Essay Sample on Role of Electoral Politics in Shaping Democracy

Electoral politics refers to the branch/aspect of election and electoral processes that describes the procedure of initiating fair electoral systems and improving the quality and efficiency of the existing electoral systems. Through electoral politics, the various importance and aspects of elections and voting are identified. It also helps in understanding the importance of political parties and how their role in the electoral process shapes a country's democracy (Sides & Hopkins, 2015). Electoral politics also entails citizens governing themselves directly or indirectly.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

On the other hand, political geography entails the spatial distribution of political processes as well as ho such processes are influenced by one's geographical location. General elections in the US politics are elections that are held at any level, such as city, county, congressional district, and state, which involve competition among at least two parties. On the other hand, Electoral College is a system of electors established by the US constitution to elect the presidents and vice president of the US on behalf of the state citizens. Here, each state receives specific electors according to its overall representatives in Congress. Then each elector casts one electoral vote following the general elections (Reynolds, 2014). Geography matters a lot in both General elections, and Electoral College as general elections take place in various geographical locations across the US. With Electoral College, geography matters because voters in each state select their electors by casting their ballots for the President. The 538 electors all come different states (geographical locations) across the US. Each state is entitled allotment, one for each member in the House of Representatives plus senators (Mcloughlin, 2015).

General election matters a lot in the US and takes place across the US and is not limited to voters in a specific party or region. General elections in the US take place on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November in even-numbered years. For the president, the general election occurs after the first Monday of November to choose among the different candidates nominated by the parties or those running as autonomous or write-in candidates. Similarly, where nonaligned races have not been decided in the primary, the runoffs take place at the general election (Thurber, 2018). A general election can also be statewide, for a given state or Congressional offices allow voters to choose between the top two-vote getters in the statewide main elections. The statewide measure can also be planned on the November poll to be part of the general election.

Elections in the US play a vital role as all members of the federal legislature, Congress, are directly elected by the citizens from each state. Elections also matter because they are a fundamental part of democratic governance and keep a democratic country on check and functioning. Through elections, voters can choose leaders and make them responsible for their official conduct. On the other hand, voting matters a lot because it enables a meeting or electorate to make better collective decisions or express an opinion following election campaigns (Mayer, 2018). The government is elected by citizens and affects different aspects of people's lives, such as healthcare, security, schools, and education, among others, and through voting citizens voice and register their opinion on how they believe the government should operate and offer the necessities. Voting also matters because it is an integral part of democracy, and through voting, citizens participate in the democratic procedure as citizens elect for leaders to represent them as well as their opinions and ideas in key matters affecting their lives (Ginsberg & Stone, 2016).

We should care about electoral politics because they represent electoral structures in which allotments in an electorate are reflected accordingly in the voted body. For instance, in R% of the electorate advocate, a given party as their favorite, then approximately R% of seats will most likely be taken by that party. We should also care about electoral politics as it stimulates citizen's participation in the country's political processes and understands the impact of electoral systems in these political processes. Electoral politics affects nearly every aspect of our democracy and lives, and caring about this helps us to ensure our country and government upholds its democratic duties to the citizens. Having an understanding of electoral politics helps us determine the best course of action for our country regarding a diverse range of issues affect our lives as an informed citizen (Somin, 2016).

The government plays a key role in shaping elections. Government is formed through elections, and it is the role of the government to ensure free and fair elections. The political systems and processes used in elections are designed and implemented by the government in collaboration with the existing political parties. The political parties which are used by different politicians to vie for their respective political seats are registered and regulated by the government. It is also the mandate of the administration to make sure that elections are conducted peacefully and securely by providing the relevant security personnel. Various government agencies are tasked with ensuring that the set laws and regulations are followed by the various politicians and their respective political parties (Stimson, 2015). For instance, in the USA, the FEC (Federal Election Commission) is a government free regulatory bureau that is mandated with imposing campaign finance regulations in the US federal elections. In the US, the federal elections are administered and regulated by the state and local governments, although the details of how these elections are conducted differ from one state to another. The constitution and laws which govern the administration of different types of elections in the US are implemented and affected by the government.

The track of American ethnic politics is shaping the electoral politics in the US with dynamics in the African-American community and the American's relations with African-American and racial groups taking a different turn. Currently, in the US, there is an escalating cycle of action and relations between the diverse Democratic presidential contenders and President Donald Trump with issues of race relations and American identify turning to be the Centre of 2020 campaign. America is founded on the principles of freedom and equality and free and fair elections and orderly elimination and discrimination of communities based on their color and ethnic background (Bobo, 2017). Failure to fully ensure democratic processes in electoral politics implies inadequate political supremacy to elect leaders who have common values as well as the power to put the needs of the public above racial boundaries. And as an outcome, citizens of color keep on enduring discrimination as well as an exclusion in electoral politics. Racial discrimination in electoral politics undermines the principle of free and fair elections and undermines democratic values which govern the elections in the US. This has pushed lawmakers to defend strategies and implement new faulty ones to eliminate obstacles favoring the election of people based on their color or ethnic background.

Gerrymander entails two fundamental principles; 'cracking' and 'packing,' in which cracking deals with attenuating the voting influence of the differing party's across various districts while packing deals with concentrating the differing party's voting supremacy in a single district to minimize their voting influence over other districts. In the US, typical gerrymandering takes the appearance of partisan gerrymandering, whereby the redistricting focus on favoring a given political party or weakening another one, while bipartisan gerrymandering is also used to safeguard incumbents by various parties (Duchin, 2018). Gerrymandering affects elections in that it guarantees an incumbent victory through 'shoring up' a district with larger levels of partisan support with having to benefit a specific political party disproportionately. However, this practice can affect the cost of a campaign for district elections.

References

Bobo, L. D. (2017). Racism in Trump's America: reflections on culture, sociology, and the 2016 US presidential election. The British journal of sociology, 68, S85-S104.

Duchin, M. (2018). Gerrymandering metrics: How to measure? What's the baseline?. arXiv preprint arXiv:1801.02064.

Ginsberg, B., & Stone, A. (2016). Do elections matter?. Routledge.

Mayer, W. G. (2018). The divided Democrats: Ideological unity, party reform, and presidential elections. Routledge.

Mcloughlin, C. (2015). The politics of what works in service delivery. The Politics of Inclusive Development: Interrogating the Evidence, 119.

Reynolds, D. R. (2014). Whither electoral geography? A critique. Developments in Electoral Geography (Routledge Library Editions: Political Geography), 22.

Sides, J., & Hopkins, D. J. (Eds.). (2015). Political polarization in American politics. Bloomsbury Publishing, USA.

Somin, I. (2016). Democracy and political ignorance: why smaller government is smarter. Stanford University Press.

Stimson, J. A. (2015). Tides of consent: How public opinion shapes American politics. Cambridge University Press.

Thurber, J. A. (2018). Campaigns and elections American style. Routledge.