912, when vice presidential nominee James S. Sherman died.
What is the purpose of the electoral college?
The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president. Each state appoints electors according to its legislature, equal in number to its congressional delegation (senators and representatives).
Why is the electoral college made up of real people?
According to this argument, the fact the Electoral College is made up of real people instead of mere numbers allows for human judgment and flexibility to make a decision, if it happens that a candidate dies or becomes legally disabled around the time of the election, though state laws binding electors and the lack of a single assembly of electors complicate coordination of a unified selection.
What is the right to vote?
The right to vote is the foundation of any democracy. Chief Justice Earl Warren, for example, wrote in Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 555 (1964): "The right to vote freely for the candidate of one’s choice is of the essence of a democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strike at the heart of representative government. [...] Undoubtedly, the right of suffrage is a fundamental matter in a free and democratic society. Especially since the right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is preservative of other basic civil and political rights, any alleged infringement of the right of citizens to vote must be carefully and meticulously scrutinized." Justice Hugo Black shared the same sentiment by stating in Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1, 17 (1964): "No right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live. Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined."
What is voting rights?
Voting rights in the United States, specifically the enfranchisement and disenfranchisement of different groups, has been a moral and political issue throughout United States history . Eligibility to vote in the United States is governed by the United States Constitution and by federal and state laws.
Why are military members excluded from voting?
Many military members stationed overseas were historically excluded from voting, de facto, due to state laws pertaining to absentee voting. Scholars have written that state-level policies to allow absentee voting for military members were often enacted when a political party in power thought that doing so would improve their reelection rates. For example, at the time of the American Civil War, it was widely believed that military members would vote Republican, and thus, states with Republican governors and legislatures tended to pass bills allowing military members to absentee vote or commission election officials to go to the battlefields and garrisons to collect votes. States with Democratic governors and legislatures tended not to pass such bills.
What were the restrictions on suffrage in the 17th century?
In the 17th-century Thirteen Colonies, suffrage was often restricted by property qualifications or with a religious test. In 1660, Plymouth Colony restricted suffrage with a specified property qualification, and in 1671, Plymouth Colony restricted suffrage further to only freemen " orthodox in the fundamentals of religion ". Connecticut in mid-century also restricted suffrage with a specified property qualification and a religious test, and in Pennsylvania, the Province of Carolina, and the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations voting rights were restricted to Christians only. Under the Duke's Laws in colonial New York, suffrage did not require a religious test but was restricted to landholders. In Virginia, all white freemen were allowed to vote until suffrage was restricted temporarily to householders from 1655 to 1656, to freeholders from 1670 to 1676, and following the death of Nathaniel Bacon in 1676, to freeholders permanently. Quakers were not permitted to vote in Plymouth Colony or in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and along with Baptists, were not permitted to vote in several other colonies as well, and Catholics were disenfranchised following the Glorious Revolution (1688–1689) in Maryland, New York, Rhode Island, Carolina, and Virginia.
Why did the military abstain from voting?
presidential elections. The three, along with many officers from Marshall’s generation, abstained from voting in order to avoid any sense of partisanship that could impair their professional judgement.
How many votes were cast in the 1840 election?
Voter turnout soared during the 1830s, reaching about 80% of adult white male population in the 1840 presidential election. 2,412,694 ballots were cast, an increase that far outstripped natural population growth, making poor voters a huge part of the electorate. The process was peaceful and widely supported, except in the state of Rhode Island where the Dorr Rebellion of the 1840s demonstrated that the demand for equal suffrage was broad and strong, although the subsequent reform included a significant property requirement for anyone resident but born outside of the United States.
Which amendment gave women the right to vote?
1868: Citizenship is guaranteed to all persons born or naturalized in the United States by the Fourteenth Amendment, setting the stage for future expansions to voting rights. 1869–1920: Some states allow women to vote. Wyoming was the first state to give women voting rights in 1869.
Which amendment directs the election of senators?
17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Direct Election of U.S. Senators | National Archives.
What is the 17th amendment?
17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Direct Election of U.S. Senators. En Español. Americans did not directly vote for senators for the first 125 years of the Federal Government. The Constitution, as it was adopted in 1788, stated that senators would be elected by state legislatures. The first proposal to amend the Constitution ...
Why did the People's Party rise?
The rise of the People's Party, commonly referred to as the Populist Party, added motivation for making the Senate more directly accountable to the people. During the 1890s, the House of Representatives passed several resolutions proposing a constitutional amendment for the direct election of senators. Each time, however, the Senate refused ...
What was the purpose of the Race Rider?
However, it included a “race rider” meant to bar Federal intervention in cases of racial discrimination among voters.
Who removed the race rider?
A substitute amendment by Senator Joseph L. Bristow (R-KS) removed the “race rider.”. The amended Joint Resolution was adopted by the Senate on a close vote in May of 1911. Over a year later, the House accepted the change, and the amendment was sent to the states for ratification.