Voting Representation: How We Choose Our Candidates Use these links to navigate the main sections of the Voting: Representation section. Links for navigating the entire voting section, as well as the rest of the Law, Diversity and the Vote site are at the bottom of the page. Introduction | How We Choose Our Candidates | Voting Systems | The Electoral College Do We Have Enough Representation? YOU Vote! How the Party System Developed in the U.S. The two-party system began almost simultaneously with the formation of the new country. One group of men favored adopting the Constitution and another did not. This was the beginning of the Federalist Party and the Anti-Federalist Party. What Did the Founding Fathers Think of Parties? The leaders who drafted the Constitution had hoped that they could do without political parties in this country. They felt parties were inherently evil, the cause of political intrigues, and a blight on the harmony of their new republic. Today, many people feel dissatisfied with a two-party system. The Democratic Party was founded in 1832, and the Republican Party, dates back to 1854. Some people believe these parties are too strong and that they limit the number of viable candidates. Others contend that the major parties are too weak because they try to be all things to all people. Today’s parties are powerful at the local level of wards, city halls, and congressional districts. Few politicians are elected at these levels without declaring themselves either a Democrat or a Republican. Third Party Candidates The system of single-member congressional districts, elected on a winner-takes-all basis, tends to limit the number of parties at the local level. Still, there have been notable exceptions throughout U.S. history. Two powerful anti-slavery parties were formed before the Civil War. The Liberty Party was begun in 1840 and the Free-Soil Party was founded in 1848 to oppose the admission of slave states into the Union and to prohibit the extension of slavery into U.S. territories. Since 1900, only 4 third-party presidential candidates have received over 10 percent of the popular vote: Theodore Roosevelt (1912) Robert LaFollette (1924) George Wallace (1968) Ross Perot (1992) Perot was the most effective third-party candidate in recent history, receiving 19 percent of the populst vote. During presidential elections, small-scale political parties such as the Democratic Socialists of American, the Libertarian Party, and the Green Party U.S.A., regularly post their own candidate and regularly receive about 0.1 percent of the vote, a long way from the majority needed to win. Yet many political scientists believe that the country is ripe for the creation of a viable third party as voters become disaffected with the two major parties. A 1995 survey by Lou Harris and Associates reported that 45 percent of voters felt the need for a new political party to reform government. Ballot Access In the history of U.S. politics, there have been over 1,000 third parties. Ballot access requirements remain one of the key obstacles to alternative candidates. States set their own rules about whose name can appear on the ballot. The ballot rules vary widely. In 1992, California required candidates to collect and submit nearly 135,000 signatures to be placed on the ballot, while a candidate in Tennessee only needed 275 signatures to qualify. Considerable time and money is spent on qualifying. In 1980, John Anderson spent about half his entire campaign budget just getting on the ballot in all 50 states. A dozen years later, Ross Perot spent $14 million just to get his name on the ballot. Jesse Ventura & Third Party Candidates Minnesota’s election of former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura as governor may seem like a quirky sideshow to those in other parts of the country, but the 1998 election has wide-ranging implications for third party candidates. Minnesota’s campaign finance law limited the amount his opponents could spend on their campaigns and entitled Ventura to $330,000 in public funds, based on his Reform Party’s showing in previous elections. These funds, while a fraction of the money the two major parties received, allowed Ventura to run ads with high impact. Operating a low-budget campaign, Ventura used the Internet to attract new people to politics, activating a huge group of young first-time voters. In addition, a surge of election day registration activity meant more votes for Ventura. Since the 1970s, Minnesota has allowed people to register on the day of an election. A remarkable one in six voters took advantage of it during the 1998 election. The public funds, the Internet, and the ability to register on election day all added up to a slim victory for a third party candidate. Could this happen in other states with similar registration and campaign finance reform laws? >>Youth Citizenship >>Voter Registration >>Representation >>Campaign Reform Conversation | *Voting* | Activities | Resources Online Conversations | Law, Diversity, and the Vote