Electing a President

This class will be an intensive immersive exploration of presidential elections in the United States. It runs only in the Fall terms of US presidential election years, using the current campaign as a lens through which to explore a wide array of issues related to presidential elections specifically, as well as elections in the US generally. It is structured as a working lab that is supplemented with a series of discussion and lecture sessions. In lab sessions students will combine into teams to conduct term long tracking projects focused on the upcoming US presidential election. This may include battleground state profiling, campaign finance monitoring, litigation tracking, advertising and media placement, debate watches, candidate travel schedules, etc. In addition to the lab sessions, regular discussion and lecture sessions will provide students with a crash course in interdisciplinary approaches to a range of issues related to the conduct of US presidential elections. This may include examinations of the history of campaigns, campaign advertising and messaging, the structure of presidential elections and the role of the electoral college, the conduct of voting and voter access, campaign finance reform, empirical research on campaign effects and outcomes, polling and poll methodology, campaign organization and administrative structure, best practices for GOTV and targeted mobilization, etc. A great deal of what will be covered in both the lab and discussion sessions will depend on the nature of the current campaign in that particular year and which issues are most salient. Students will also take part in ongoing community education projects at different times throughout the term, whether that involves providing assistance through voter registration and access, debate watch debriefings, issue education, candidate profiles, community forums, etc.. On the night of the election the class will organize and host a returns watching festival on campus. The class will develop the various activities and events for the festival, and coordinate the planning alongside the instructor. The remaining class sessions after the election will focus on debriefing the results as well as addressing any outstanding issues that linger beyond election day (e.g. disputes over election counts and the certification of results).

Students will be evaluated on the basis of their engagement with class sessions and other class related activities, their work for their tracking projects, short form response papers related to discussion topics, their debrief reports, and check in meetings with the instructor. Presidential election season can be a stressful, and at times uplifting time for many community members. This class is a great way to engage the campaigns in a direct and hands on manner, while also learning more about elections generally and presidential elections specifically. It is open to a wide range of students with varied interests. Given the working lab nature of the class, it is flexible enough to accommodate both students who have had extensive experience with politics and campaigning in the US context, as well as students for whom this will be their first exposure to anything campaign related, and everyone else in between.

Always visit the Registrar's Office for the official course catalog and schedules.