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United States Election Glossary pt 8

Part of knowing how to participate in a United States election is to have a thorough understanding of the language and lingo. This is part eight of the United States election glossary, including the more prevalent terms that you need to know.

Primary Election – This is an election where the primary goal is to choose the party’s candidate for a specific office. Whichever candidate is the winner from the party is later going to go up against the winner from the other parties in what is known as the general election.

Protest Vote – This is a vote that is cast for some third party candidate, a candidate that is not likely going to win. The purpose of this vote is to show displeasure with whatever mainstream candidates are running.

Redistricting – This is a process where the physical boundaries composing a voting district become changed.

Referendum – This is also known as a ballot measure, an initiative or a proposition and it is a promised piece of law that people are going to vote on during the election.

Representative Democracy – This describes a government where all adult citizens in the country can vote in order to elect the leaders of the country. The leaders that are elected are then able to make all governmental decisions.

Republican – Simply put, a republican is any individual that belongs to the political party known as the “republican political party.”

RepublicanParty – This is a major political party in the United States, also regarded as the GOP, which stands for Grand Old Party. The symbol for this political party is the elephant. Republicans came to be in the middle of the 1800s as an anti-slavery political party.

United States Election Glossary pt 7

Part of knowing how to participate in a United States election is to have a thorough understanding of the language and lingo. This is part seven of the United States election glossary, including the more prevalent terms that you need to know.

Plurality – The plurality of the votes refers to whoever receives more votes than any other person.

Political Action Committee – Also known as PAC, these are political groups that are not related formally to a specific political party, but they are associated with some other group such as a corporation or a labor union. These groups try to influence candidates and elections through giving money so that they receive favor later.

Political Party – This is a group of organized people that have commonality in goals and values, attempting to get a specific candidate elected into office. The Republicans and the Democrats are two examples of major United States political parties.

Politician – This is a person running for an office, or a person that has already won an election and is in an office position already.

Poll – This is a survey of voters take in order to determine which issue or candidate they may decide to vote for.

Popular Vote – This is the result of votes from all eligible voters. Whoever wins popular vote is generally going to win the election, however sometimes the Electoral College is responsible for choosing the new president instead.

Precinct – This is a voting subdivision based on demographic area where party officials can be elected on a local basis. There are typically between 200 and 1,000 voters in a single precinct.

United States Election Glossary pt 6

Part of knowing how to participate in a United States election is to have a thorough understanding of the language and lingo. This is part six of the United States election glossary, including the more prevalent terms that you need to know.

Matching Funds – This refers to public money that has been given to a presidential candidate in an equal amount to whatever has been raised privately. Before the convention, in the primary season, candidates that use these matching funds can get as much as $250 dollars in the matching funds for every single individual contribution that they receive. These matching funds are usually financed through the United States taxpayers. The way that this happens is because people can check a box when filing their taxes to donate $3 of their return to the cause.

Midterm Election – This is a general type of election that exists in a different year than the presidential election year, two years into the president’s term. In this midterm election, many other positions are voted on including local positions, state positions, House of Representative positions and some of the members of the senate.

Motor-Voter Bill – This is a bill that Congress passed in 1993 in order to allow citizens of the United States to register for voting whenever they are applying for a driver’s license.

Negative Ads – These are political advertisements that are designed to attack the opponent of a candidate, usually as a means of destroying the character of the opponent.

Open Primary – This is a primary where all of the registered voters are capable of voting no matter which party they have decided to register as.

Platform – This is a form written document stating the stances of the political party on a number of important issues as well as the party’s goals for the near and long-term future.

United States Election Glossary pt 5

Part of knowing how to participate in a United States election is to have a thorough understanding of the language and lingo. This is part five of the United States election glossary, including the more prevalent terms that you need to know.

Exit Poll – This is an informal poll that is taken using people that are leaving the voting booth after voting. The purpose of an exit poll is to predict the upcoming outcome of the current election before all of the polls have been closed.

Front Runner – This is the political candidate that currently appears to be winning the election.

General Election – This is an election that will be held all throughout the country on the same day, as opposed to a local or small scale election.

House of Representatives – This is a part of Congress, and the House is responsible for voting on laws and legislation. There are always 435 members of the house, and they are divided up among the states based on their population, though each state always has at least one member of the House of Representatives. Each of the districts has 570,000 citizens in it.

Incumbent – This is someone who currently holds an office.

Independent – This is someone that is not associated with a single political party.

Liberal – This is someone who is generally interested in reforming current conditions. Liberals are typically referred to as being “left wing.”

Libertarian – This is someone that belongs in the Libertarian party.

Lobbyist – These are people that are associated with specific groups, such as corporations or labor unions for example, that try to persuade government members, such as members of the Congress, to enact beneficial legislation for their group.

Majority – This means more than half when it pertains to voters.

United States Election Glossary pt 4

Part of knowing how to participate in a United States election is to have a thorough understanding of the language and lingo. This is part four of the United States election glossary, including the more prevalent terms that you need to know.

Delegate – This is someone who has been chosen in order to represent a specific local political party during a political convention.

Democrat – This is someone that belongs to the Democratic party.

Democratic Party – This is one of the two major United States political parties. The symbol for this political party is a donkey. The first ever Democratic president of the United States was a man called Andrew Jackson.

Democracy – This is a type of government where the people are responsible for holding the power, either through voting on measures directly, or voting on representatives that will choose measures for them.

Election – This is the process by which people vote either to decide on an issue or to choose a leader.

Electoral College – This is a group of people responsible for formally electing the president of the United States. This Electoral College is made up of delegates from each of the fifty states and three from the District of Columbia. The number of the delegates for each states is the same as the sum of the representatives and the senators added together. The electors assemble in the state capital and place their votes based on the plurality of the votes that are placed in the state or the area that they are responsible for representing. The candidate must receive more than half of the votes from the Electoral College in order to become president.

United States Election Glossary pt 3

Part of knowing how to participate in a United States election is to have a thorough understanding of the language and lingo. This is part three of the United States election glossary, including the more prevalent terms that you need to know.

Congress – This is a shortened way to refer to the United States Congress, which is responsible for making the laws for the country. The United States Congress is divided into two different sections, the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are 2 senators from each state, making 100 total, and there are currently 435 representatives. Representatives in the House of Representatives are assigned based on population of the states, and each state has a minimum of one representative.

Congressional District – This is an area in a state from which a House of Representatives member is elected. There are currently 435 different congressional districts in the United States, and each one of these districts has approximately 570,000 people in it. The positions in the House of Representatives generally are reapportioned each ten years. Some areas will lose representatives and other areas will gain some depending on their populations during that year.

Conservative – These are people that would like to uphold the current conditions and that tend to oppose any big changes. Conservatives are typically referred to as being “right wing.”

Convention – This is an official meeting where the delegates belonging to a specific party gather to choose candidates and determine what the party platform will be.

Debate – This is a public, formal political discussion that involves at least two candidates that are running for a specific office. In such an event, the candidates will both state and defend the positions of their party on certain major issues. These debates are typically held over radio, television, online or in public places.