Unit II: Linkage Institutions - Presidential Elections and the Electoral College

Vocabulary flashcards covering presidential nomination procedures, primaries, caucuses, front-loading, and the mechanics and criticisms of the Electoral College.

Primary Election

An election that determines a political party's nominee and decides who will represent the party as candidate in the general election.

Open Primary

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

Closed Primary

A primary election in which only registered or pledged party members are permitted to vote.

Crossover Voting

The act of participating and casting a ballot in a political party's primary when one is not a member of that party.

Raiding

An organized attempt by voters belonging to one political party to influence the primary election outcome of an opposing party.

Caucus

A local party meeting where voters gather in person, discuss candidates, and physically group together to express their support; it requires more time and is typically tailored to party activists.

Delegates

Party representatives chosen during primaries and caucuses; securing a majority of them is the primary objective of the presidential nomination process.

Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary

The first two voting contests of the presidential nomination season; though both are held in small, non-diverse states that do not accurately represent the nation, they attract substantial early media attention.

Front-loading

The practice of states scheduling their presidential primaries or caucuses earlier in the calendar year to maximize media coverage and political influence.

Super Tuesday

A Tuesday during the primary season when multiple states (including Virginia) hold their primary elections on the same day.

National Party Conventions

Large quadrennial party gatherings that conclude the primary season, where delegates assemble to officially adopt the platform and formally nominate the presidential candidate.

Electoral College

The official system for electing the U.S. president, in which each state is allocated a number of electors equal to its $2$ senators plus its members in the House of Representatives.

Reapportionment

The process of recalculating and reallocating congressional seats and corresponding electoral votes among the states every $10$ years, based on data from the U.S. Census.

270 Electoral Votes

The exact majority of Electoral College votes required for a presidential candidate to win the general election.

Winner-Take-All System

An electoral feature where the candidate who wins the plurality of the popular vote within a state receives all of that state's electoral votes.

Swing States

Toss-up states where the popular vote outcome is highly competitive, prompting presidential candidates to craft moderate campaign messages and allocate significant attention to them.

Safe States

States in which a single political party has consistently won the presidential vote for successive cycles (e.g., the last $4$ elections), often resulting in candidates ignoring them during campaigns.

Faithless Electors

Electoral College members who fail to cast their electoral ballots for the candidate who won their state's popular vote.

Electoral College Tie Contingency

A scenario in which no candidate achieves $270$ votes, requiring the House of Representatives to select the president with each state delegation receiving exactly $1$ vote.

2000 General Election Florida Recount Controversy

An exceptionally close presidential race in Florida characterized by punch-card voting flaws (such as hanging and pregnant chads) and recount discrepancies; the Supreme Court halted the recount, allowing George W. Bush to win the Electoral College ($271$ to $266$) despite losing the popular vote to Al Gore.