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Terms

 

Political Party: a group of people who share similar political views and group together to often try to influence both local and national government

 

Two party system: a system of government where two parties control almost all levels of government, and other parties very rarely win elections

 

Left (political spectrum): the liberal side of the spectrum, the left favors large government to promote equality and tends to be more progressive for social issues

 

Right (political spectrum):the conservative side of the spectrum, the right favors less government to allow capitalism and free trade, while tending to be more traditional for social issues

 

Third Parties: any other party separate from the Democrats and Republicans

 

Ordinance: a law that is created at the city level

 

Ward:a district at the local level used mostly during elections

 

Nominations: parties choose their candidates for the general elections

 

General Elections: voters vote to decide who will hold elective office

 

Midterm Elections: occur between presidential elections

 

Electoral College: Constitutionally established body created for the sole purpose of choosing the president and vice president.  During general elections, voters choose a presidential ticket.  The winner in each state usually receives all of that state’s electoral votes in the Electoral College.  A majority of electoral votes is required for victory in the Electoral College; if such a majority cannot be reached, the election result is determined by the House of Representatives.

 

Closed Primary:

·       Most common type

·       Voting is restricted to registered member of a political party

·       Voters can only vote for candidates running for the nomination of the party they declared (Democrats choose from the Democratic nomination and Republicans choose from the Republican nomination)

 

Open Primary:

·       Voters vote only in one party’s primary, cut can vote in whichever party primary they choose and do so in the privacy of the voting booth

·       An issue with open primaries some say is that it allows for voters to sabotage opponents’ primaries by crossing party lines to vote for the candidate least likely to win the general election

 

Blanket Primary:

·       Blank primaries use the same procedure as general elections

·       Voters may vote for one candidate per office of either party (Alaska and Washington use this primary system)

 

Runoff Primary:

·       If no candidate receives the requires share of votes, a runoff primary is held between the top two

·       Happens most often when the opponents view for an open office, especially when none of them are well known

 

Plurality: greatest number of votes, but not more than half of the total votes cast

 

Super-delegates: automatic delegate status given to many elected party leaders in the Democratic National Convention

 

Super-Tuesday: the same day in early March many southern states hold their primaries

 

Front-loading: the strategy where large states have moved forward their primaries, hoping to have a great influence on which candidates will win

 

Brokered Conventions: when no candidate has received the pledge of a majority of convention delegates, conventions decide who the nominee will be

 

Mandate: a clear message

 

Gerrymandering: partisan redrawing of congressional district borders; the practice of drawing congressional district lines to benefit one party over the other

 

Caucus: meeting of local party members for the purpose of choosing delegates to a national party convention.  The term also refers to a meeting of the Democratic member of the House of Representatives and others.

 

Incumbent Advantage: the relative advantage a present holding officer has at being reelected

·       Representatives who run for reelection win approximately 90 percent of the time

·       House incumbents have an even great advantage than incumbent senators who have a great electoral advantage

 

Split-ticket voting: voting for a presidential candidate of one party and legislators of another

 

Political Action Committees: The fundraising apparatus of interest groups.  Donations to and contributions from PACs are regulated by federal law.  PACs contribute heavily to the reelection and campaigns of representatives and senators sympathetic to the PAC’s political agenda.

 

Soft Money: Political donations made to parties (the Republican and Democratic National Committee) for the purpose of general party maintenance and support, such as get-out-the vote campaigns, issue advocacy, and advertisements that promote the party (but not individual candidates).  This money is not as heavily regulated.  Soft money contributions to political parties were banned in 2002 by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). 

  

Hard Money: Money contributed directly to the candidate.  No more than $1,000 dollars can be given to a specific candidate in a given year.  This money is regulated and monitored by the Federal Election Commission.

 

Recall: an act or instance of officially recalling someone or something

 

Absentee Ballot: when a citizen is unable to make the vote on Election Day, they can vote early 

 

Recall Election: a process through which voters can shorten an office holder's term

 

Referendum: is generally a vote by the people to overturn laws that have already been enacted at the state of local levels

 

Initiative: is the proposal of new legislation to be voted upon by the people

 

Petition:In order for a recall election to occur, citizen petitions are needed.  The number of signatures required on the petition varies from state to state.

 

 

Information:

Meltzer, Tony and Paul Levy, eds., Cracking the AP U.S. Government & Politics Exam 2010

            Edition. New York: Random House, Inc., 2009.

 

 

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