Congressional elections revolve around the ideas and opinions of who can run for office,for how long and when they are able to.Although the congressional election process seems very complex,the elections are not very competitive because of three main reasons.These reasons include incumbent protection,gerrymandering and redistricting.
An incumbent is someone who is currently holding office.Incumbents use tactics like safe seats in attempt to ensure their position in office.Therefore an incumbent is less likely to lose his or her place in office,because they have many protections.Another reason that congressional elections are not very competitive is gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering is the product of district lines being drawn in such a way that
Limits to Congressional Terms The only constant thing in America is change; except when it comes to the congressional member that govern our country. Many political pundits questioned how a junior senator from Illinois became President of the United States; because of change. The America people want it but Congress is having none of it.
Largely due to the government system of apportionment present which was largely based on partisanship. Proving to favor Douglas, “combined with the failure to win over the Whig districts, the apportionment doomed Lincoln’s chances of
and i totally agree with that. In the end partisan and racial gerrymandering is equally as bad and is very unfair toward any group.
What is a constituency, and why do constituencies differ for representatives and senators? A constituency is a group of individual voters in a specific area who elect a representative to a legislative body. Constituencies differ for representatives and senators: • Representatives – represent a district or area of a state and sometimes a whole state • Senators – represent the whole state Explain briefly how reapportionment and redistricting work? Why is gerrymandering frowned upon?
Enactment of term limits Term limits will help in increasing electoral competition by increasing the number of open seat elections. However, there is an assumption since there is little evidence that joins this, and on another case when an incumbent goes for reelection, competition is suppressed by term limits. Term limits make the elections to be less competitive but on the other hand, they increase the number of open seats contest (Sarbaugh, 2002). Political parties play a major role in political competition and their strength is measured by their ability to exert control over their candidates who are on the ballot papers.
Although this seems a reasonable approach this causes more of an issue of fragmentation than congressional district ting. Lastly, there is the Electoral College with super electors. This idea was introduced by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in 2000. he proposed that “... candidates would continue to compete for electors on a state-by-state, winner-take-all basis, but the winner of the national popular vote would be awarded a set of bonus
For example, in a safe state, which is a state that is known to vote for a certain political party in each election, the minority party will not get representation because the state will be voting in a certain way. This is true for both the Democrats and Republicans because there are safe states for each, where the minority party in a state can vote but all of the electoral votes will still go towards the majority. For these reasons, the winner-take-all system is a problem with the Electoral
The popularity of the members of Congress and Congress overall has been declining as the years pass and time changes. The dissatisfaction and disapproval of the public is so high because according to David Mayhew who wrote Congress the Electoral Connection members of Congress are single-minded people who are only focused on reelection, involve in “smart” behavior such as position taking, credit-claiming and advertisement. Also, according to Mayhew parties are weak, however, that is all not true people tend to vote more so for their party than the person in general. Arnold the writer of Logic of Congressional Outcome, states that Congress has many things to take into account such as citizen preference, robe-challenger, has to take into account
Term Limitation of Congress In America, it is a constant debate whether members of congress should be term-limited. Many people believe that the current members of congress have been in their position for too long and are subject to prejudices and old ideas. Although, the terms of house and senate should not be limited due to the fact that, the power to change a representative is in our hands as well as we, as a country, do not need a congress with little experience.
On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December of a leap year, five hundred and thirty eight electors travel to their state capitol buildings to decide who is the next president of the United States of America. They take an oath, and cast the official ballots for the presidential election. The problem is that this system is not fair. So, which way of electoral college reform is the best? In this essay, some options for electoral college reform are introduced, and the best one is chosen.
On November 6, 2012, Donald Tump tweeted from his personal twitter account that “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy”. Four years later, he went on to win the electoral vote for presidency. His opponent had nearly three million more popular votes. The electoral college is a population based system that has decided general elections ever since the Constitution was written, often falling with the popular vote. It is strange for the electoral not to vote the way of the people, especially since there is nothing thing in the Constitution that pledges electoral votes to a candidate.
But recently gerrymandering has become more controversial because people feel that it has taken away their rights as a voter and it swings the votes to one side by a big percentage. Current cases are before the courts to decide if gerrymandering is legal. Some states have been discussing whether it should still be allowed during elections. “Many efforts are underway to remedy this political
In any election, many factors influence the outcome. The Philadelphia Congressional Election of 1794 was between Federalist Thomas Fitzsimmons and Democratic-Republican John Swanwick. The support from different socio-economic groups was split between the candidates, and multiple variables affected the voters’ opinions. The candidates’ backgrounds, views and opinions on different political issues, and the voters themselves all proved important factors in the election.
When politicians gerrymander, it takes away the people's power in an election says professor of political science Erik J. Engstrom (Engstrom 192). When the people lose their role in government, it causes an efficiency gap (Stephanopoulos and McGhee 850). An efficiency gap "…represents the difference between the parties' respective wasted votes in an election - where a vote is wasted if it is cast (1) for a losing candidate, or (2) for a winning candidate but in excess of what she needed to prevail (Stephanopoulos and McGhee 834). " The state of California's House members has caught on to the injustices to the people, and they have almost completely eradicated gerrymandering in their state (Blake). The injustices of gerrymandering become more apparent when it comes to minorities (Engstrom 198).
Gerrymandering Position Paper Gerrymandering is the irregular redrawing of district lines to give one political party an advantage. Gerrymandering usually starts with a census. Every ten years, it is necessary to recount the people to redistribute the seats for the members of the House of Representatives. If a state gains or loses states it is necessary to reapportion the state.