Changes

America has historically had many minor or third political parties. They tend to serve a means to advocate polices that eventually are adopted by the two major political parties, i.e. the abolishment of slavery, and child labor laws. Some of these third political parties such as the Socialist Party, the Farmer Labor Party and the Populist Party developed an impressive degree of support, although limited electoral success.

America has historically had many minor or third political parties. They tend to serve a means to advocate polices that eventually are adopted by the two major political parties, i.e. the abolishment of slavery, and child labor laws. Some of these third political parties such as the Socialist Party, the Farmer Labor Party and the Populist Party developed an impressive degree of support, although limited electoral success.

Most officials in America are elected from single-member districts and win office by beating out their opponents in a system for determining winners called ''first-past-the-post'' — the one who gets the pluarity wins, (which is not the same thing as actually getting a majority of votes). While some cities and the state of Illinois did experiment with proportional representation, the United States Congress banned the usage of that alternative voting method for federal legislative elections in 1967. This, too, encourages the two-party system.

Most officials in America are elected from single-member districts and win office by beating out their opponents in a system for determining winners called ''first-past-the-post'' — the one who gets the popularity wins, (which is not the same thing as actually getting a majority of votes). While some cities and the state of Illinois did experiment with proportional representation, the United States Congress banned the usage of that alternative voting method for federal legislative elections in 1967. This, too, encourages the two-party system.

Another critical factor has been ballot access law. Originally voters went to the polls and publicly stated which candidate they supported, later on this developed into a process whereby each political party would create its own ballot and thus the voter would put the party's ballot into the voting box. In the late nineteenth century, states became to adopt the Australian Secret Ballot Method and it eventually became the national standard. The secret ballot method ensured that the privacy of voters would be protected (hence government jobs could no longer be awarded to loyal voters) and each state would be responsible for creating one official ballot. The fact that states legislators were dominated by Democrats and Republicans provided an opportunity to possible discriminatory laws against minor political parties, yet such laws did not start to arise until the first so-called "[[Red Scare]]" that hit the United States after World War I. State legislators became to enact tough laws that made it harder for minor political parties to run candidates for office by requiring a high number of petition signatures from citizens and decreasing the length of time that such a petition could legally be circulated.

Another critical factor has been ballot access law. Originally voters went to the polls and publicly stated which candidate they supported, later on this developed into a process whereby each political party would create its own ballot and thus the voter would put the party's ballot into the voting box. In the late nineteenth century, states became to adopt the Australian Secret Ballot Method and it eventually became the national standard. The secret ballot method ensured that the privacy of voters would be protected (hence government jobs could no longer be awarded to loyal voters) and each state would be responsible for creating one official ballot. The fact that states legislators were dominated by Democrats and Republicans provided an opportunity to possible discriminatory laws against minor political parties, yet such laws did not start to arise until the first so-called "[[Red Scare]]" that hit the United States after World War I. State legislators became to enact tough laws that made it harder for minor political parties to run candidates for office by requiring a high number of petition signatures from citizens and decreasing the length of time that such a petition could legally be circulated.