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Definition
| the percentage of the voting age population or registered voters that cast ballots in an election |
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| general feelings of estrangement from the political system; the belief that voting is useless and that individuals canot influence political events |
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| the competitveness of the two major parties, usually measured by the closeness of the vote for various offices |
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| Methods to enhance voter turnout after a person registers. Most effective with young voters |
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| a discriminatory practice designed to keep blacks from voting in primary elections. Democrats in teh south declared their party a private club adn prohibited blacks from membership |
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| Affirmative Racial Gerrymandering |
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Definition
| drawing election district boundaries to provide maximum opportunities for the election of minorities |
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| drawing election district boundaries to give an advantage to a party, candidate, or racial or ethnic group |
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| Majority-minority districts |
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| districts in which minority racial or ethinic group members constitutie a majority of voters |
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| in politics, a reference to differences between men and women in political views, party affiliations, and voting choices |
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| in politics, a reference to differences between young and old in political views and policy preferences |
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| people who come together to exercise influence over government policy |
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| Individuals, groups, or organizations that actively seek to influence government policy |
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| Communications directed at government decision makers with e purpose of influencing policy |
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| informal contacts between lobbyists and legislators |
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| offering anythign of value to government officials with te purpose of influencing them in the performance of their duties |
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| influencing legislators by contacting their constituents and asking them to contact their legislators |
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| Poltiical Action Committees; organizations fromed to raise and distribute campaign funds to candidates for public office |
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| The extent to which interest groups as a whole influence public policy as compared with other components of the political system |
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| in legislatures, the extent to which members have hte services of full-time, well-paid staff, as well as their access to research and sources of information |
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| grassroots-level protests use te internet; can involve a large number of like-minded citizens. |
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| a form of protess that invovles peaceful nonviolent breaking of laws considered to be unjust |
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| an area on the internet dominated by web-logs: "bloggers" often protest various societal ills via their space on the internet |
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| A party stystem in which each party offers clear policy alternatives and holds their elected officials responsible for enacting these policies in office |
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| self-described indentification with a political party, usually in response to te question, "Generally speaking, how would you identify yourself: as a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or something else?" |
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| A citizen votes for Democrat in one race and a Republican in another in the same election |
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| Candidate-centered politics |
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Definition
| individual candidates reather than parties raise funds, create personal organizations, and rely on professional consultatns to direct their campaigns |
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| "Shoe Leather Campaigning" |
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| Door-to-door campaigning by candidates or party workers |
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| those who participate in campaigns and party politics year round often to get jobs for themselves or their friends and to stregthen their party |
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| part-timers who participate in campaigns and party politics primarily during elections usually to support a specific candidate or cause |
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| a decline in paty loyalty among voters and a rise in independent and split ticket voting |
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| An election held to decide a political party's nominee for public office. |
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| primary elections in which voters must declare (or have previously declared) their party affilitation and can cast a ballot only in their own party's primary election |
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| primary elections in which voters must declare (or have previously declared) their party afficilation and can cast a ballot only in their own party's primary election; voters can change party registration on primary election day |
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Definition
| primary elections in which a voter may cast a ballot in either party's primary election |
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| votes can vote for one party's candidate for one office and for another party's candidate for another office; now illegal |
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| voters affiliated with one party casting votes in other party's pirmary election |
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| an organized attempt to cross over and vote in another party's primary in order to defeat an attractive candidate |
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| the candidate receiving fifty percent plus one of the vote |
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| an additional (second) primary held between the top two vote-getters in a primary |
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| delegates chosen by party members choose hte party's nominee, write the party's platform, and rally party support |
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| Presidential primary election |
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Definition
| election held in some states in which voters select the presidnetial candidates tey want their party's delegates to the national convention to nominate as the national party's candidate for president |
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Definition
| national, state, county, and precinct party officials and workers, committee members, convention delegates, and others in party office |
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| a meeting of voters at some officially designated location for the purpose of nominating party candidates |
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| people who serve in city, county, or state party organizations, or who regularly work in campaigns |
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| governing bodies of state party organizations |
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| governing bodies of county party orgnizations |
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| searching for information about the weaknesses of an opponent, via newspapers, public records, and the internet |
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| in state politics, where the governorship is controlled byone party and one or both houses of the legislature is controlled by the other party |
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| in state politics where the governorship and both houses of hte state legislature are controlled by the same party |
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| the failure to pass controversial legislation, often due to divided control |
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| unimodal distribution of opinion |
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Definition
| this occurs when most voters prefer moderate or centrist policies, thereby causing the parties to move closer together in thier policy positions |
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Term
| bimodal distribution of opinion |
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Definition
| this occurs when most voters are clearly divided in their policy preference, thereby causing the parties to take divergent policy positions |
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Definition
| contacting potential voters and soliciting their support primarily through television, radio, newspapers, and internet advertising |
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Term
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Definition
| questioning a representative sample of population (or of likely voters) to determine public opinion about candidates and issues |
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| the likelihood that people recognize a candidate's name when questioned in opinion polls |
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Definition
| an activity designed to attract news coverage of a candidate (free media) |
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Definition
| directly soliciting voter support through telephone calls or facet-to-face meetings |
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Definition
| campaign contributions given to party organizations for activities such as party building and voter registration but not to be used directly for activities such as party building and voter registration but not to be used directly for their candidates campaigns. Soft money contributions to national parties were banned in 2002 but can still be made to state and local party organizations |
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| Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 2002 |
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Definition
| spells out rules for campaign contributions and spending in federal elections |
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| Electioneering communications |
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Definition
| an ad for a federal candidate taht is paid for by individuals and interest groups coordinated with a party or candidate and limited in when it can be aired |
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Term
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Definition
| an ad for a federal candidate paid for by an individual or interest group that asks a voter to support or reject a particular candidate or party |
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Definition
| campaign ad paid for by an individual or group that does not ask voters to vote for or against a specific candidate or party |
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| residents of a legislator's district; the people who are reprsented by a legislator |
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| legislators spend a great deal of time answering requests from constituents |
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Definition
| the monitoring of the activities of state agencies by the legislature and its committees |
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| laws that fix termination dates for programs and agencies in order to force the legislature to renew them if hte legislators wish the program to continue |
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| the total value of all assets after subtracting the ttotal value of all outstanding debts |
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| a civil wrong that results in damages |
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| those for whom sevice in the legislature is their primary occupation. IN states with full-time legislators, legislator salaries are typically higher |
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Definition
| legislators who spend a few months in the state capitol during the regular session, then return home to their own business or profession |
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| an independent advocacy group that can spend an unlimited amount of money for or against a candidate |
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| in electoral politics, confronting an opponent or party that has a reasonable chance to win the election |
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| districts in which there is little party competition, one party dominates |
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| very competitive districts where electoral competition is great |
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| an election in which the loser recieves at least one-third of the votes |
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| persons currentl yserving in elective or appointed positions ingovernment |
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Definition
| in poltiics the tendency of people to view running for and occupying elected public office as a full-time career |
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Definition
| the determination of how many residents should live in a representative's district |
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| traditional redistricting principles |
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Definition
| compactness: contiguity; keeping communities of interest, counties,towns, and precints together |
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Definition
| unequal numbers of people in legislative districts creating inequality of representaion |
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Definition
| the drawing of electoral district boundary lines to grant poltiical advantage to a particular party, candidate or group |
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Definition
| in districting, dividing and diluting a strong minority to deny it the ability to elect a number of representatives comparable to its percentage of the population |
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Definition
| concentrating partisan voters in a single district in order to maximize the number of representatives that can be elected by the opposition in other districts |
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Definition
| the drawing of electoral district boundary lines t ogrant poltiical advantage to a particular party, therefore increasing the number of winning candidates within that party |
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Term
| affirmative racial gerrymandering |
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Definition
| drawing legislative district lines in order to maximize opportunities for minorty candidates to win elections |
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Term
| mulitmember legislative districts |
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Definition
| districts from which two or more members are elected to a legislative body, must meet equal population size criteria |
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Term
| ideal district population |
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Definition
| the ideal population within a district, calculated by dividing the total state population by the total number of districts in wach legislative chamber |
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Term
| independent nonpartisan commissions |
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Definition
| bodies designed to impartially and without political interference, dredistrict in an effort to decrease political gerrymandering |
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Definition
| in legislative affairs the rush to pass a large number of bills athte end of hte session |
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Term
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Definition
| a number of bills are combined into a single bill which legislators must vote up or down |
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Definition
| the meetings of elected legilsative bodies from their initial convening to their official adjournment |
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Definition
| legislative sessions that may be called by the governor on in some states by the legislative leadership to consider special topics |
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Definition
| the development of rules and procedures, organizational structures, and standard pattersn of behaviors in political bodies |
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Definition
| aides employed to assist individual member or committes in their work |
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Definition
| legislators gaining electoral support when running with a popular gubernatorial US senatorial or presidential candidate of the same party |
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Definition
| in legislatures, the percentage of member replaced in each legislative session |
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Definition
| the knowledge of veteran legislators about how issues were handled in te past |
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Definition
| a bill is ignored, never reported out of committee |
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Definition
| regular committees of legislature that deal with bills iwthin specified subject areas |
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Definition
| the assignment of bills to specific committes usually by the speaker of the house and the senate president |
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Definition
| legilsators who gain a repuation for having in-depth knowledge of a particular issue |
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| a role that reprsentatives adopt when they decide to vote their conscience and use their best personal judgement rather than catering to the narrow interest of their constituents |
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Definition
| a legislator votes on bills based on te priorites of the consitutents back home rather than on his/her presonal views |
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Definition
| the belief that legislators should use their own best judgement about what is good for their state or nation rather than conforming to their constituents's narrow interest |
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Definition
| the extent to which legislators appear to reflect the views of their constituents in tehir lawmaking |
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Definition
| a legislator who plays both the delegate and trustee roles, but at different times, depending on how "hot" the issue is back home in the district |
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Definition
| in legislatures, voting in which a majority of one party's members vote in opposition to a majority of the other party's members |
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| capitol, or sate house, press corps |
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Definition
| repoters from various news outlets who are assigned to cover state government full time. The capitol pres corps usually expands while the legislature is in session |
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Definition
| individual citizens letting their representatives know how htey feel about key issues before the legislature, these constituents are therefore lobbying their representatives |
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