Government Ch. 10

Free and fair elections are one of the most important

True

Presidential Elections

Every 4 years (even numbered)

Congressional Elections

Every 2 years

Midterm Elections

Congressional elections that do NOT coincide with a presidential elections, midpoint of a president’s 4 year term (2 years in), all 435 seats in the House of Reps and 1/3 of the Senate seats are up for election

Basic rules for U.S. elections

State & local Govs are primarily responsible for running elections, which include: est. and staffing polling places, processing main-in ballots, verifying voter eligibility, and determining who may vote, how, and where

Primary Elections

Parties choose their candidate to run in the general elections

General Elections

A regularly scheduled election involving most districts in the nation or state, in which voters select office holders

Closed Primaries

Only voters registered with that political party can participate in its primary

Open Primaries

Voters (including independents) can participate/ select candidates for the general election without being registered as a member of that party. Rules vary by state; you can only participate for one of the party’s primary

Electoral Systems

A set of rules that determine how elections are conducted and how political representatives (winners) are chosen

General Elections

Main elections where voters choose which candidates will hold public offices, such as president, governor, senator, or mayor

Primary v General Elections

Primary = choose the candidates.
General = choose the officeholders.

Majority

50+1, more than half

Ex. 51%, 30%, 8%, 12%

Plurality

Candidate who has more votes

Ex. 40%, 41%, 13%, 6%

Bicameral (the chambers, # of members, yr term, and pop)

House of Representatives- 435 members- 2 yr length (based on pop (the more people in a state, the more representatives it gets)

Senate- 100 members- 6 yr length (not based on pop, each state gets 2)

Congress represents _____

Members of congress must be _____ to their _____

The American people, responsive, constituents

Define a constituency

Residents in a specific geographic area that elect a representative to a legislative or political body

House of Representatives constituencies

Each serves a smaller/ more local district within a state, since they represent smaller groups, they are more attuned to local groups and concerns

Senators constituencies

Each senator represents their entire state, so their constituency is much larger, therefore they are more insulated from individual or narrow interests, so one small group has less influence over them because senators have to consider the interests of the people across the whole state

House of Reps constituencies shortened

Smaller/local constituency → more responsive to local interests

Senators constituencies shortened

Entire state → more focused on broader statewide interests