Custom essays: 2010 Midterm Elections

Reasons Why Americans Don’t
While answering this question, I will express not only my own opinion, but also the views of other ordinary citizens of America. Pondering over the reasons why Americans do not vote, I searched the forums and blogs on the internet looking for what people think about this and some of the responses seem very interesting.
Probably the main reason is that people do not realize how important the elections are and what they mean for the country. Some people believe that whatever the government is, it still takes care of its citizens (Yahoo answers 2010).
Most people believe that their vote does not mean anything, that everything will be decided without them. They do not care about the election results or they just do not like candidates. Also laziness is of great importance, people prefer to rest instead of going somewhere to vote.
Interesting opinion is expressed by some people saying that for many citizens the right choice is not to vote, because they absolutely do not understand politics and do not follow what’s happening in the country, so that they can make a wrong decision.
Some people believe that government itself is not interested in people to vote because it doesn’t create the right conditions. Since many people work on Election Day and have only a half hour break, they just don’t have enough time to get to the ballot and cast their vote. In many countries, elections are held on weekends or people are provided with additional breaks to have enough time to vote. It is also possible to make elections last for more than one day and polls can work 24 hours a day. It may be more costly for the state, but then for sure every citizen will have the chance to vote for his candidate (Deck 2010).

4. What requirements must be met in order to participate in the 2010 Texas midterm election?
Every political party chooses the candidates who will represent the party on the elections. So, any member of political part can become the candidate to participate in the elections.
An independent candidate who wants to take part in the 2010 Texas midterm election must meet the following requirements:
The candidate needs to get signatures from registered voters. The amount of signatures should be equal to not less than 1% of the total vote’s amount in the prior election.
These signatures should be of registered voters who did not vote in either the Democratic or Republican primaries or in any runoff elections for Governor (Giroux 2010).
Also, these signatures should be of registered voters who haven’t signed a paper in support of any other candidate. In the case, when s supporter signs more than one petition, only his first signature is counted.
The signatures of supporters can’t be obtained until after the primary election and the petition should be filed before 5:00 PM (the filing must be with the Texas Secretary of State) on the 30th day after the scheduled runoff primary election day (Recent News 2010).
These are the main requirements the candidates must meet in order to participate in the 2010 Texas midterm election.

5. Outline types of candidates.
There are two types of candidates: political party candidates, independent.
Political party candidates. Any political party, whose candidate for governor during the previous elections, has collected 20 percent or more of the total number of votes, appoints all its candidates for all offices and determines the winner through the primaries. One candidate has to receive majority of votes. If not, a second round is held, which determines the winner of the two candidates who have received the most support.
Political parties, whose candidates of which during the previous elections, received at least 2 percent but less than 20 percent of the total votes, may nominate its candidates for all offices and find a winner through either primary election (using the two-round system) or a state convention. However, this situation is rather rare, the last time it happened in 1990, with the Libertarian Party (when its candidate Jeff Daiell polled over 3.3% of the vote).
All other political parties must nominate their candidates via state convention.
Independent candidates. Basic requirements to be met by independent candidates in Texas are:
• the candidate must obtain signatures from 1% of registered during last elections voters;
• only registered voters who have not voted in the Republican or Democratic primaries or in any runoff elections for Governor can subscribe the petition;
• only registered voters who have not yet signed the petition for another independent candidate can subscribe. Otherwise, only the signature in the first petition would be counted (Becker 2010).

6. Provide a profile of US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Kay Bailey Hutchison (born on July 22, 1943) is the senior US Senator from Texas. She is a member of the Republican Party. In the year of 2001, Ladies Home Journal called Kay Bailey Hutchison one of the thirty most powerful women in America. She was the first woman who represented Texas in the U.S. Senate. She is also the first Texas U.S. senator who received more than 4 million votes during a single election.
Kay Bailey Hutchison is the most senior female Republican senator, and fifth most senior female senator, having assumed office in June 1993 behind Senators Barbara Mikulski, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer and Patty Murray (Kay Bailey Hautchison 2010).
Her political career began in 1972, when Kay Bailey Hutchison was elected to the Texas House of Representatives from a district in Houston where she served until 1976. Later she served as vice-chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.
She was a Texas State Treasurer during 1990-1993. In 1994, on the election Hutchison received 60.8 percent votes. In 2005, Hutchison announced that she would seek reelection to the Senate. Later, on election 2006, she won re-election to another term, winning 2,661,789 votes (61.7%). On August 17, 2009, Senator Hutchison formally announced herself as a Republican candidate for Governor of Texas and was a moderate alternative to Governor Rick Perry.
Political views: Hutchison supports the legality of abortion; supports a single-sex education in public schools; she proposed the “District of Columbia Personal Protection Act”; proposed limiting Texas governors to two four-year terms, supports the practice of earmarking.
In November 2009, Kay Bailey Hutchison announced about her wish not to resign from the Senate seat until after the March 2, 2010, but later in March 2010, she told about an intention to serve out her third term.