Electoral Behavior Q1

poll taxes

fee requirement for voting that were typically used to keep black people from voting in southern states; outlawed by the voting rights act of 1965

literacy tests

questions that purported to measures citizens ability to read and understand English but really were used to prevent black people from voting in southern states; literacy tests were suspended by federal legislation, beginning with the voting rights act 1965

white primary

primary elections held in the south that allowed only white voters to participate

voting rights act of 1965

congressional legislation designed to end discriminatory practices disenfranchising black people, especially in the south

closed primary

election for a party nominee in which only those registered as party members can vote

semi-closed primary

election for a party nominee in which party registrants and this unaffiliated with any party are allowed to vote

open primary

election for the parties nominees in which registrants are allowed to vote in any primary they choose (but only in one)

blanket or jungle primary

election in which all candidates for an office are listed on the ballot, and anyone registered to vote in that election may vote for any one candidate; typically, the top two cote-getters advance to a runoff election

automatic voter registration

a system of voter registration in which state government agencies register people to vote unless they choose to opt out

same-day or Election Day registration

system in which eligible citizens may register to vote as late as Election Day itself

voter identification laws

laws that require registered voters to show some sort of government-issued identification before they are allowed to vote

early voting

in-person voting that takes place before election day

absentee voting

The process by which citizens who cannot vote in person on Election Day request that ballots be mailed to their homes, and then vote by mailing those ballots to election officials

convenience voting

methods of voting that do not involve actually casting a ballot at a polling place on Election Day, such as absentee, early, or mail voting conducted before Election Day

independent candidates

persons running for office who are not affiliated with any particular party

term limits

legal restrictions on the maximum time a person can hold a specific office

permanent campaign

the notion that candidates never stop campaigning because of the constant need to raise money for the next election cycle

single-member districts

geographic units that elect only one person to represent the entire unit

at-large elections

geographic units that elect multiple members as their representatives

reapportionment

process of determining the number of U.S. House representatives allotted to each state after the decennial census count

redistricting

drawing new state legislative and us house district lines after the decennial census count

malapportionment

any significant differences in the number of citizens across districts

one person one vote

the principle that each persons vote should equal weight in determining representation

communities of interest

redistricting principle that districts should attempt to keep together citizens in areas that share a political history or set of interests

gerrymandering

drawing district lines to maximize some political interest

partisan gerrymandering

a method of redrawing legislative district boundaries in which one political party draws district lines in an attempt to maximize the number of seats it will win

majority-minority districts

districts in which racial or ethnic minorities form a majority of the population

plurality rule

a way of determining who wins elections in which the candidate with the most votes wins (even if they do not get a majority of the votes)

ranked choice voting

a system of voting in which voters rank their top candidates in order; if no one candidate is the top choice of a majority of voters, then the winner is determined by using the information in voters' rankings to identify the candidate with the most support among the majority

proportional representation

system of legislative representation in which states are allocated based on the percentage of the vote won by each party

Durverger's Law

single-member simple plurality section systems tend to produce two major political parties

strategic voting

in an election with more than two candidates, voting for a candidate other than one's first choice in order to prevent an undesirable outcome