Section 7 Elections This section relates primarily to presiden- 1964. In 1971, as a result of the 26th tial, congressional, and gubernatorial Amendment, eligibility to vote in national elections. Also presented are summary elections was extended to all citizens, tables on congressional legislation; state 18 years old and over. legislatures; Black, Hispanic, and female officeholders; population of voting age; Presidential election—The Constitution voter participation; and campaign specifies how the president and vice finances. president are selected. Each state elects, by popular vote, a group of electors equal Official statistics on federal elections, col- in number to its total of members of Con- lected by the Clerk of the House, are pub- gress. The 23d Amendment, adopted in lished biennially in Statistics of the Presi- 1961, grants the District of Columbia dential and Congressional Election and three presidential electors, a number Statistics of the Congressional Election. equal to that of the least populous state. Federal and state elections data appear also in America Votes, a biennial volume Subsequent to the election, the electors published by CQ Press (a division of Con- meet in their respective states to vote for gressional Quarterly, Inc.), Washington, president and vice president. Usually, DC. Federal elections data also appear in each elector votes for the candidate the U.S. Congress, Congressional Direc- receiving the most popular votes in his or tory, and in official state documents. Data her state. A majority vote of all electors is on reported registration and voting for necessary to elect the president and vice social and economic groups are obtained president. If no candidate receives a by the U.S. Census Bureau as part of the majority, the House of Representatives, Current Population Survey (CPS) and are with each state having one vote, is published in Current Population Reports, empowered to elect the president and Series P20 (see text, Section 1). vice president, again, with a majority of votes required. Almost all federal, state, and local govern- mental units in the United States conduct The 22nd Amendment to the Constitu- elections for political offices and other tion, adopted in 1951, limits presidential purposes. The conduct of elections is tenure to two elective terms of 4 years regulated by state laws or, in some cities each or to one elective term for any per- and counties, by local charter. An excep- son who, upon succession to the presi- tion is that the U.S. Constitution pre- dency, has held the office or acted as scribes the basis of representation in Con- President for more than 2 years. gress and the manner of electing the president and grants to Congress the Congressional election—The Constitu- right to regulate the times, places, and tion provides that representatives be manner of electing federal officers. apportioned among the states according Amendments to the Constitution have to their population, that a census of popu- prescribed national criteria for voting eli- lation be taken every 10 years as a basis gibility. The 15th Amendment, adopted in for apportionment, and that each state 1870, gave all citizens the right to vote have at least one representative. At the regardless of race, color, or previous con- time of each apportionment, Congress dition of servitude. The 19th Amendment, decides what the total number of repre- adopted in 1919, further extended the sentatives will be. Since 1912, the total right to vote to all citizens regardless of has been 435, except during 1960 to sex. The payment of poll taxes as a pre- 1962 when it increased to 437, adding requisite to voting in federal elections one representative each for Alaska and was banned by the 24th Amendment in Hawaii. The total reverted to 435 after Elections 235 U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009 reapportionment following the 1960 cen- percent casting votes in each state for sus. Members are elected for 2-year presidential and congressional election terms, all terms covering the same years. These voting-age estimates include period. The District of Columbia, Ameri- a number of persons who meet the age can Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands requirement but are not eligible to vote, each elect one nonvoting delegate, and (e.g. aliens and some institutionalized Puerto Rico elects a nonvoting resident persons). In addition, since 1964, voter commissioner. participation and voter characteristics data have been collected during Novem- The Senate is composed of 100 members, ber of election years as part of the CPS. two from each state, who are elected to These survey data include noncitizens in serve for a term of 6 years. One-third of the Senate is elected every 2 years. Sena- the voting age population estimates, but tors were originally chosen by the state exclude members of the Armed Forces legislatures. The 17th Amendment to the and the institutional population. Constitution, adopted in 1913, prescribed that senators be elected by popular vote. Statistical reliability—For a discussion of statistical collection and estimation, Voter eligibility and participation— sampling procedures, and measures of The Census Bureau publishes estimates statistical reliability applicable to Census of the population of voting age and the Bureau data, see Appendix III. Figure 7.1 Vote Cast for President by Major Political Party: 1996 to 2004 Democratic Republican Other major candidates1 Millions of votes 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1996 2000 2004 1Candidates with 1 million or more votes: 1996—Reform, Ross Perot; 2000—Green, Ralph Nader. Source: Chart prepared by U.S. Census Bureau. For data, see Tables 380 and 381. 236 Elections U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009 Table 380. Vote Cast for President by Major Political Party: 1948 to 2004 [In thousands (48,834 represents 48,834,000), except percent and electoral vote. Prior to 1960, excludes Alaska and Hawaii; prior to 1964, excludes DC. Vote cast for major party candidates includes the votes of minor parties cast for those candidates] Candidates for President Vote cast for President Democratic Republican Year Total Popular vote Popular vote Democratic Republican popular vote 1 Number Per- Electoral Number Per- Electoral (1,000) (1,000) cent vote (1,000) cent vote 1948 .... Truman ...... Dewey....... 48,834 24,106 49.4 303 21,969 45.0 189 1952 .... Stevenson .... Eisenhower . 61,552 27,315 44.4 89 33,779 54.9 442 1956 .... Stevenson .... Eisenhower . 62,027 26,739 43.1 73 35,581 57.4 457 1960 .... Kennedy ..... Nixon ....... 68,836 34,227 49.7 303 34,108 49.5 219 1964 .... Johnson ..... Goldwater .... 70,098 42,825 61.1 486 27,147 38.7 52 1968 .... Humphrey .... Nixon ....... 73,027 30,989 42.4 191 31,710 43.4 301 1972 .... McGovern .... Nixon ....... 77,625 28,902 37.2 17 46,740 60.2 520 1976 .... Carter ....... Ford ........ 81,603 40,826 50.0 297 39,148 48.0 240 1980 .... Carter ....... Reagan ...... 86,497 35,481 41.0 49 43,643 50.5 489 1984 .... Mondale ..... Reagan ...... 92,655 37,450 40.4 13 54,167 58.5 525 1988 .... Dukakis ...... Bush........ 91,587 41,717 45.5 111 48,643 53.1 426 1992 .... Clinton ...... Bush........ 104,600 44,858 42.9 370 38,799 37.1 168 1996 .... Clinton ...... Dole ........ 96,390 47,402 49.2 379 39,198 40.7 159 2000 .... Gore ........ Bush........ 105,594 50,996 48.3 266 50,465 47.8 271 2004 .... Kerry........ Bush........ 122,349 58,895 48.1 251 61,873 50.6 286 1 Include votes for minor party candidates, independents, unpledged electors, and scattered write-in votes. Source: U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Clerk, Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election, biennial. See also <http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/election.html>. Table 381. Vote Cast for Leading Minority Party Candidates for President: 1948 to 2004 [In thousands (1,169 represents 1,169,000). See headnote, Table 380. Data do not include write-ins, scatterings, or votes for candidates who ran on party tickets not shown] Popular Popular Year Candidate Party vote Candidate Party vote (1,000) (1,000) 1948 . Strom Thurmond . States’ Rights....... 1,169 Henry Wallace ..... Progressive ........ 1,156 1952 . Vincent Hallinan.... Progressive ........ 135 Stuart Hamblen .... Prohibition ......... 73 1956 1 . T. Coleman Andrews. States’ Rights....... 91 Eric Hass ........ Socialist Labor ...... 41 1960 . Eric Hass ........ Socialist Labor ...... 46 Rutherford Decker . Prohibition ......... 46 1964 . Eric Hass ........ Socialist Labor ...... 43 Clifton DeBerry .... Socialist Workers .... 22 1968 . George Wallace .... American Independent. 9,446 Henning Blomen . Socialist Labor ...... 52 1972 1 . John Schmitz...... American.......... 993 Benjamin Spock.... People’s.......... 9 1976 . Eugene McCarthy . Independent ....... 680 Roger McBride..... Libertarian ......... 172 1980 . John Anderson .... Independent ....... 5,251 Ed Clark ......... Libertarian ......... 920 1984 . David Bergland .... Libertarian ......... 227Lyndon H. LaRouche. Independent ....... 79 1988 . Ron Paul ........ Libertarian ......... 410 Lenora B. Fulani . New Alliance ....... 129 1992 . H. Ross Perot ..... Independent ....... 19,722 Andre Marrou ..... Libertarian ......... 281 1996 . H. Ross Perot ..... Reform ........... 7,137 Ralph Nader ...... Green............ 527 2000 . Ralph Nader ...... Green............ 2,530 Pat Buchanan ..... Reform ........... 324 2004 . Ralph Nader ...... Green............ 116 Michael Badnarik . Libertarian ......... 369