Who Can You Vote For?
By Carolyn Finn
Voting is one of the many rights we as Americans take for granted. We can elect who we view as the best candidate for helping our country and decide how we want the future of our country to look. In the 2016 election, “61.4 percent of the citizen voting-age population reported voting”(File), but since 2004 the overall election turnout has decreased about 2.4 percent. It is crucial to acknowledge the importance of voting and how each vote matters and can affect the state of our country.
Election season is around the corner and it is important that every citizen, especially the youth that just turned 18, knows why we vote, who we can vote for, and how this vote can affect Americans of all ages. So, when, where, and why did elections start?
HISTORY OF ELECTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES
“Beginning in the 17th century, elections represented the individualistic concepts of both Europe and North America.” (Webb) Especially in the North American region, this idea of having representation in the government was rooted in the Revolutionary War, where colonists did not want to be taxed for goods without representation in the decision-making process or “taxation without representation.” This began America’s want for their own government where they can make decisions that best fit their domestic needs. When the Founding Fathers developed America’s government, the United States Constitution outlined how officials are elected and the process of being inaugurated. This included the Electoral College which is still used to today to record and cast votes for the potential United States President. Despite being written in 1776, the U.S Constitution created an outline of how America votes in the present day, but what different types of elections can we vote for?
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DIFFERENT TYPES OF ELECTIONS
General Elections
This type of election is simple. The main purpose of the general elections is to fill public offices and their positions.
Primary Elections
“The primary election is prior to the general election in which voters select the candidates who will run on each party’s ticket. Primaries are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders, and may be open or closed.” (Vote Smart)
Open Primary
“An election that permits voters to choose on Election Day the party primary in which they wish to vote. They may vote for candidates of only one party.” (Vote Smart)
Blanket Primary
“A type of open primary. In the voting booth you mark a ballot that lists the candidates for nomination of all the parties, therefore you can help select the Democratic candidate for one office and the Republican candidate for another.”(Vote Smart)
Closed Primary
“The selection of a party’s candidates in an election limited to registered party members. Prevents members of other parties from ‘crossing over’ to influence the nomination of an opposing party’s candidate.” (Vote Smart)
Run-Off Primary
“If no candidate gets a majority of the votes, a runoff is held to decide who should win.”
(Vote Smart)
Presidential Primary
“A primary used to pick delegates to the presidential nominating conventions of the major parties.” (Vote Smart)
This type of election is simple. The main purpose of the general elections is to fill public offices and their positions.
Primary Elections
“The primary election is prior to the general election in which voters select the candidates who will run on each party’s ticket. Primaries are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders, and may be open or closed.” (Vote Smart)
Open Primary
“An election that permits voters to choose on Election Day the party primary in which they wish to vote. They may vote for candidates of only one party.” (Vote Smart)
Blanket Primary
“A type of open primary. In the voting booth you mark a ballot that lists the candidates for nomination of all the parties, therefore you can help select the Democratic candidate for one office and the Republican candidate for another.”(Vote Smart)
Closed Primary
“The selection of a party’s candidates in an election limited to registered party members. Prevents members of other parties from ‘crossing over’ to influence the nomination of an opposing party’s candidate.” (Vote Smart)
Run-Off Primary
“If no candidate gets a majority of the votes, a runoff is held to decide who should win.”
(Vote Smart)
Presidential Primary
“A primary used to pick delegates to the presidential nominating conventions of the major parties.” (Vote Smart)
2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
With election season approaching it is best to understand who our candidates are and what policies they will make when they are put into office. For the 2020 election, the candidates are Donald J. Trump-Mike Pence and Joe Biden-Kamala Harris.
Donald J. Trump-Mike Pence
Donald J. Trump is the 45th President of the United States. Before his presidency, Trump was a titan in the business and entrepreneurial industry and has built up many of the skylines in major cities such as New York City and Chicago. He was elected into the presidency in 2017 with Mike Pence as his Vice President. Jobs and Money Trump wants to bring back the pandemic-battered economy. In the past he has campaigned “America First” principles, pushing for jobs and manufacturing to be brought back to the U.S. In his 4 years he made close to “480,000 manufacturing jobs” and “promised to give huge tax cuts to the working class.” (BBC) |
Trade
Trump wants to end the ‘reliance’ on China and protect U.S. manufacturing. Trump keeps the “America First” statement with trade. Trump promoted a policy to protect local manufacturers from foreign competitors and wants to keep this policy with trade. “His ongoing trade war with China has raised border taxes onclose to $500bn of annual trade and this year’s ‘phase one’ deal between the two nations saw most of the tariffs remain the same. Has reimposed tariffs on goods from the European Union and some Canadian aluminum products.” (BBC)
Foreign Policy
With foreign policy Trump is staying consistent with ‘America First’ and reasserting U.S. sovereignty. ‘This consists of stepping away from large multilateral agreements like the Paris climate accord or pulling back from multilateral organizations, like the World Health Organization. Trump also reiterated a promise to bring down U.S. troop levels overseas. His foreign policy successes recently consisted of helping to broker deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations.” (BBC)
Immigration
Trump is still campaigning for building the wall and curbing immigration. In seeking re-election he “promises to continue the construction of a border wall in the U.S.-Mexico Border and has secured funding for 445 miles of the 722 mile barrier. His immigration reform failed this past summer as the Supreme Court ruled against his administration’s bid to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which protects 650,000 young people who entered the U.S. without documents as children.” (BBC)
Health
In his re-election, Trump wants to lower drug costs and terminate the Affordable Care Act. “His administration has succeeded in undoing parts of the Act, including a repeal of the individual mandate, but failed in removing the Act as a whole. In July, Trump brought in measures that would allow discounts and import of cheaper drugs from abroad, but industry analysts said this won’t have much effect. In 2017, he declared the opioid crisis a national health emergency and offered $1.8bn in federal funding to states for prevention, treatment, and recovery measures. He has also taken steps to restrict opioid prescribing.” (BBC)
Climate Change
Trump wants to promote U.S. energy. Since 2016, “Trump has rolled back hundreds of environmental protections, including limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and vehicles, and protections for federal waterways across the country. Trump’s administration has approved of oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which has been off-limits for decades. Recently, Trump has withdrawn the United States from the Paris climate agreement and will only be formally completed after the election in November.” (BBC)
Criminal Justice
Trump wants to install a database to trace police misbehavior. “Trump stated that the First Step Act is a key step towards criminal justice reform. The 2018 bipartisan bill reformed laws at the federal level, given judges more discretion during sentences as well as strengthening prisoner rehabilitation efforts. Trump promised a follow-up Second Step Act that would address employment barriers for former prisoners. President Trump signed an executive order introducing a database that can trace abuses by officers and prohibit the choke-holding methods but has not enforced a ban.” (BBC)
Gun Control
Trump actively wants to defend the Second Amendment. Trump has expressed an effort for reform by issuing background checks for gun users and “red flag laws” which block access to firearms for those who are deemed a risk to society. However, many of these ideas have not been pushed forward or there has been little effort to do so. Despite wanting reform, he has actively voiced his defense to preserve the Second Amendment and the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Trump wants to end the ‘reliance’ on China and protect U.S. manufacturing. Trump keeps the “America First” statement with trade. Trump promoted a policy to protect local manufacturers from foreign competitors and wants to keep this policy with trade. “His ongoing trade war with China has raised border taxes onclose to $500bn of annual trade and this year’s ‘phase one’ deal between the two nations saw most of the tariffs remain the same. Has reimposed tariffs on goods from the European Union and some Canadian aluminum products.” (BBC)
Foreign Policy
With foreign policy Trump is staying consistent with ‘America First’ and reasserting U.S. sovereignty. ‘This consists of stepping away from large multilateral agreements like the Paris climate accord or pulling back from multilateral organizations, like the World Health Organization. Trump also reiterated a promise to bring down U.S. troop levels overseas. His foreign policy successes recently consisted of helping to broker deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations.” (BBC)
Immigration
Trump is still campaigning for building the wall and curbing immigration. In seeking re-election he “promises to continue the construction of a border wall in the U.S.-Mexico Border and has secured funding for 445 miles of the 722 mile barrier. His immigration reform failed this past summer as the Supreme Court ruled against his administration’s bid to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which protects 650,000 young people who entered the U.S. without documents as children.” (BBC)
Health
In his re-election, Trump wants to lower drug costs and terminate the Affordable Care Act. “His administration has succeeded in undoing parts of the Act, including a repeal of the individual mandate, but failed in removing the Act as a whole. In July, Trump brought in measures that would allow discounts and import of cheaper drugs from abroad, but industry analysts said this won’t have much effect. In 2017, he declared the opioid crisis a national health emergency and offered $1.8bn in federal funding to states for prevention, treatment, and recovery measures. He has also taken steps to restrict opioid prescribing.” (BBC)
Climate Change
Trump wants to promote U.S. energy. Since 2016, “Trump has rolled back hundreds of environmental protections, including limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and vehicles, and protections for federal waterways across the country. Trump’s administration has approved of oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which has been off-limits for decades. Recently, Trump has withdrawn the United States from the Paris climate agreement and will only be formally completed after the election in November.” (BBC)
Criminal Justice
Trump wants to install a database to trace police misbehavior. “Trump stated that the First Step Act is a key step towards criminal justice reform. The 2018 bipartisan bill reformed laws at the federal level, given judges more discretion during sentences as well as strengthening prisoner rehabilitation efforts. Trump promised a follow-up Second Step Act that would address employment barriers for former prisoners. President Trump signed an executive order introducing a database that can trace abuses by officers and prohibit the choke-holding methods but has not enforced a ban.” (BBC)
Gun Control
Trump actively wants to defend the Second Amendment. Trump has expressed an effort for reform by issuing background checks for gun users and “red flag laws” which block access to firearms for those who are deemed a risk to society. However, many of these ideas have not been pushed forward or there has been little effort to do so. Despite wanting reform, he has actively voiced his defense to preserve the Second Amendment and the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Joe Biden-Kamala Harris
Before his presidential nomination, Joe Biden was the Vice President alongside Barack Obama from the years 2008-2016. Before his roles in major politics, Joe Biden worked as an attorney, but was then elected as the youngest U.S. Senator in history and served as Delaware’s longest-serving Senator. Coronavirus Biden plans to take on the coronavirus by distributing a national test and trace program, however, this becomes an issue because the government will need to provide free-testing for all and hire 100,000 people to set up a national contact-tracing program. (BBC) |
Jobs and Money
If elected, Biden plans to raise the minimum wage and invest in green energy. Biden has “vowed to spend ‘whatever it takes’ to extend loans to small businesses and increase direct money payments to families. Among the proposals are an additional $200 in Social Security payments per month, rescinding Trump-era tax cuts and $10,000 if student loan forgiveness for federal loans. Biden supports raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. He also wants a $2tn investment in green energy, arguing that boosting green manufacturing helps working class union workers. He also plans to have a $400bn pledge to use federal dollars to buy American goods, alongside a wider commitment to enforce ‘Buy American’ laws for new transport projects.” (BBC)
Race
Biden plans to have criminal justice reform and grants for minority communities. He believes that racism exists and must be dealt with. Biden wants to create a business support for minorities through a $30bn investment fund. Moving from his tough-on-crime position in the 1990s, Biden plans to reduce incarceration, address race, gender, and income-based disparities in the justice system and rehabilitate released prisoners by creating a $20bn grant program to incentivise states to invest in incarceration reduction efforts, eliminate mandatory minimum sentences, decriminalize marijuana, expunge prior cannabis convictions, and end the death penalty. Despite his efforts for prison reform he has rejected defunding the police, but agrees some funding from police should be given to social services and calls for a $300m investment into community policing programs. (BBC)
Climate Change
Biden plans to rejoin the global climate accord and calls climate change an existential threat. He is not supportive of the Green New Deal, but is proposing a $1.7tn federal investment in green technologies research to be spent over the next 10 years and is striving for the United States to reach net zero emissions by 2050. He also p;ans to create jobs in manufacturing “green energy” products. (BBC)
Foreign Policy
Biden wants to restore America’s reputation “and to possibly take on China”. Biden views foreign policies as multilateralist and proposes to regain and repair relationships with the U.S. allies, especially with the Nato alliance. Biden has said that China should be held accountable for their unfair environment and trade practices and has proposed an international coalition with other democracies. (BBC)
Health
Biden plans to expand Obamacare. With this Biden plans to ensure that all Americans have the decision to enroll in the public health insurance option very similar to Medicare. Biden’s health plan would cost $2.25tn over the next 10 years as estimated by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Immigration
Biden plans to undo Trump’s policies which include reversing the plan that separates parents and their children in the U.S.-Mexican border, rescind limits on the number of applicants for asylum and end the bans on travel from several majority-Muslim countries. He also plans to protect the “Dreamers” or those who were brought illegally to the U.S. as children who were permitted to stay under an Obama-era policy and ensure they are eligible for financial aid. (BBC)
Education
As for education, Biden plans to have universal preschool and expand free college. He plans to propose student loan forgiveness, expansion of tuition-free colleges and universal preschool access and would be paid using money gained back from withdrawing Trump-era tax cuts. (BBC)
If elected, Biden plans to raise the minimum wage and invest in green energy. Biden has “vowed to spend ‘whatever it takes’ to extend loans to small businesses and increase direct money payments to families. Among the proposals are an additional $200 in Social Security payments per month, rescinding Trump-era tax cuts and $10,000 if student loan forgiveness for federal loans. Biden supports raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. He also wants a $2tn investment in green energy, arguing that boosting green manufacturing helps working class union workers. He also plans to have a $400bn pledge to use federal dollars to buy American goods, alongside a wider commitment to enforce ‘Buy American’ laws for new transport projects.” (BBC)
Race
Biden plans to have criminal justice reform and grants for minority communities. He believes that racism exists and must be dealt with. Biden wants to create a business support for minorities through a $30bn investment fund. Moving from his tough-on-crime position in the 1990s, Biden plans to reduce incarceration, address race, gender, and income-based disparities in the justice system and rehabilitate released prisoners by creating a $20bn grant program to incentivise states to invest in incarceration reduction efforts, eliminate mandatory minimum sentences, decriminalize marijuana, expunge prior cannabis convictions, and end the death penalty. Despite his efforts for prison reform he has rejected defunding the police, but agrees some funding from police should be given to social services and calls for a $300m investment into community policing programs. (BBC)
Climate Change
Biden plans to rejoin the global climate accord and calls climate change an existential threat. He is not supportive of the Green New Deal, but is proposing a $1.7tn federal investment in green technologies research to be spent over the next 10 years and is striving for the United States to reach net zero emissions by 2050. He also p;ans to create jobs in manufacturing “green energy” products. (BBC)
Foreign Policy
Biden wants to restore America’s reputation “and to possibly take on China”. Biden views foreign policies as multilateralist and proposes to regain and repair relationships with the U.S. allies, especially with the Nato alliance. Biden has said that China should be held accountable for their unfair environment and trade practices and has proposed an international coalition with other democracies. (BBC)
Health
Biden plans to expand Obamacare. With this Biden plans to ensure that all Americans have the decision to enroll in the public health insurance option very similar to Medicare. Biden’s health plan would cost $2.25tn over the next 10 years as estimated by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Immigration
Biden plans to undo Trump’s policies which include reversing the plan that separates parents and their children in the U.S.-Mexican border, rescind limits on the number of applicants for asylum and end the bans on travel from several majority-Muslim countries. He also plans to protect the “Dreamers” or those who were brought illegally to the U.S. as children who were permitted to stay under an Obama-era policy and ensure they are eligible for financial aid. (BBC)
Education
As for education, Biden plans to have universal preschool and expand free college. He plans to propose student loan forgiveness, expansion of tuition-free colleges and universal preschool access and would be paid using money gained back from withdrawing Trump-era tax cuts. (BBC)
HOW DOES THIS AFFECT YOU?
We know about this year’s election candidates, why we vote and how it started, but how does this affect individual Americans? Voting allows us to decide which candidate and their policies we view as the best option for the present state of our country. If you have opinions on what needs to be changed and improved then voting helps select someone who will push forward those changes and improvements. Every vote matters if you want to see a change and the best way to do that is to go out to the polls (or because of the recent pandemic) or to mail in your ballots. Every vote counts and your vote matters!
Podcast episode can be found here.
Carolyn Finn is a senior at San Dieguito High School Academy and currently a member of When We All Vote San Diego. Her hobbies include thrifting, sleeping and hanging out with friends (socially distancing of course)
Sources used in this article
Carolyn Finn is a senior at San Dieguito High School Academy and currently a member of When We All Vote San Diego. Her hobbies include thrifting, sleeping and hanging out with friends (socially distancing of course)
Sources used in this article