The short ballot movement was a progressive era movement to reduce the number of local elected officials in the United States. The reformers advocated only high-profile "top of the ticket" positions should be elected, with all other officials being appointed.
The United States has a high number of elected positions. The number of elected officials at the state and local level increased towards middle of the 19th century with the growth of Jacksonian democracy. [1] Making these positions elected was a reform designed to decrease the spoils system of partisan appointments and increase government accountability to the people.
The increasing list of positions resulted in the "long ballot". For example, by 1911 a voter in Cleveland, Ohio would be deciding on 74 different elected offices for state, county, and city on the same ballot every two years. [2] Critics argued that these officials performed obscure roles in government and resulted in voter apathy. The average voter could not make an informed decision on each individual appearing on the ballot. Long ballots contributed to citizens not voting, voting randomly, or voting on purely partisan lines. This had the effect of decreasing government effectiveness and accountability. [3]
Short terms of office common at the time, normally only one or two years, made the problem worse. A common additional reform was to increase the length of terms of office of elected officials and stagger elections. The reform was also frequently combined with strengthening the power of the state governor and the streamlining of state government into executive departments.
National Short Ballot Organization
The National Short Ballot Organization was founded to advance the cause. The organization's president and leading national advocate was US President Woodrow Wilson, and its leadership included noted progressive like Winston Churchill (the American novelist), Henry Jones Ford, Ben B Lindsey, John Ames Mitchell, William U'Ren, and William Allen White. [4]
The most successful aspect of the movement was the adoption of the short ballot for presidential elections. Due to the electoral college in the United States voters do not directly vote for President and Vice President but instead vote for electors. The names of the electors are no longer printed on the ballot for presidential elections in a presidential short ballot, the presidential candidate's name is a short form for picking the electors that have been decided by party officials. [5]
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
In the United States, politics function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a bicameral legislative body comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate; the executive branch, which is headed by the president of the United States, who serves as the country's head of state and government; and the judicial branch, composed of the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, and which exercises judicial power.
The Libertarian Party (LP) is a political party in the United States that promotes civil liberties, non-interventionism, laissez-faire capitalism, and limiting the size and scope of government. The party was conceived in August 1971 at meetings in the home of David F. Nolan in Westminster, Colorado, and was officially formed on December 11, 1971, in Colorado Springs. The organizers of the party drew inspiration from the works and ideas of the prominent Austrian school economist, Murray Rothbard. The founding of the party was prompted in part due to concerns about the Nixon administration, the Vietnam War, conscription, and the introduction of fiat money.
The 1876 United States presidential election was the 23rd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 1876, in which Republican nominee Rutherford B. Hayes faced Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. It was one of the most contentious presidential elections in American history. Its resolution involved negotiations between the Republicans and Democrats, resulting in the Compromise of 1877, and on March 2, 1877, the counting of electoral votes by the House and Senate occurred, confirming Hayes as President. It was the second of five U.S. presidential elections in which the winner did not win a plurality of the national popular vote.
The 1792 United States presidential election was the second quadrennial presidential election. It was held from Friday, November 2, to Wednesday, December 5, 1792. Incumbent President George Washington was elected to a second term by a unanimous vote in the electoral college, while John Adams was re-elected as vice president. Washington was essentially unopposed, but Adams faced a competitive re-election against Governor George Clinton of New York.
In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every 4 years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state appoints electors under the methods described by its legislature, equal in number to its congressional delegation. The federal District of Columbia also has 3 electors under an amendment adopted in 1961. Federal office holders, including senators and representatives, cannot be electors. Of the current 538 electors, an absolute majority of 270 or more electoral votes is required to elect the president and vice president. If no candidate achieves a majority there, a contingent election is held by the House of Representatives to elect the president and by the Senate to elect the vice president.
Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, culpability, liability, and the expectation of account-giving.
In the politics of the United States, elections are held for government officials at the federal, state, and local levels. At the federal level, the nation's head of state, the president, is elected indirectly by the people of each state, through an Electoral College. Today, these electors almost always vote with the popular vote of their state. All members of the federal legislature, the Congress, are directly elected by the people of each state. There are many elected offices at state level, each state having at least an elective governor and legislature. There are also elected offices at the local level, in counties, cities, towns, townships, boroughs, and villages; as well as for special districts and school districts which may transcend county and municipal boundaries.
In United States presidential elections, an unpledged elector is a person nominated to stand as an elector but who has not pledged to support any particular presidential or vice presidential candidate, and is free to vote for any candidate when elected a member of the Electoral College. Presidential elections are indirect, with voters in each state choosing electors on Election Day in November, and these electors choosing the president and vice president of the United States in December. Electors in practice have since the 19th century almost always agreed in advance to vote for a particular candidate — that is, they are said to have been pledged to that candidate. In several elections in the 20th century, however, competitive campaigns were mounted by candidates who made no pledge to any presidential nominee before the election. These anomalies largely arose from fissures within the Democratic Party over the issues of civil rights and segregation. No serious general election campaign has been mounted to elect unpledged electors in any state since 1964.
An uncontested election is an election in which the number of candidates is the same as or fewer than the number of places available for election, so that all candidates are guaranteed to be elected. An uncontested single-winner election is one where there is only one candidate. In some uncontested elections, the normal process, of voters casting ballots and election official counting votes, is cancelled as superfluous and costly; in other cases the election proceeds as a formality. There are some election systems where absence of opposing candidates may not guarantee victory; possible factors are a quorum or minimum voter turnout; a none of the above option; or the availability of write-in candidates on the ballot.
Elections in California are held to fill various local, state and federal seats. In California, regular elections are held every even year ; however, some seats have terms of office that are longer than two years, so not every seat is on the ballot in every election. Special elections may be held to fill vacancies at other points in time. Recall elections can also be held. Additionally, statewide initiatives, legislative referrals and referendums may be on the ballot.
The 2004 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 2, 2004, and was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose 11 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The District of Columbia holds general elections every two years to fill various D.C. government offices, including mayor, attorney general, members of the D.C. Council, members of the D.C. State Board of Education, and members of its Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. Special elections may be held to fill vacancies at other points in time. Additionally, citywide ballot measures may be proposed and voted on.
The election of the president and the vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not directly for those offices, but instead for members of the Electoral College. These electors then cast direct votes, known as electoral votes, for president, and for vice president. The candidate who receives an absolute majority of electoral votes is then elected to that office. If no candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes for president, the House of Representatives elects the president; likewise if no one receives an absolute majority of the votes for vice president, then the Senate elects the vice president.
Statewide elections in the U.S. state of North Dakota take place every two years. Most executive offices and all legislators are elected to four-year terms, with half the terms expiring on U.S. Presidential election years, and the other half expiring on mid-term election years.
The 1860 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on 6 November 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters in New Jersey chose seven electors of the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President. New Jersey voters voted for each elector individually, and thus could split their votes. All seven electors were chosen in a single at-large election. That is, each voter voted for up to seven candidates, and the seven candidates with highest vote counts were elected.
The 2020 United States presidential election in Nevada was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Nevada voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump, and running mate Vice President Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate California Senator Kamala Harris. Nevada has six votes in the Electoral College.
North Dakota has held two statewide elections in 2020: a primary election on Tuesday, June 9, and a general election on Tuesday, November 3. In addition, each township has elected officers on Tuesday, March 17, and each school district held their elections on a date of their choosing between April 1 and June 30.
The 1924 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 4, 1924, as part of the 1924 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all contemporary forty-eight states. Voters chose ten representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1916 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 7, 1916 as part of the 1916 United States presidential election. Voters chose ten representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.