All Government Voacb

All vocabs

Nomination

the process of candidate selection in an electorate system

General Election

The regularly scheduled election at which voters make a final selection of officeholders

Caucus

As a nominating device, a group of like-minded people who meet to select the candidates they will support in an upcoming election

Direct Primary

An election held within a party to pick that party's candidates for the general election

Closed Primary

A party nominating election in which only declared party members can vote

Open Primary

A party-nominating election in which any qualified voter can take part

Blanket primary

A voting process in which voters receive a long ballot containing the names of all contenders, regardless of party, and can vote however they choose

Runoff Primary

A primary in which the top two vote-getters in the first direct primary face one another

Nonpartisan Election

election in which candidates are not identified by party labels

Subsidy

A grant of money, usually from the government

Suffrage

The right to vote

Straight ticket voting

Practice of voting for candidates of only one party in an election

Political Spectrum

The range of political views

Consensus

General agreement among various groups on fundamental matters; broad agreement on public questions

Economic Protest Parties

parties rooted in poor economic times, lacking a clear ideological base, dissatisfied with current conditions and demanding better times

Inherent Powers

Powers the Constitution is presumed to have delegated to the National Government because it is the government of a sovereign state within the world community

Grants-In-Aid program

Grants of federal money or other resources to States, cities, counties, and other local units

Ballot

The device voters use to register a choice in an election

Absentee Voting

Provisions made for those unable to get to their regular polling places on election day

Coattail Effect

The effect of a strong candidate running for an office at the top of a ballot helping to attract voters to other candidates on the party's ticket

Precinct

The smallest unit of election administration; a voting district

Polling Place

The place where the voters who live in a certain precinct go to vote

Hard money

Campaign money that is subject to regulations by the FEC

Soft Money

Money given to State and local party organizations for voting-related activities

Split-ticket voting

voting for candidates of different parties for different offices at the same election

Franchise

The right to vote

Electorate

All of the people entitled to vote in a given election

Disenfranchised

Denied the Right to Vote

Poll Tax

A special tax, demanded by States, as a condition of voting

Alien

A foreign-born resident or noncitizen

Transient

Person living in a state for only a short time, without legal residence

Registration

A procedure of voter identification intended to prevent fraudulent voting

Purge

The process of reviewing lists of registered voters and removing the names of those no longer eligible to vote; a purification

Poll Books

List of all registered voters in each precinct

Literacy

A person's ability to read a write

Gerrymandering

The drawing of electoral district lines to the advantage of a party or group

Injunction

A court order that forces or limits the performance of some act by a private individual or by a public official

Preclearance

Mandated by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the prior approval by the Justice Department of changes to or new election laws by certain States

Off-year elction

Congressional elction that occurs between presidential election years

Ballot Fatigue

The phenomenon by which voters cast fewer votes for offices listed toward the bottom of the ballot

Political Efficacy

One's own influence or effectiveness on politics

Political Socialization

The process by which people gain their political attitudes and opinions

Gender Gap

Measurable differences between the partisan choices of men and women today

Party Identification

Loyalty of people to a political party

Independents

A term used to describe people who have no party affliliation

Political Party

A group of people who seek to control government through the winning of elections and the holding of public office

Single-member districts

Electoral district from which one person is chosen by the voters for each elected office

Partisanship

Government action based on firm allegiance to a political party

Plurality

In each election, the number of votes that the leading candidate obtains over the next highest candidate

Bipartisan

Supported by two parties

Coalition

A temporary alliance of several groups who come together to form a working majority and so to control a government

Incumbent

The current officeholder

Faction

A conflicting group

Spoils System

The practice of giving officed and other favors of government to political supporters and friends

Sectionalism

A narrow-minded concern for, or devotion to, the interests of one section of a country

Ideological Parties

Parties based on a particular set of beliefs, a comprehensive view of social, economic, and political matters

Single-issue parties

Parties that concentrate on only one public policy matter

Splinter Parties

Parties that have split away from one of the major parties

Ward

A unit into which cities are often divided for the election of city council members

Checks and Balances

System of overlapping the powers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches to permit each branch to check the actions of the others

Judicial Review

The power of the court to determine the constitutionality of a government action

Popular Sovereignty

Basic principle of the American system of government which asserts that the peiople are the source of any and all governmental power, and government can exist only with the consent of the governed

Limited Government

Basic principle of American government which states that government is restricted in what it may do, and each individual has rights that government cannot take away

Constitionalism

Basic principle that government and those who govern must obey the law; the rule of law

Separation of Powers

Basic principle of American system of government that the executive, legislative, and judicial powers are divided among three independent and coequal branches of government

Veto

Chief executive's power to reject a bill passed by a legislature

Unconstitutional

Contrary to constitional provision and so illegal, null and void, of no force and effect

Federalism

System of government in which a written consititution divides power between a central, or national government and several regional governments

Amendment

A change, in addition to, consitution or law

Ratification

Formal approval, final consent to the effectiveness of a constitution

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendments to the Consitution

Executive Agreement

A pact made by the President directly with the head of a foreign state; a binding international agreement

Treaty

A formal agree between two or more sovereign states

Electoral College

Group of persons chosen in each state and the District of Columbia every 4 years who make a formal selection of the president and vice president

Cabinet

Presidential advisory body, traditionally made up of the heads of the executive departments and other officers

Senatorial Courtesy

Custom that the Senate will not approve a presidential appointment opposed by a majority party senator from the State in which the appointee would serve

Representative government

System of government which public policies are made by officials selcted by voters and held accountable in periodic elections

Magna Carta

Great charter forced upon King John of England by his braons in 1215; established that the power of the monarchy was not absolute and guaranteed trial by jury and due procces of law to the nobility

Due Process

government must act fairly and in accord with established rules in all that it does

Petition of Right

Document prepared by Parliment and signed by King Charles I of England in 1628; challenged the idea of the divine right of Kings and declared that even the monarch was subject to the Laws of the Land

English Bill of Rights

Written by parliament- designed to prevent abuse of power by English monarchs; forms basis for much in American government and politics today

Charter

City's basic law, its constitution; a written grant of authority from the King

Bicameral

Adjective describing a legistlative body composed of 2 chambers

Proprietary

Oranized by a proprietor (person to whom kind had made a grant of land)

Unicamerical

Adjective describing a legislative body with one chamber

Confederation

Joining of several goups for a common purpose

Albany Plan of Union

Plan proposed by Ben Franklin in 1754 that aimed to unite the 13 colonies for trade, military, and other purposes; the plan was turned down by the colonies and the Crown

Delegate

Representative, member of congress who cast votes based on their wishes of their constitutions

Articles of Confederation

Plan of government adioted by Continental Congress after the American Revolution; established a "firm league of friendship" among the states, but allowed few important powers to the central government

Framers

Group of delegates who drafted the US constitution at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787

Virginia Plan

presented by delegates from Virginia at the Constitutional Convention; called for 3-branch government with bicameral legislature in which each states membership would be determined by its population or its financial support for the central government

New Jersey Plan

plan presented as an alternative to the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention; called for unicameral legislature in which each state would be equally represented

Connecticut Compromise

Agreement during consitutional convention that vongress should be composed of Senatem in which states would be equally represented and a house in which representation would be based on a states population

Three-Fifths Compromise

Agreement at Constitutional Convention to count a slave as three-fifths of a person when determining the population of a state

Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise

agreement during the Constitutional Convention protecting slaveholders; denied congress power to tac the export of goods from any state and for 20 years the power to act on the slave trade

Federalist

Person(s) who supported the ratification of the

Anti-federalist

Person who opposed the raitification of the Constituiton

Interstate Compact

formal agreement entered into with the consent of Congress, between or among States, or between a State and a foreign state

Full Faith and Credit Clause

Constitutions requirement that each state accepts the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state

Extradition

The legal process by which a fugitive from the justice in one state is returned to that state