Unit 4B: Voting and Elections

Winner-take-all system

An election system in which the candidate with the most votes wins.

Single-member district

An electoral district in which voters choose one representative or official.

Proportional representation

Election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote.

Electoral College

Electoral system used in electing the president and vice president, in which voters vote for electors pledged to cast their ballots for particular party's candidates.

Safe seat

Elected office that is predictably won by one party or the other, so the success of the party's candidate is almost taken for granted.

Coattail effect

The boost that candidates may get in an election because of the popularity of candidates above them on the ballot, especially the president.

Candidate appeal

How voters feel about a candidate's background, personality, leadership ability, and other personal qualities.

Name recognition

Incumbents have an advantage over challengers in election campaigns because voters are more familiar with them, and incumbents are more recognizable.

Caucus

A meeting of local party members to choose party officials or candidates for public office and to decide the platform.

National party convention

A national meeting of delegates elected at primaries, caucuses, or state conventions who assemble once every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president, ratify the party platform, elect officers, and adopt rules.

Rational-choice voting

Voting based on what is perceived to be in the citizen's individual interest.

Prospective issue voting

Voting based on predictions of how a party or candidate will perform in the future.

Retrospective issue voting

Voting to decide whether the party or candidate in power should be re-elected based on the recent past.

Party-line voting

Supporting a party by voting for candidates from one political party for all public offices across the ballot.

Voter registration

System designed to reduce voter fraud by limiting voting to those who have established eligibility to vote by submitting the proper documents, including proof of residency.

General election

Elections in which voters elect officeholders.

Primary election

Elections in which voters determine party nominees.

Presidential election

Elections held in years when the president is on the ballot.

Midterm election

Elections held midway between presidential elections.

Off-year elections

Elections held in odd-numbered calendar years.

Turnout

The proportion of the voting age public that votes, sometimes defined as the number of registered voters that vote.

Efficacy

Citizens' faith and trust in government and their belief that they can understand and influence political affairs.