Am Gov Unit 6 Flashcards
(31 cards)
The process for removing an elected official from office
Recall
Actions of private citizens by which they seek to influence or support government and politics
Political participation
The right to vote
Suffrage/Franchise
An election on a policy issue
Referendum
Relatively routine political behavior that uses institutional channels and is acceptable to the dominant culture
Conventional participation
Relatively uncommon political behavior that challenges or defies established institutions and dominant norms
Unconventional participation
A procedure by which the voters can propose an issue to be decided by the legislature or by the people in a referendum. It requires gathering a specified number of signatures and submitting a petition to a designated agency
Initiative
An organization that sponsors candidates for political office under the organization’s name
Political party
The percentage of eligible citizens who actually vote in a given election
Voter turnout
Designation as an official candidate of a political party
Nomination
A set of interrelated institutions that links people with government
Political system
A preliminary election, run by the state government, in which the voters choose each party’s candidates for the general election
Direct primary
A body of electors chosen by voters to cast ballots for president and vice president
Electoral college
A closed meeting of the members of a political party to decide questions of policy and the selection of candidates for office
Caucus
The statement of policies of a national political party
Party platform
A centralized party organization that dominates local politics by controlling elections
Party machine
A preliminary election conducted within a political party to select candidates who will run for public office in a subsequent election
Primary election
States’ practice of moving delegate selection primaries and caucuses earlier in the calendar year to gain media and candidate attention.
Front-loading
A national election held by law in November of every even-numbered year
General election
February 5, 2008 when twenty four states scheduled caucuses or primary elections to select delegates to the party conventions that ended up making history with the largest number of states choosing the most delegates
Super Tuesday
A gathering of delegates of a single political party from across the country to choose candidates for president and vice president and to adopt a party platform
National convention
A committee of a political party composed of party chairpersons and party officials from every state
National committee
An organization maintained by a political party to raise funds to support its own candidates in congressional elections
Congressional campaign committee
Primary elections in which voters must declare their party affiliation before they are given the primary ballot containing the party’s potential nominees
Closed primaries