1	Functions and Types of Elections We analyze the importance of elections in terms of parties and the electorate (what parties are, not what they do) We are interested in how elections reflect changes in partisanship and party alignments.
2	What Elections Tell Us Political Stability and Change Shifting voter attitudes and partisanship Presidential versus Congressional Elections-Aggregation and Disaggregation Broad Voter Preferences if Aggregation is Present
3	Types of Elections The most prevalent type of election can be classified as a "maintaining election," "one in which the pattern of partisan attachments prevailing in the preceding period persists and is the primary influence on the forces governing the vote.“ Presidential Elections 1936-1948 were maintaining elections.
4	Meaning of Maintaining Elections Most elections fall into the maintaining category, a fact significant for the political system because such elections result in political continuity and reflect a lack of serious upheavals within the electorate and government. Maintaining elections result in the continuation of the majority political party.
5	Critical Elections At certain times in American history, what V. O. Key, Jr., has called "critical elections" take place. He discusses this type of election, which results in a long term realignment of the electorate and reflects basic changes in political attitudes. Key points out that critical elections were taking place at the local level during the 1920s and in the presidential election of 1928 that culminated in the long term shift from the Republican to Democratic party in 1932.
6	Deviating Elections Apart from maintaining and critical elections, a third type, in which only temporary shifts take place within the electorate, occurs, which can be called "deviating elections." For example, the Eisenhower victories of 1952 and 1956 were deviating elections for several reasons, including the personality of Eisenhower and the fact that voters could register their choice for president without changing their basic partisan loyalties at congressional and state levels. Deviating elections, with reference to the office of president, are probable when popular figures are running for the office.
7	Reinstating Elections In "reinstating elections," a final category that can be added to a typology of elections, there is a return to normal voting patterns. Reinstating elections take place after deviating elections as a result of the demise of the temporary forces that caused the transitory shift in partisan choice. The election of 1960, in which most of the Democratic majority in the electorate returned to the fold and voted for John F. Kennedy, has been classified as a reinstating election.
8	Party Aggregation of Interests Give Elections Meaning Parties must effectively aggregate interests to make the classification of elections meaningful Electoral classifications based on presidential not congressional elections Presidential voting patterns do not necessarily reflect broad political currents, especially in divided government that deviating or even maintaining elections produce.
9	V.O. Key On Elections Perhaps the basic differentiating characteristic of democratic order consists in the expression of effective choice by the mass of the people in elections. The electorate occupies, at least in the mystique of such orders, the position of the principal organ of governance; it acts through elections. An election itself is a formal act of collective decision that occurs in a stream of connected antecedent and subsequent behavior.
10	Key-Elections Differ in Meaning Among democratic orders elections, so broadly defined, differ enormously in their nature, their meaning, and their consequences. Even within a single nation the reality of election differs greatly from time to time. A systematic comparative approach, with a focus on variations in the nature of elections would doubtless be fruitful in advancing the understanding of the democratic governing process.
11	Key-Critical Elections Even the most fleeting inspection of American elections suggests the existence of a category of elections in which voters are, at least from impressionistic evidence, unusually deeply concerned, in which the extent of electoral involvement is relatively quite high, and in which the decisive results of the voting reveal a sharp alteration of the preexisting cleavage within the electorate.
12	Depth and Intensity of Electoral Involvement High and Lead to Long Term Electoral Shift Moreover, and perhaps this is the truly differentiating characteristic of this sort of election, the realignment made manifest in the voting in such elections seems to persist for several succeeding elections. All these characteristics cumulate to the conception of an election type in which the depth and intensity of electoral involvement are high, in which more or less profound readjustments occur in the relations of power within the community, and in which new and durable electoral groupings are formed.
13	Consequences of Critical Elections A question occurs, for example, about the character of the consequences for the political system of the temporal frequency of critical elections. What are the consequences for public administration, for the legislative process, for the operation of the economy of frequent serious upheavals within the electorate? What characteristics of an electorate or what conditions permit sharp and decisive changes in the power structure from time to time?
14	Consequences of Maintaining Elections Viewed from the contrary position, what consequences flow from an electorate which is disposed, in effect, to remain largely quiescent over considerable periods? Does a state of moving equilibrium reflect a pervasive satisfaction with the course of public policy? An indifference about matters political? In any case, what are the consequences for the public order?
15	Other Questions on Consequences of Electoral Behavior What are the consequences when an electorate builds up habits and attachments, or faces situations, that make it impossible for it to render a decisive and clear-cut popular verdict that promises not to be upset by caprice at the next round of polling? What are the consequences of a situation that creates recurring, evenly balanced conflict over long periods?