United States Election Glossary pt 10

July 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Part of knowing how to participate in a United States election is to have a thorough understanding of the language and lingo. Just like with watching sports, you would not understand nfl if you don’t talk the talk. This is part ten of the United States election glossary, including the more prevalent terms that you need to know.

Swing Voters – These are voters that do not have an allegiance to any one particular political party.

Term Limits – These are limits that are imposed on the length of time any politician is allowed to remain in office. As an example, the President of the United States can only serve up to two terms of four years in length in his office.

Third Party – This is any political party that is not one of the two primary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats.

Town Meeting – This is a gathering of voters in a specific town in order to discuss certain issues and to arrive at decisions about those issues.

Vote – This is a way to show preference and to choose an elected leader or to decide upon an initiative. Voting can be done by marking paper, raising hands or by filling forms out on a computer depending on the type of election that is being held.

Voting Booth – This is the small enclosure where a person can vote privately.

Voting Machine – This is a mechanical device that is used for the purpose of voting. There are numerous different types of machines used for this purpose in order to streamline and to automate the voting process.

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United States Election Glossary pt 8

March 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

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.

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United States Election Glossary pt 6

March 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

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.

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United States Election Glossary pt 5

March 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

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.

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Registering to Vote

February 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Registering to vote is one of the most important things you can do. The right to vote without fear of harassment, reprisal, or coercion is one of the signs of a strong democratic government.

Registering to vote is not hard, and many people mark their 18thbirthday—which also happens to be how old you must be before you can legally vote—by doing just that. In the U. S., registering to vote can be done in one of two ways:

1.Downloading or procuring a copy of The National Mail Voter Registration Form, completing it, and mailing it to your state elections office.

2.Going to your state elections office (this may be in a county courthouse or other government building) and registering in person.

If you are in the military or live overseas for other reasons, you can find out how to register to vote by using Canada 411 resources. (Just because the name says “Canada” doesn’t mean you can’t find information pertinent to the U. S). Once you are registered to vote, you will probably be given information on where your voting station is located. If you aren’t, again you can use Canada 411 resources to find out.

In Canada, the voting registration process is a little different. You can register to vote by checking the box on your federal income tax return. This will automatically add your name to the voters list. You can also contact your local returning officer (this is what Canada calls its election officials). They can give you information on how to register to vote. You can find out who your returning officer is by using Canada 411 resources.

You can also register at the advance poll. You will need a photo idea or two pieces of identification from a list of those documents that can serve as identification authorization. Again, using Canada 411 resources can help you find out which documents these are.

Filed Under: Voting Tagged With: ,

An Overview of E-Voting

January 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

How much easier would it be to log on to your own personal computer, click a few buttons and cast your Constitutional right to vote in any federal election? Voting via the Internet is not too far away from being a reality. E-voting is the electronic means of placing a vote and the electronic measures of processing votes. Under this definition, many voting mechanisms in the United States already qualify. For example, punch cards and optical scan cards which have been used for decades.

Current Touchscreen Voting Systems

However, most American’s think of Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) systems when thinking of e-voting. These same DRE systems are currently under a great deal of scrutiny. The most realistic version of an e-voting machine is a tabulation device. This indicates votes being counted on an electronic system which is clearly much quicker than a manual count. Many ballot machines resemble DRE systems with voters using touch screens to make a selection and pressing the print button to output their vote. The election official takes this paper ballot and places it in a central lock-box for manual counting.

Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) Systems

Although these are technically e-voting machines, it still outputs a piece of paper. On the other hand, DRE systems allow voters to view the options on a screen and make choices using an input device such as a mouse or a touchscreen. Some of these systems require a card swipe to be activated prior to voting. These votes are stored on a memory stick and transported to a central counting location.

The Issue of Fraud

Many critics feel the implementation of DRE systems present an opportunity for voter fraud. Advocates for the system argue it would take talented individuals who know the system well to compromise the information. Therefore, few people would be able to commit this type of fraud. Regardless, system vendors and election officials must consider many factors including voter secrecy.

Filed Under: Voting Tagged With: ,
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