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History
Progressive Era Reforms and the Birth of the Primaries, 1890-1960
During the Progressive era, which lasted from roughly 1890-1920, the people’s desire for reform in the political process led to the establishment of the primaries. A primary is a state election in which citizens of that state cast their vote for the candidate whom they want to represent their party in the general election.
With an eye to making the process of presidential nominations more democratic, progressive reform efforts focused initially on making the delegate and candidate selection processes more transparent and inclusive. One of the earliest efforts was made by Wisconsin Governor Robert La Follette who’s frustration with the backroom politics in the 1904 elections led him to draft legislation that allowed Wisconsin voters more say over convention delegate selection. Subsequent states followed suit, so that by 1916, twenty-five of the forty-eight states had presidential primaries and stricter rules binding delegates to popular election results.
After World War I, the appetite for reform in the political process decreased as the country entered a period of political conservatism. In fact, eight states actually abandoned their primaries in favor of the old tradition of only allowing delegates to cast votes for their party’s nominee. As the Progressive movement lost momentum in American politics, so too did the idea of the state primaries in the nominating process.
Following World War II, primaries made a resurgence. With the advent of television and radio, populist-minded candidates could get their message directly to the voters and circumnavigate the influences of party bosses. This meant that lesser known candidates stood a chance at prevailing in the state primaries over more senior candidates with greater clout among party insiders. Candidates like Adlai Stevenson used the media advantageously to connect with voters, win state primaries, and ultimately wrest the nomination from the party’s establishment at the 1952 Democratic Convention. This trend continued in the post-war era, and came to a head in 1960.
These topic pages provide a quick overview and easy access to all content that can be found on ACE for any give topic of interest - weather encyclopaedia files, electoral materials, comparative data, consolidated replies, case studies, or other.
ELECTORAL FRAMEWORK
Legal Framework Boundary Delimitation Electoral Systems
ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION
Gender and Elections Parties and Candidates Disability and Elections Media and Elections Civic and Voter Education Direct Democracy
ELECTORAL MANAGEMENT
Electoral Management Cost of Elections
ELECTORAL INTEGRITY
Electoral Integrity Campaign Finance Measuring Electoral Quality Election Observation Electoral Assistance
ELECTORAL OPERATIONS
Voter Registration Voting Operations Voter Identification Results Management Out of Country Voting Elections and Technology Elections and Security
These topic pages provide a quick overview and easy access to all content that can be found on ACE for any give topic of interest - weather encyclopaedia files, electoral materials, comparative data, consolidated replies, case studies, or other.
ELECTORAL FRAMEWORK
Legal Framework Boundary Delimitation Electoral Systems
ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION
Gender and Elections Parties and Candidates Disability and Elections Media and Elections Civic and Voter Education Direct Democracy
ELECTORAL MANAGEMENT
Electoral Management Cost of Elections
ELECTORAL INTEGRITY
Electoral Integrity Campaign Finance Measuring Electoral Quality Election Observation Electoral Assistance
ELECTORAL OPERATIONS
Voter Registration Voting Operations Voter Identification Results Management Out of Country Voting Elections and Technology Elections and Security
Politics in States and Communities
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177 solutions
American Government
1st EditionGlen Krutz
412 solutions
Government in America: Elections and Updates Edition
16th EditionGeorge C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, Robert L. Lineberry
269 solutions
American Corrections
11th EditionMichael D. Reisig, Todd R. Clear
160 solutions