Chapter 7
coattail effect
nominating process
runoff primary
direct primary
ballot
Caucus
polling place
ballot fatigue
voting machines
polling
general election
Blanket primary
he tendency for a popular political party leader to attract votes for other candidates of the same party in an election. For example, the party of a victorious presidential candidate will often win many seats in Congress as well; these congressmen are voted into office “on the coattails” of the president.
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The term originated in the United States, but has spread to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Nepal. As the use of the term has been expanded, the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures.
A general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.
An election in which voters choose candidates to run on a party's ticket in a subsequent election for public office. The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition.
closed primary
A type of direct primary limited to registered party members, who must declare their party affiliation in order to vote. The closed primary serves to encourage party unity and prevent members of other parties from infiltrating and voting to nominate weak candidates. (Compare open primary.)
Open primary
A type of direct primary open to voters regardless of their party affiliation. Voters need not publicly declare their party affiliation but must vote for candidates of only one party. The opposite is a closed primary, in which only registered members of a party may vote.
In a blanket primary, voters may pick one candidate for each office without regard to party lines; for instance, a voter might select a Democratic candidate for governor and a Republican candidate for senator.
a second primary election held in some states to decide which of the two highest candidates for an office in the first primary will be awarded the party nomination.
A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English and in British English, although polling place is the building and polling station is the specific room (or part of a room) where voters cast their votes.
he farther down the ballot an office is, the fewer the number of votes that will be cast for it. This is called “Ballot fatigue”. The expression suggests that many voters exhaust their patience and/or their knowledge as they work their way down the ballot.
Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list.
In 1871 it enacted that they should be chosen by written or printed ballots (later choice by voting machine was also permitted). Government in the United States. James Wilford Garner. A voting machine has a knob or lever for each candidate, and is so arranged that the voter can record one vote.
A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election, and may be a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters. Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared.
nonpartisan primary
a direct primary in which all qualified voters may participate without regard to political affiliations and may vote usually for two nominees for each office who are the two receiving the highest vote and whose names are placed on the ballot without any party designation.
self announcement
a sampling or collection of opinions on a subject, taken from either a selected or a random group of persons, as for the purpose of analysis. 2. Usually, polls. the place where votes are taken.
*the regularly scheduled election at which voters make a final selection of officeholders. self-announced nomination. a person who wants to run for office ( a position in the government ) can announce it. A write-in candidate is an example of someone nominated by self-announcement.
hard money
Hard money consists of funding by a government or organization that is repetitive, rather than a one-time grant. Examples include ongoing government daycare subsidies or firms that pay annual scholarships to post-secondary students.
soft money
When cash is contributed to a political party with no limits attached to the amount that can be received, this is known as a "soft money" contribution. The funds can come from individuals and political action committees as with "hard money", but they can also come from any other source, such as corporations.