ABSTRACT
Structuring the vote is the minimum function of a political party in a modern democracy. Vote-structuring, however, is their essential minimum modern function. A party can be said to exist as long as it structures the vote even though it does nothing else. The best way to appreciate how vote-structuring is inherently a function of political parties is to start with American parties. The French-American and the Norwegian-American comparisons might be interpreted as placing American parties in between the French and the Norwegian with respect to their degree of vote-struc-turing. The division of votes between parties may reflect another, perhaps more basic division in the community—by socio-economic class, ethnic group, religion, language, region, or even temperament. The number of unattached voters in national elections may simply be increased by the habits of independent voting for individual candidates for local offices.
