The short ballot movement was a progressive era movement to reduce the number of local elected officials in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The reformers advocated that only high-profile "top of the ticket" positions should be elected, with all other officials being appointed. The term "short ballot" was first used in 1909.

Historical context

The United States has a high number of elected positions. The number of elected officials at the state and local level increased towards the middle of the 19th century with the growth of

Jacksonian democracy Jacksonian democracy, also known as Jacksonianism, was a 19th-century political ideology in the United States that restructured a number of federal institutions. Originating with the seventh U.S. president, Andrew Jackson and his supporters, i ...

. 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 Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

would be deciding on 74 different elected offices for

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

, and

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

on the same

ballot A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16th cent ...

every two years. 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

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

appearing on the ballot. Long ballots contributed to citizens not voting, voting randomly, or voting on purely partisan lines. This, they argued, had the effect of decreasing government effectiveness and accountability. Short terms of office–normally one or two years–were common at the time, and critics argued that this 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 Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

, and its leadership included prominent progressives like

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

(the American novelist), Henry Jones Ford, Ben B Lindsey, John Ames Mitchell, William U'Ren, and William Allen White.

Presidential short ballot

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 A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

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.

References

{{Reflist Electoral reform in the United States Progressive Era in the United States Progressivism in the United States 1900s neologisms

Historical context

Presidential short ballot

See also

References