| A | B |
|---|
| There are five ways in which some one can be nominated for office | 1. self-announcement 2. caucus 3. convention 4. direct primary 5. petition |
| self-announcement | candidate has not been chosen by the party and they either decide they want to run independently |
| Which self-announced candidate has recieved the most votes to date? | Ross Perot in 1992 |
| Idnependent candidates offer the voters | a. a choice and b. a chance to send a message to the major parites |
| Electoral votes are given on what kind of basis? | a winner take all basis. |
| Is it possible to win the popular voter and not the electoral votes or vice a versa? | Yes look at the 2000 presidential election Bush won the electoral votes and Gore won the popular vote |
| define caucus | group of like minded people who meet to select the candidates they will support in an upcoming election. Usually each state has two caucuses a democratica and a republican caucus |
| Are caucuses still used today? | They have largely been replaced by conventions but are still used on both the state and local levels to select candidates to support. Caucuses on a national level will formulate platforms |
| define platform | the ideology of the party usually moderate in nature. |
| conventions | each state holds conventions to nominate candidates from their parties to run for govenor. This is true on a national level. |
| What have convention replaced? | caucuses |
| Direct primary | is an intra party election. The winner of a direct primary is the party's nominee for a particular office. ie. Shannon O'Brien was the Democratic direct primary winner |
| closed primary | only declared members of one party may vote for candidates. |
| open primary | all registered voters can choose to vote on either parties direct primary ballot. You choose which party ballot you want after getting both parties ballot at the polls. |
| blanket primary | when all the names of all parties are on the same ballot by office. This was declared unconstiutional in Democratic Party of CA v. Jones |
| Three arguments which favor closed primaries | 1. prevents one party from raiding anothers primary in hopes of nominating a weaker candidate 2. helps candidates be more responsive to the party, its platform and its members 3. Makes voters think more about the parties themselves because they have to choose which party ballot to take |
| Two arguements against closed primaries | 1. secrecy of the ballot is compromised because you have to tell them which party you are. and 2. It excludes independent voters from the primary process |
| Arguements for open primaries | 1. voters are not forced to reveal their party preference 2. independent voters are not left out of the process |
| Arguements against open primaries | 1. permits raiding 2. undercuts the concepts of party loyalty and party responsibility |
| petition | used at a local level chiefly in nonpartisan positions such as municipal offices and school posts. Need a particular amount of signatures to get nominated for the position and have your name put on the ballot. |
| Robert La Follette | Wisconsin govenor father of the primary. Felt the growing cooperation between government and big business as a threat to republican government all people participate in choosing candidates |
| The only power the Constituition gives Congress concerning elections | fix the times, places, and manner of holding elections power to set the time for choosing electors to set date for electoral votes to be cast and to regulate the presidential election process |
| Congressional elections are held | on the first Tuesday following the first Monday |
| Why did Congress choose to set the elections on particular day? | 1. so it would never be held on a Sunday-separation of church and state and 2. so it would not coincide with a pay day |
| define an off year election | non-presidential election |
| absentee ballots are given to three different groups of voters | 1. those too ill or disabled to go to the polls 2. those who expect to be away from home on election day travel, business, emergency 3. those in the armed forces or those who reside at temporary residents.ie. college students. |
| A precinct is | a voting district geographic areas consisting of populations between 500 to 1,000 voters. |
| Poll | where you vote watched by one member from each party who has the right to challenge anyone they feel is not qualified to vote watch for election irregularities |
| ballot | a device by which one registers their choice of candidate or question in an election. |
| Four features of an Australian Ballot system | 1. printed a public expense 2. lists the names of all-candidates in an election 3. given out only at the polls one to each qualified voter 4. marked in secret |
| office group ballot | massachusetts 1888 candidates are grouped together by office under the title of that office. Rotate names so as not to give any candidate psychological edge |
| party column ballot | Indiana 1889 lists each party's candidates in a column under the party's name can choose to vote for all candidates in that column by marking an X on the party designation |
| Butterfly ballot | ballot which lists candidates on both sides voters are asked to either punch out or pencil in their choice. The names and punch marks or circles are not directly parallel to the candidates |
| Sample ballots` | available on line practice voting familiar with questions sometimes in the papers |
| Bedsheet ballot | so called because they listed so many candidates questions etc., that many voters experience ballot fatique. |
