US Chapter 8

Question 1

Balance the ticket

Answer 1

A political party’s effort to appeal to a wider cross section of voters by providing regional or ideological balance in its nominations for president and vice president

Question 2

Caucus

Answer 2

A meeting of members of a political party, used in some states to select delegates to the national conventions, which nominate presidential candidates

Question 3

Closed primary

Answer 3

A primary election in which only the members of the party holding the election are allowed to participate

Question 4

Direct popular election

Answer 4

Selection of officials on the basis of those receiving the largest number of votes cast , sometimes referring to a proposal to choose the president and vice president on this basis, rather than through the Electoral College

Question 5

Electoral College

Answer 5

Institution established by the Constitution, and chosen by electors, for electing the president and vice president. Each state has a number of electors equal to its total number of senators and representatives. D.C. has three (23rd amendment).

Question 6

Exit poll

Answer 6

A poll of voters taken as they leave the polling place and usually conducted by the media to get an advance indication of voting trends and facilitate analysis of the reasons behind the outcome of the election

Question 7

Faithless elector

Answer 7

A person that is chose to vote for particular presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the Electoral College but who, nevertheless, votes for different presidential and vice-presidential candidates

Question 8

Federal Election Campaign Act

Answer 8

Law passed in 1971 and amended several times that regulates campaign financing and requires full disclosed of sources and uses of campaign funds and limits contributions to political candidates

Question 9

Female suffrage

Answer 9

The right of women to vote, which was bestowed nationally by the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920

Question 10

Fifteenth Amendment

Answer 10

Outlawed race-based restrictions on voting

Question 11

General election

Answer 11

Election, which occurs in November, to choose the candidates who will hold public office, following preliminary elections held during the spring and summer

Question 12

High-stimulus election

Answer 12

Election that the public finds interesting and important

Question 13

Low-stimulus election

Answer 13

Election that the public finds uninteresting or unimportant

Question 14

Media consultant

Answer 14

An expert hired by a political candidate to give advice on the use of the mass media, particularly television and direct mail, in a campaign for public office

Question 15

Nineteenth Amendment

Answer 15

Constitutional amendment of 1920 giving women the right to vote

Question 16

Open primary

Answer 16

A primary election in which any voter, regardless of party affiliation can participate

Question 17

Party convention

Answer 17

Regularly scheduled general meeting of a political party that is held for the purpose of ratifying party policies and deciding on party candidates

Question 18

Poll tax

Answer 18

A tax on voting, applied discriminatorily to African Americans under “Jim Crow” in the post-Civil War South

Question 19

Presidential Election Campaign Fund

Answer 19

Pool of money available that is collected from a $3 checkoff on the federal income tax form and is available to presidential candidates for campaign expenses

Question 20

Primary election

Answer 20

Preliminary election in which a party picks delegates to a party convention or its candidates for public office

Question 21

Regional primary

Answer 21

A primary election held across an entire geographic area rather than within a single state

Question 22

Register

Answer 22

To place one’s name on the list of citizens eligible to vote

Question 23

Residence requirements

Answer 23

State laws designed to limit the eligible electorate by requiring citizens to have been a resident of the voting district for a fixed period of time prior to an election

Question 24

Safe seats

Answer 24

Congressional districts in which the division of voters between the parties is so lopsided as to virtually ensure one party of victory

Question 25

Soft money

Answer 25

A category of campaign money that was created by an amendment to the campaign finance laws in 1979, allowing the national parties to raise and spend money, essentially without restriction, for state and local parties, routine operating expenses, and party-building activities, as long as the expenditures are not directly related to any federal campaign

Question 26

Term limits

Answer 26

Laws restricting the number of terms an elected representative may serve–the Court has struck down state efforts to limit terms for federal offices, but has allowed state laws that limit terms for elected officials at the state level

Question 27

Twenty-fourth Amendment

Answer 27

Adopted in 1964, this amendment forbids the use of poll taxes in federal elections. Since 1966, the Court has applied this proscription to state elections as well.

Question 28

Twenty-second Amendment

Answer 28

Ratified in 1951, this amendment restricts the president to two terms in office

Question 29

Twenty-sixth Amendment

Answer 29

Constitutional amendment adopted in 1971 that fixed the minimum voting age at eighteen years

Question 30

Twenty-third Amendment

Answer 30

Constitutional amendment adopted in 1961 granting the District of Columbia three electors in the Electoral College

Question 31

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Answer 31

Major legislation designed to overcome racial barriers to voting, primarily in the southern states–extended in 1982 for 25 years and again in 2006

Question 32

Voting Rights Act of 1970

Answer 32

The law that limited residence requirements to thirty days for presidential elections, further ensuring voting rights