Terms : Hide Images
| 1017780197 | incumbent | A politician currently holding office who is up for re-election. In congressional elections, incumbents usually win. 90% | |
| 1017780198 | coattails | The alleged tendency of candidates to win more votes in an election because of the presence at the top of the ticket of a better-known candidate, such as the president | |
| 1017780199 | political action committee | A committee set up by a corporation, labor union, or interest group that raises and spends campaign money from voluntary donations. Needs at least 50 members. Needs to contribute to at least 5 candidates. Can contribute 5000 to an individual candidate and 15000 yearly. | |
| 1017780200 | single member district | A form of representation in which only a single candidate is elected to a particular office by the voters of that district. This system favors major parties because only candidates who can gain a large proportion of votes in an election district have a realistic chance of winning | |
| 1017780201 | malapportionment | A condition in which legislative districts are of very different sizes, making the vote of a citizen in a district with a large population effectively less influential than the vote of a citizen in a district with a small population. (In the United States, the Supreme Court required states to correct malapportionment in the 1962 Baker v. Carr decision.) | |
| 1017780202 | Gerrymandering | Drawing a district in some bizarre or unusual manner in order to create an electoral advantage to a party | |
| 1017780203 | reapportionment | Process by which representative districts are switched according to population shifts, so that each district encompasses approximately the same number of people | |
| 1017780204 | redistricting | Drawing new boundaries of congressional districts, usually after the decennial census. | |
| 1017780205 | sophomore surge | An increase in the votes congressional candidates (incumbents) usually get when they first run for reelection | |
| 1017780206 | position issues | an issue about which the public is divided and rival candidates or political parties adopt different policy positions. ex: abortion, school prayer | |
| 1017780207 | valence issues | an issue on which almost every agrees; focus of presidential candidates to be on the right side of these issues; they might try to imply that they are "more patriotic" than their competitor or "more against terrorism" because everyone wants to be in the same position on these issues | |
| 1017780208 | Buckley vs Valeo | The Court Upheld a federal law which set limits on campaign contributions, but ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech, and struck down portions of the law. | |
| 1017780209 | Super PAC | Organization set up after Citizens United to engage in independent electioneering. Can receive unlimited donations but cannot coordinate with a candidate. Causing amount of money spent on elections to skyrocket (SuperPacs have spent $85 million so far in Election 2012) | |
| 1017780210 | Coalition | putting together a winning electoral coalition means holding on to your base among committed partisans and attracting the swing voters who cast their ballots in response to issues restrospectively or prospectivley, and personalities | |
| 1018174995 | Two party system | A political system with two major parties | |
| 1018174996 | Public funds | donations from the general tax revenues to the campaigns of qualifying presidential candidates if the individual wishes to | |
| 1018193377 | general election | -An election, typically held after the political parties have chosen their nominees through caucuses or primaries, that decides who will hold an office, such as a congressional representative or president. | |
| 1018193378 | spots | Short television advertisements used to promote a candidate for government office. Less effective on general than primary | |
| 1018193379 | visual | campaign activity that is broadcaster on TV. costs less than spots and has greater credibility to viewers | |
| 1018193380 | closed primaries | Elections to select party nominees in which only people who have registered in advance with the party can vote for that party's candidates, thus encouraging greater party loyalty | |
| 1018193381 | open primaries | Elections to select party nominees in which voters can decide on Election Day whether they want to participate in the Democratic or Republican contests. | |
| 1018193382 | presidential primary | A statewide primary election of delegates to a political party's national convention, held to determine a party's presidential nominee. | |
| 1018193383 | run-off primary | a second primary election held when no candidates wins a majority of the votes in the first primary | |
| 1018193384 | blanket primaries | elections to select party nominees in which voters are presented with a list of candidates from all the parties. Voters can then select some Democrats and some Republicans if they like. | |
| 1018193385 | caucus elections | A series of meetings of people who discuss the candidates, debate the issues, and then vote for a candidate. voting is neither anonymous or silent. registered voters select a person as a delegate | |
| 1018193386 | independent expenditure | Nonregulated contributions from PACs, organizations, and individuals. The funds may be spent on advertising or other campaign activities so long as those expenditures are not coordinated with those of a candidate. | |
| 1018193387 | 527 organizations | A political group organized under section 527 of the IRS code that may accept and spend unlimited amounts of money on election activities so long as they are not spent on broadcast ads run in the last 30 days before a primary or 60 days before a general election in which clearly identified candidate is referred to and a relevant electorate is targeted. | |
| 1018307812 | advantages of incumbency | gerrymandered districts, franking privileges, media and name recognition, PAC and interest group money, case work, almost garantee of reelection | |
| 1018307813 | citizen united | First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting political independent expenditures by corporations, associations, or labor unions. The conservative lobbying group Citizens United wanted to air a film critical of Hillary Clinton and to advertise the film during television broadcasts in apparent violation of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The Court held that portions of BCRA §203 violated the First Amendment. | |
| 1018307814 | bush vs gore | The court ruled that manual recounts of presidential ballots in the Nov. 2000 election could not proceed because inconsistent evaluation statdards in different counties violated the equal protection clause. In effect, the ruling meant Bush would win election | |
| 1018307815 | baker vs carr | The Supreme Court ruling that all state districts must be equal in population., required that voting district needed to be reapportioned. | |
| 1018307816 | plurality | (in an election with more than 2 options) the number of votes for the candidate or party receiving the greatest number (but less that half of the votes) | |
| 1018307817 | BCRA | the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, also known as the McCain-Feingold Act - passed in 2002, BCRA is an amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act - the two key aspects of the BCRA include banning the spending of soft money and the placing of limits on campaign advertisements | |
| 1018307818 | federal election campaign | A law passed in 1974 for reforming campaign finances. The act created the Federal Election Commission (FEC), provided public financing for presidential primaries and general elections, limited presidential campaign spending, required disclosure, and attempted to limit contributions. | |
| 1018307819 | federal election commission | A commission created by the 1974 amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act to administer election reform laws. Its duties include overseeing disclosure of campaign finance information and public funding of presidential elections, and enforcing contribution limits. | |
| 1018310292 | matching funds | Contributions of up to $250 matched from the presidential Election Campaign Fund to candidates for the presidential nomination who qualify and agree to meet various conditions, such as limiting their overall spending. it matches however much the candidate got from indv donations of less than 200 dollars | |
| 1018310293 | soft money | Money raised in unlimited amounts by political parties for party-building purposes. Now largely illegal except for limited contributions to state or local parties for voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts. | |
| 1018310294 | hard money | Donations made to political candidates, party committees, or groups which, by law, are limited and must be declared | |
| 1018320416 | prospective voting | Basing voting decisions on well-informedd opinions and consideration of the future consequences of a given vote. often single issued | |
| 1018320417 | retrospective voting | Basing voting decisions on reactions to past performance; approving the status quo or signaling a desire for change. depends on economy a lot | |
| 1018320418 | winner take all system | If the candidate wins the largest number of popular votes, that person receives all the states electoral votes. | |
| 1018320419 | electoral college | A group selected by the states to elect the president and the vice-president, in which each state's number of electors is equal to the number of its senators and representatives in Congress. | |
| 1018320420 | safe seats | Legislative districts in which the incumbent regularly wins by a large margin of the vote | |
| 1018320421 | marginal seats | those seats in the house of commons that are closely contested and are likely to change hands between parties in an election | |
| 1018320422 | open seats | a seat that does not have an incumbent due to redistricting or retirement; very rare | |
| 1018320423 | frontloading | The recent tendency of states to hold primaries early in the calendar in order to capitalize on media attention | |
| 1018320424 | 501c4 | social welfare organizations -- groups named after secion 501 of the Iternal Revenue Code that operate for promotion of social welfare; they are exempt from reporting donors if they spend most of their funds on issues, not canidates | |
| 1018320425 | shaw vs reno | If boundary lines are so bizarre that they are made only to ensure minority group member to office then whites may claim that they are victims of unconstitutional gerrymandering | |
| 1018320426 | representation | A basic principle of traditional democratic theory that describes the relationship between the few leaders and the many followers. | |
| 1018320427 | super tuesday | Created by a dozen or so southern states when they held their presidential primaries in early March 1988. These states hoped to promote a regional advantage as well as a more conservative candidate. |
