MICHIGAN GIRLS STATE

GOVERNMENT MANUAL

“Revised 2005”

AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY

GIRLS STATE, INC.

EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN

AUTHOR

Dr. James E. Piereson (1973)

Assistant Professor of Political Science

University of Pennsylvania

EDITOR

Robert C. Fischer (1965)

Consultant in Citizenship Education

Michigan, Ohio, New York

EDITOR

Alan G. Vanderberg (1996-2005)

County Administrator

Ottawa County, Michigan

Erika Rosebrook

Business Improvement/Communications Coordinator

Ottawa County, Michigan
TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1	PURPOSES AND ORGANIZATION OF GIRLS STATE A. The Importance of State and Local Government B. The Political Process at Girls State C. The Political Organization at Girls State D. The City and County Profiles
CHAPTER 2	THE CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS OF GIRLS STATE A. The Michigan Constitution B. Amendment and Revision C. The Legal Basis of Girls State
CHAPTER 3	POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS IN MICHIGAN AND AT GIRLS STATE: POLITICAL PARTIES, INTEREST GROUPS, AND THE PRESS ASSOCIATION A. Political Parties Versus Interest Groups B. Political Parties in the United States and Michigan: The Two-Party System C. Party Identification and Party Organization D. Political Party Organization at Girls State E. Interest Groups at Girls State F. The State Press Association
CHAPTER 4	THE ELECTORAL PROCESS: NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS FOR OFFICE IN MICHIGAN AND AT GIRLS STATE A. Party Nominations in Michigan B. Campaigns for Election C. Nominations for Office at Girls State D. The General Election Campaign at Girls State E. Voting at Girls State F. County Electoral Commissions G. Filling Vacancies in offices H. Government Officials at Girls State: A Summary
CHAPTER 5	STATE GOVERNMENT: THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH IN MICHIGAN AND GIRLS STATE A. The Governor’s Role B. Constitutional Powers and Limitations C. Other Executive Officers: The State Administrative Board D. The Executive Branch at Girls State
CHAPTER 6	STATE GOVERNMENT: THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH IN MICHIGAN AND GIRLS STATE A. Legislative Organization B. The Legislative Process C. Parties and Interest Groups in the Legislative Process D. The Legislative Branch at Girls State
CHAPTER 7	STATE GOVERNMENT: THE JUDICIAL BRANCH IN MICHIGAN AND GIRLS STATE A. Jurisdiction of Courts B. The Michigan Court of Justice C. The Judicial Branch at Girls State D. The State Bar Association E. Girls State Oath of Office
CHAPTER 8	LOCAL GOVERNMENT: CITY AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT IN MICHIGAN AND AT GIRLS STATE A. City Government in Michigan B. City Government at Girls State C. County Government in Michigan D. County Government at Girls State
APPENDIX A	PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE

Chapter 1

PURPOSES AND ORGANIZATION OF GIRLS STATE

Girls State was established by the American Legion Auxiliary in 1941, and the program is now in operation in all the United States except Hawaii. The annual program in this state is designed to provide a practical experience in the process of self-government as it operates in Michigan. The program is modeled as nearly as possible upon the actual governmental process in the State of Michigan, with some necessary omissions and modifications.

The purposes of the American Legion Auxiliary Girls State program are:

To emphasize the importance of government in modern life;
To stimulate a deep and lasting interest in government;
To encourage a deeper understanding of our governmental process.

In order to achieve these goals, Girls State is based upon the principle of active participation in the political process. Care has been taken to design the program so that every citizen may participate in the electoral process, have the opportunity to hold public office, and influence the process by which laws are made and administered. Since no single individual can serve in all the offices of government, it is expected that much will be learned by observing and sharing experiences with others. It is hoped that the participants will leave Girls State with a more mature appreciation of the character of the American system of government. It is hoped, too, that they will leave with a firm resolution to work in the future to make government a more effective and responsible servant of the public.

THE IMPORTANCE OF STATE

AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Girls State program deals with government at the state and local levels rather than with that of the national level. In many senses, though, the lessons learned at Girls State should apply to government at all levels. Many of the issues that will be discussed (welfare, civil rights, education, etc.) overlap levels of government. In addition, there are many similarities between the state and national levels in the actual operation of political institutions. However, you should be aware of the unique features of state and local government in the United States.

State and local governments in this country predated the creation of federal government. The oldest constitution still in existence is that of the state of Massachusetts, which was ratified in 1780 and is still in use. All thirteen colonies drafted and ratified state constitutions in the years following the Declaration of Independence. When they joined the federal union, they did so as states that agreed to give up part of their sovereignty to achieve common purposes. The national union was, therefore, built upon a foundation of states.

Since the state and local governments were already in place when the U.S. Constitution was ratified, they preserved significant roles in the political process and in the delivery of government services. Their role has been defended on the grounds that they are the governments closest to the people and, therefore, most subject to their scrutiny and control. In a democratic society this has always been a powerful argument in defense of the state and localities.

The relationships between the federal government and the states have changed over time in response to political conflicts, but state and local governments remain highly visible to citizens. Most of our day to day contacts with government are with representatives of state and local governments. Police and fire protection are provided by these institutions, as are most of the roads on which we drive, the water we drink, and nearly all of the schools in which we are educated. If we run afoul of the law, it is usually with a state regulation of some kind; and most of our dealings with the judicial system are through state courts. In addition, many important federal programs are administered by state and local governments. It is well to keep this in mind, since the press tends to focus heavily upon national personalities and national institutions. Because of this, there is a tendency to overlook the contributions of state and local governments.

THE POLITICAL PROCESS AT GIRLS STATE

Girls State was designed to represent the important features of political structures and processes as they are found in Michigan. The program was set up to be as realistic as possible given this unique setting. The program is a representation of real events and processes, and in this sense Girls State is like, but not identical to, a real state. Some details of the governmental process in Michigan have been altered to accommodate the unique features of Girls State. (For example, Michigan has 83 counties and 533 cities and unincorporated villages, as well as 1,242 townships, while in Girls State we have just 15 cities and 5 counties.) But aside from these details, the important aspects of the governmental process have been incorporated into the program. The success of the program will require citizens to act like their real world counterparts. Those selected as judges at Girls State, for example, should try to carry out their duties like real judges, even though the sentences passed out at Girls State are fictitious. The same is true of other participants and office-holders. This will require some “role playing” by citizens so that the positions in the program are given added substance. The more imaginative you are in this respect, the more successful and interesting the program will be.

THE POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OFGIRLS STATE

The “State” is composed of approximately 400 citizens, all assumed to be of legal age. It is organized into cities and counties as follows:

15 cities, containing approximately 25-30 citizens each;

5 counties, composed of three cities each, and containing approximately 80 citizens per county.

Citizens are assigned to cities and counties upon their arrival at Girls State. These affiliations are important, since citizens will meet and work with their cities and counties throughout the week.

THE CITY AND COUNTY PROFILES

In Michigan, cities and counties differ substantially in size, population, services provided, and economic concerns. The concerns of the large urban areas are different from those of the farming areas of the lower peninsula or the mining areas of the upper peninsula. These create political conflicts in the state between areas and groups with different interests, and they are reflected in elections and in conflicts over policy in the counties and cities, in the courts, and in the state legislature.

These characteristics of the political process have been incorporated in the program through city and county “profiles.” A description of each city and county at Girls State has been prepared by the government staff. These will be distributed at the first county meetings. The profiles describe in some detail the characteristics of the cities and counties—their size and population, location, economic interests, and unique political concerns. Every county and city will have a different profile, and you will recognize similarities between counties and cities in Michigan and those of Girls State.

The profiles build into the program a number of political issues to be discussed in city and county meetings, in the party conventions and election campaigns, in the courts, and in the state legislature. They also suggest “roles” for citizens to play in these settings. The profiles will also remind citizens that political decisions are subject to restraints imposed by the economy and other characteristics of the community. You should, therefore, read them carefully, since they are designed to give organization and realism to the program.

A library and research service will also be made available to assist citizens who need to do additional research. The profiles will occasionally make reference to issues of some complexity, and these may require research before legislation can be drafted or a position taken.

A constitution establishes a general framework of government. It defines the institutions through which officials govern and provides the means through which they are selected. All state constitutions in the United States, like that of the federal government, provide for the separation of political powers into three branches—the executive, legislative, and judicial. Moreover, constitutions generally define what the relationships between these branches shall be and what functions each will have. In addition, nearly all state constitutions in the United States provide a Bill of Rights which specify things that the government may not do or rights of citizens that it may not abridge.

In a sense, a constitution sets up the rules by which the game of politics is to be played. By establishing political institutions and providing the means by which they are filled, a constitution creates a structure within which different interests can compete for influence. For this reason, constitutions are usually quite general because they lay out the structure of government and leave the details of public policy to be worked out politically in the legislative arena. Indeed, if constitutions become too specific, it is difficult to gain approval and support for them. It might be noted that the U.S. Constitution is very brief and very general for exactly this reason. Some state constitutions, on the other hand, have been very long and detailed, and for this reason they have required frequent revision.

The rationale for constitutionalism, as it is found in this country, was worked out in the period during and immediately after the American Revolution. It was argued that governments and laws are necessary to restrain citizens from violating the rights of others. But, since governments must be administered by ordinary people, the possibility arises that governments themselves may infringe upon the rights of citizens in a similar way. Who, then, is to restrain the government? This became one of the chief functions of a constitution—to impose restraints upon the government just as the government and laws impose restraints upon citizens.

There will always be differences of opinion over what a constitution means at any given time. While most people in this country support the federal Constitution in the abstract, they do not agree upon its meaning when applied to specific cases. We agree upon the principles of freedom of speech and equal protection under the law when these are considered as abstract statements, but we often disagree as to whether these principles apply in specific instances. Such disagreements must be worked out politically through elections, judicial appointments, and judicial decisions. In this way, the U.S. Constitution has changed substantially in meaning over the years even though its words have changed very little. In this way it is given the flexibility to change with the opinions of the society. At the same time, the words of the Constitution have shaped opinion and structured debate over important political questions in a way that has maintained continuity from generation to generation.

THE MICHIGAN CONSTITUTION

The present Michigan Constitution was drafted in 1962, ratified by the people in 1963, and put into effect in 1964. It substantially modified the previous constitution, adopted in 1908, in several ways—by revising the organization of county government, lengthening the terms of the governor and state senators from two to four years, permitting the state to impose an income tax, and reorganizing the judicial branch by creating a Court of Appeals, abolishing the office of Justice of the Peace, and giving the Supreme Court supervisory authority over the state court system. The revision was generally viewed as an attempt to modernize state government in Michigan.

Like the U.S. Constitution, the Michigan Constitution is based upon the doctrine of separation of powers. Political functions are divided into the three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial), and each branch has a “veto” over actions of the other branches. The theory underlying the separation of powers is that it is dangerous to concentrate power in the hands of any single individual or political body, since there is always the danger that it will be abused. Under the separation of powers, authority is diffused among the three branches under the assumption that abuses by one branch will be blocked by the other branches. In practice, this means that it is difficult to mobilize all three branches simultaneously toward the same goals. As a consequence, bargaining and compromise are necessary, and change is slow.

The legislative branch is bi-cameral, composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House has 110 members elected every two years, while the Senate has 38 members elected every four years with the Governor. Representatives are limited to three terms, while Senators and members of the executive branch are limited to two terms. Representation in both houses is based upon population, which means that districts are approximately equal in population. (Please note that at Girls State the numbers of Representatives and Senators are not the same as in Michigan. This is discussed in Chapter 6.)

The executive power is vested in the Governor, who is elected, along with the Lieutenant Governor, to a four-year term.

Nominees for Governor and Lieutenant Governor are selected by the parties as “teams,” which prevents the election of a Governor from one party and a Lieutenant Governor from the opposition party. The Attorney General and Secretary of State are elected by the people for four-year terms. Other members of the Governor’s administrative board are appointed, though not in all cases by the Governor. The State Treasurer is appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction is appointed by the State Board of Education. (Please note that at Girls State these last two officers, along with the Director of the State Police and the State Highway Director, are appointed by the Governor. See Chapter 5).

Under the state Constitution, the judicial power is vested in one court of justice, which is divided into a Supreme Court, a Court of Appeals, trial courts of general jurisdiction, called Circuit Courts, a Probate Court, and courts of limited jurisdiction, now called District Courts, which were created by the legislature in 1968 to replace Justice of the Peace Courts. In 1998, the Michigan Legislature moved family matters from the Probate Court to the Circuit Court. One should remember that all courts in the state are authorized by the state government and are subject to state law and regulation. Among these courts, the Supreme Court is especially important, since it is the arbiter of the state Constitution and laws enacted under its authority. The Supreme Court also has general supervisory control over other state courts, and thus it may establish rules governing practice and procedure in these courts.

This is the basic outline of the state government as provided in the Constitution, though this is certainly not all the Constitution contains. The Constitution, in addition, provides for the creation of city and county governments, the election of public officials, the means by which the state can and cannot raise money, and a Bill of Rights, among other things. Some of these other features will be discussed in greater detail in succeeding chapters.

AMENDMENT AND REVISION

Two methods were provided in the Michigan Constitution for amending the document. First, the legislature may propose an amendment by a two-thirds vote of each house, after which the proposal must be approved by a majority of voters in a referendum to become law. Alternatively, the voters may propose an amendment by a petition signed by a number of voters equal to ten percent of the vote received by all candidates for Governor in the previous election. Again, such a proposal must be approved by a majority of voters in a referendum.

The 1963 Constitution provides that the question of a general revision of the Constitution shall be submitted to the voters every 16 years. If approved, such a proposal would allow for the calling of a constitutional convention for the purpose of revising the Constitution. Any revision would then require, in turn, the approval of the voters. The present constitution was drafted in 1962, so this proposal will next be on the ballot in 2010, at which time the people can decide to call a convention to revise the document again.

THE LEGAL BASIS OF GIRLS STATE

The Girls State program operates according to the provisions of the Michigan Constitution. Public officers at Girls State are bound by the Constitution and may not abridge it in their public acts. Laws passed at Girls State either by the state government or by local governments must conform to the Constitution, as interpreted by the Michigan Supreme Court.

Aside from the Michigan Constitution, the laws governing Girls State are derived from three other sources:

1. The United States Constitution. This is the supreme law of the land, and any conflicts between the acts of the state and the U.S. Constitution are resolved in favor of the latter.

2. Statutory Law. This is the body of law enacted by the Michigan legislature, with the approval of the governor, under its constitutional authority. These are summarized in The Public Acts of Michigan and The Compiled Laws of Michigan.

3. The Common Law. This is the cumulative body of law as expressed in judicial decisions and custom rather than by statute. This includes the body of law developed in decisions of the Michigan Supreme Court and published decisions of the Michigan Court of Appeals. In deciding cases, the Court has set down principles to be applied to similar cases when they arise in the future. These principles provide guides as to how statutes will be applied when disputes arise as to their meaning.

One of the characteristics of a democratic political system is that large numbers of people wish to have an influence over what the government does. There are many avenues of influence in this society, owing to the large number of political institutions that make policy. The struggle for influence in and control over these institutions of government is what we mean by “politics.”

This struggle for influence requires that citizens pool their resources by cooperating with others with similar views. The recognition that effective political action requires coordination among those with roughly similar interests has given rise to political organizations of various kinds. The two most important are political parties and interest groups. These may be thought of as organizations that represent large numbers of citizens and which try to influence the government in their interests.

Some observers have called these “intermediary” groups because they stand between individual citizens, whose interests they organize, and the political institutions in which decisions are made. In order to influence the government, individuals must mobilize their strength through organizations such as these. Since some are bound to organize anyway, others must do so also, or else their voices will be weak. At the same time, political leaders require popular support in order to maintain their offices, and such organizations can be used to mobilize their supporters.

POLITICAL PARTIES VERSUS INTEREST GROUPS

There are important differences between political parties and interest groups. Political parties may be defined as organizations that attempt to capture the machinery of government by nominating candidates for office and by contesting elections in the hope of having these candidates selected by the voters. Parties, therefore, influence the government by attempting to capture public office—that is, the government itself. Because they are interested in governing, parties address a wide range of political issues. Moreover, in a two-party system, the major parties tend to avoid extreme positions, because these antagonize large blocs of voters. Since their objective is to win public office, parties tend to be most visible around election time when they are busy campaigning to get their candidates elected.

Interest groups, on the other hand, are special purpose organizations that attempt to influence the government by indirect means. Examples of such groups are the American Medical Association, the Chamber of Commerce, The United Auto Workers, the American Bar Association, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the National Organization for Women, the National Rifle Association, the National Education Association, and The American Legion and American Legion Auxiliary. A characteristic of many interest groups is that they are not exclusively political in orientation; that is, they serve their members in many non-political ways. Nevertheless, most do try to influence policy, though in ways different than parties. Interest groups, for example, are not organized to win office; rather, they try to influence special kinds of legislation and other decisions and they pay little attention to matters that do not concern their members. Because their memberships are small and specialized, they are concerned with a narrower range of issues than are parties, and they must try to influence legislation through lobbying, endorsing candidates for office and contributing to their campaigns, and influencing public opinion through advertising. Interest groups vary greatly in influence and, indeed, some are very powerful within the political parties themselves.

POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES AND MICHIGAN: THE TWO-PARTY SYSTEM

One of the most visible characteristics of American Politics is the two party system. Ever since political parties were first formed in the 1790’s, competition has revolved around two major parties. Since 1854, when the Republican party was founded, the party system has been dominated by the Democratic and Republican parties. Since that time there have been many challenges to this system by third parties.

The existence of two well organized parties means that the party in power is always faced with an opposition party that is generally critical of its performance and is prepared to take office at the next election if it should lose favor with enough voters. The presence of an opposition, therefore, serves as a check on the party in office. In addition, because there are only two of them, the major parties are composed of large and diverse bodies of voters. In accommodating this diversity, the parties generally try to stake out fairly general positions which can attract voters with a wide range of interests. Because of this tendency, many critics of the parties have claimed that it is difficult to tell them apart. Perhaps this partially explains the phenomenon of the independent voter in the post World War II years. There seemed to be some adjustment in this trend, with the two major parties approaching parity in registration nationally during the Reagan Presidency.

The balance of competition between parties varies greatly from state to state. In some states in the Deep South, the Democratic party has dominated since the Civil War, while in some states in the Midwest and West and in New Hampshire, the Republican party has controlled affairs. Michigan, by contrast, has been a competitive state for some time now. Through 1990, for example, the governor of the state was a Democrat, both U.S. Senators were Democrats, the Republican party held the majority in the state senate and the Democratic party held the majority in the state house of representatives. In 1993 and 1994, there were an equal number of state representatives from the Republican and Democratic parties. The model developed for shared governance became a national model. Since 2002, there has been a Democratic governor and Republican majorities in both the state senate and house of representatives.

PARTY IDENTIFICATION AND PARTY ORGANIZATION

We can think of political parties as consisting of three different groups of supporters or activities: (1) party supporters in the electorate, (2) the party organization, and (3) the party office-holders. The task of coordinating these three aspects of parties is an important feature of party politics. Since we shall discuss the party in office in later chapters, we can focus, for the moment, upon the first two elements of the party.

The source of a party’s strength is in its support among voters. If it cannot attract voters, it will soon find it difficult to attract capable leaders and money, and its organization will begin to wither. Both major parties in the United States have large numbers of supporters who vote for them in election after election, and who represent the “party in the electorate.” Apparently, most people acquire an identification with one of the parties at a fairly young age, usually in response to their parents’ views or to some important event that influences their opinions about the parties. This party identification tends to stay with them for a long time, often throughout their lives, and it helps them to form judgments about political events. Because the parties have durable blocs of supporters in the electorate, they have always been able to elect reasonable proportions of their candidates to office. This has sustained both parties, and has prevented either one from completely controlling the system.

Party organization based upon electoral districts, and both major parties in the United States, try to have committee organizations in every electoral district. Hence, there exist national party committees, state party committees, and county and city party committees. Party organizations in Michigan are built up from the grass-roots level from local precincts, which are the smallest political sub-divisions in the state. Party supporters in precincts across the state vote for delegates in primary elections, and these delegates attend county conventions, at which delegates to the state convention are chosen. At the state convention, members of the State Central Committee are selected, as are the state party’s representatives to the National Committee. In this way, party organization is ultimately controlled by party voters at the local level, though at the higher levels of organization the relationship to the voters is quite indirect.

The State Central Committees are particularly important, both in Michigan and at Girls State. The Republican and Democratic State Central Committees vary somewhat in size, though both are based upon representation of each of the state’s nineteen congressional districts. The members are selected in congressional district caucuses at the state party conventions. The chairman and vice-chairman (or chairpersons as they are designated by the Democratic party) of each of the committees are then selected by the convention as a whole, usually with the support of the leading party office-holders in the state. The State Central Committees do the important organizational work for the parties state-wide. They organize the state party conventions, raise money for the parties, recruit candidates for office, influence party nominations, assist in campaigns, and generally work to strengthen the parties around the state.

The State Central Committees, however, do not have much influence over party representatives in the legislature or in any other office. Elected office-holders have a direct relationship with the voters in their districts, and whether or not they are successful will depend upon the voters themselves, not the State Central Committees. For this reason, the state party organizations, which are generally staffed by non-office-holders, do not try to tell elected representatives how to vote in the legislature. This situation has sometimes created tension between the state party organizations and elected office-holders from the parties.

POLITICAL PARTY ORGANIZATION AT GIRLS STATE

At Girls State, each citizen has been arbitrarily assigned to one of the two political parties, the Nationalist party or the Federalist party. Each party has been assigned equal strength, so that there should be approximately 13 members of each party in every city, 40 members of each party in every county, and 200 members of each party in the state as a whole. Thus, we have a two-party system at Girls State, and each citizen has been assigned a party identification which will be reinforced during the week through elections, meetings, and the like.

During the first city meetings, you will attend your respective party meetings, which are called party caucuses. Each party caucus will at this time elect a city party chairman. This is one of the most important positions at Girls State, since the city party chairmen will compose the county party committees and the State Central Committees. More will be said about the State Central Committees in a moment; for now, it is enough to say that they will be closely involved in most of the political activities at Girls State. The city and county party caucuses represent the grass-roots followings of the two parties. These caucuses will meet frequently during the week to nominate party candidates for city, county, and state offices. At the state level, the state party conventions, held on Tuesday, will be the major decision-making bodies for the parties. (See the diagram of party organization on page 9.)

THE STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEES

The two State Central Committees are composed of the 15 city party chairmen selected from each party. The State Central Committees are perhaps the most important arenas of party activity at Girls State. Each committee is, in a sense, a communications network that can and should be used to transmit information immediately to every city in the state. When decisions are made in the State Central Committees, it is the job of the city party chairmen to take that information back to their cities. At the same time, they can bring back information from the cities to the Committees as a whole to help them reach decisions. There is no other organization at Girls State that can reach out so quickly to every city in the state. Given this unique strategic position, members of the state central committee can be very influential.

The general task of the State Central Committees is simple: to build a party strong enough to win elections at every level of the state. The major plums are the statewide offices, especially governor and lieutenant governor, though city and county races are also important, as is control over the two houses of the state legislature. However, the committees will give most of their attention to the state conventions and to the state-wide elections. Obviously, the wise strategy is to keep your own party united while drawing enough votes from the other party to win elections.

At a more basic level, the tasks of the State Central Committees are threefold:

1. to organize the state party conventions to be held on Tuesday;

2. to draft a preliminary party platform to be presented to the party conventions for ratification;

3. to screen candidates for the major state-wide offices (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Supreme Court Justice) and to make recommendations about their qualifications to the party conventions.

In addition, the State Central Committees will play major roles in planning strategy for the state election campaign on Wednesday (after the candidates are nominated in the party conventions on Tuesday).

Organizationally, the State Central Committee must elect a chairman and a vice-chairman at their first meeting on Sunday evening. The chairman will conduct committee meetings and make assignments to sub-committees, and will be the spokesman for the party until a candidate for governor is named. After the convention, the nominee for governor has the privilege of naming replacements for the chairman and vice-chairman.

It is usually wise to divide the State Central Committee into three sub-committees to deal with the three tasks outlined above. A convention sub-committee can plan the convention, a platform sub-committee can hold platform hearings and draft a platform, and a screening sub-committee can interview candidates. When the work is finished, the sub-committee should report back to get approval from the Committee as a whole.

Members of these committees should be aware of the intense time pressures under which they will have to work. Your first meeting is on Sunday evening, and by late Monday evening you will have to complete a rough draft of the platform, screen potential nominees for office, and plan the party convention (you will receive a timetable for these tasks). Between Sunday evening and Wednesday afternoon, when the state campaign is completed, members of the committees will have time to do little else besides party work.

INTEREST GROUPS AT GIRLS STATE

Political interest groups are organizations of people whose mutual interests lead them into political involvement. As noted earlier, interest groups try to influence those governmental policies that they believe will affect the welfare of their members. At Girls State, anyone who wishes to volunteer as an interest group representative may do so. These representatives will be identified early, because beginning on Monday there will be numerous opportunities to try to influence the parties, the candidates, and the legislative process. Those citizens who are identified as interest group representatives will meet with a member of the government staff who will coordinate their activities and suggest issues around which groups may organize. The city and county profiles will suggest many issues for interest group activity.

Among other things, interest group representatives will be able to testify at party platform hearings, speak out on issues at party conventions, endorse candidates for office and lobby the state legislature. (As a check on their performance, participants might set a goal of getting some piece of legislation passed, or of keeping one from being enacted.) To help guide the development of interest groups, a poll of Girls State citizens is taken on Sunday afternoon. Results of this effort to determine citizen views on issues of the day are made available by early Monday.

THE STATE PRESS ASSOCIATION

The function of the Press Association is to provide citizens with the latest information about important developments at Girls State. To that end, the Association publishes a newspaper that appears every day, Monday through Friday. The newspaper, Politically Speaking, is expected to provide balanced coverage of such events as the party conventions, elections, and the legislative hearing, and of the activities of the governor, the legislature, the Supreme Court, county and city governments, and other organizations. In addition, the paper may publish editorial opinion, endorsements of candidates, and any other information it deems newsworthy.

The Press Association is a non-partisan organization. One member from each city will be selected to serve in the Press Association, so its formal membership will total 15. At its first meeting on Sunday evening, members will elect a president of the Association who will serve as the city editor of the newspaper. The city editor will then appoint an associate city editor and will assign reporters, copy editors, and columnists as needed. Members of the Press Association will be ineligible to hold any political office at Girls State. If she is selected for such an office, she will have to choose between the two posts. They remain members of the parties in good standing and are expected to vote in elections and to attend the party conventions.

The main assumptions underlying a democratic political system are that leaders should act with the consent of the governed and that government policy should roughly reflect the views of a majority, so long as the fundamental rights of minorities are preserved. Elections are the chief institutions through which this link between citizens and their representatives is maintained. In a sense, elections put leaders at “risk” that they will be voted out of office unless their acts meet public approval.

The electoral process is commonly divided into two phases—the nomination phase and the election phase. The first involves the process by which candidates are nominated for office by the political parties. Once they have gained a party nomination, candidates then enter a second phase of the process in which they compete against candidates from the opposition party to win in the general election. The nomination and election phases are quite different, since they involve different constituencies and different processes of selection.

PARTY NOMINATIONS IN MICHIGAN

In Michigan, partisan candidates for public office are nominated by the parties by means of either primary elections or party conventions. Party caucuses (meetings of party members by electoral districts) were at one time widely used in Michigan, but now they have been largely replaced by the convention and the primary. Candidates for non-partisan office—judges, municipal officials, and school board members—are often nominated for a place on the ballot in non-partisan primaries.

Primary elections are really elections within parties rather than contests between parties. In primaries, voters cast their ballots to determine which candidate will gain the party designation for the general election. The winner then becomes the party nominee in the general election. Candidates qualify for the ballot in primary elections by circulating petitions and gathering a specified number of signatures (which vary from office to office). The rules defining who is eligible to vote in primary elections vary from state to state depending upon whether “open” or “closed” primaries are in force. In states having the “closed” primary system, voters must declare their party affiliation either when they register to vote or when they show up to vote in the primary, and then they may vote in that party’s primary only. This limits eligibility to party “members” loosely defined. In 1990, Michigan implemented the “closed” primary system due to criticisms of the open primary system. Voters were “crossing over” and voting in opposing party primaries, thus influencing the nomination process of the opposition. This was a short lived experiment and in 1992 Michigan returned to the “open” primary system.

The rationale for primaries is that they enlarge participation in party nomination processes and take these decisions out of the hands of party leaders. In general, primaries weaken the influence of party organizations over office-holders, because they give office-holders an independent route to the nomination. Under the convention system, on the other hand, party leaders tend to be much more influential in determining who does and does not receive the party nomination.

The convention system is quite different from the primary as a means of nomination because it is a representative institution while primaries allow for direct voter participation. Under the convention system, delegates are selected either in party caucuses or in primaries at the precinct level. These delegates then attend county conventions, and these in turn select delegates to the state convention. At the state convention, nominees for state-wide offices are chosen.

In Michigan, state conventions typically last for one day (usually a Saturday). However, in many cases, the decisions actually made by the convention are informally worked out in district caucuses the previous evening. At these caucuses, each county or congressional district delegation tries to arrive at a general agreement as to which candidates they will support. There is often a good deal of “vote trading” at these sessions, as one delegation will agree to support a candidate preferred by another delegation in return for the latter’s support for another candidate. Sometimes these trades become very complex involving several delegations that prefer different candidates.

In addition to nominating candidates, the party convention also adopts a platform and elects a party chairman and vice-chairman. The party platform is a general statement of the party’s past record and statement of what it will try to accomplish if it wins office. Because both parties represent people from all walks of life, the job of the convention is to ratify a platform that will appeal to diverse groups. This is done by including numerous “planks” in the platform dealing with a wide range of issues. It is quite difficult to bring this off while maintaining coherent principles, and for this reason party platforms tend to be general and ambiguous.

In Michigan, most of the major political officers are nominated in party primary elections. These include the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, United States Senators and Representatives, State Senators and Representatives, and various county and city officials. Candidates for the offices of Secretary of State and Attorney General, and members of the governing bodies of the state universities are nominated in state party conventions. Candidates for Justice of the state Supreme Court are also nominated in party conventions, but they are placed on the ballot without partisan designations.

CAMPAIGNS FOR ELECTION

Once the nomination is secured, a candidate must prepare to campaign against the candidate of the opposition party. In these campaigns, partisanship becomes very important, because candidates can play upon the associations that voters have with the major parties. In the nomination phase, each candidate is on her own and must build a coalition from scratch (unless she happens to be an incumbent or famous for some other reason). In the general election campaign, these coalitions are already more or less in place due to voter identifications with the parties, and they can only be changed at the margins through skillful campaigning.

Ordinarily, candidates in the general election can rely heavily upon the party organization to assist in their campaigns by raising money and recruiting volunteers to canvass and distribute literature. Increasingly, however, candidates for major office are relying upon their own organizations to run their campaigns and thus they tend to bypass the party structure. Partly, this is the result of party primaries in which candidates must rely upon their own organizations. Once these are in place, it is easy to use them in the general election campaign as well. In addition, the widespread use of television in campaigns has reduced their dependence upon party organizations, since through television large numbers of voters can be reached immediately. Party organizations, by contrast, are better suited to get the message out through face-to-face contacts at the grass-roots level.

Elections are conducted by secret ballot. The paper ballot has given way over time to the voting machine and the punch card system. In Michigan nearly all elections are now conducted with optical scan equipment. For partisan offices, voters can either cast a straight party ballot or they may split their tickets by voting for candidates of different parties. The tendency of many voters to cast straight party ballots means that the outcomes of the major races can have an influence upon the results of the less important races at the bottom of the ticket.

NOMINATIONS FOR OFFICE AT GIRLS STATE

Nominations and elections for public office may be either partisan or non-partisan. Nominees for partisan offices at the city and county level will be chosen in party caucuses; nominees for partisan offices at the state level will be chosen in the state conventions. The nominees will then stand in the general elections. In non-partisan races, candidates will simply stand for election without reference to party designation.

Non-Partisan Elections: The only non-partisan elections at Girls State are those for city council (under the council-manager system, described in Chapter 8), for city commission (under the commission system, described in Chapter 8), and for the following judicial offices: Court of Appeals (1 judge from each county), Probate Court (1 judge from each county), District Court (1 judge from each city), Circuit Court (1 judge from each county) and the state Supreme Court (3 justices elected from the state at large). Supreme Court elections are technically non-partisan, but nominees are selected in the state party conventions. Except for Supreme Court justice, the above officers will be nominated and elected in the appropriate county or city meetings. The floor will be opened for nominations without respect to party designation, nominations will be closed at some point, and balloting will begin.

City and County Party Caucuses: The following officers are elected by partisan ballot in the cities and counties: city council members (under the mayor-council plan), county commissioners, county clerk and register of deeds, county prosecutor, county sheriff, county treasurer, and county drain commissioner. Nominations will take place in the respective city and county party caucuses. In addition to these, three state senators are elected from each county and two state representatives are elected from each city. These nominees will also be selected in the respective county and city party caucuses. The county caucuses are expected to nominate three senate candidates and the city caucuses are expected to nominate two house candidates, who will then run in the general election. The party caucuses will be chaired by the city party chairmen.

The State Conventions: The state tickets will be nominated at the party conventions held by the Nationalist and Federalist parties. All designated members of the parties are eligible to attend their own conventions. The following officers will be nominated at the conventions: governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and three justices of the state Supreme Court. Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor must circulate and file petitions in order for their names to be placed in nomination at the conventions. (The rules for these petitions are summarized below.) Petitions will not be required for the other candidates, and they will have their names placed in nomination from the floor. Each party will also elect a permanent chairman and vice-chairman of their State Central Committee, upon the recommendation of its nominee for Governor.

At the conventions, citizens will sit with their cities, and the cities should be grouped by counties. The city party chairmen and vice-chairmen should sit on the aisles so they can communicate with other members of the State Central Committee. On nominations from the floor, the secretary of the convention will call