US politics
Chapter 21 – US Democracy and
participation definitions
Electoral college – a body of people who cast votes
on behalf of their states to formally elect the
president and vice president of the USA
Invisible primary – the time between a candidate
formally announcing their intention to run for
presidential office and the first official primary or
caucus
Primary – an intraparty election to determine who
will compete on the ballot for the party in the
presidential election
Caucus - An intraparty town-hall meeting in which
voters physically exercise their preferences in
order to decide who will represent their party on
the ballot in the presidential election
Political action Committees PACs – a group which
can raise money to support a candidate in an
, election, donating a maximum of $5,000 to their
campaign directly
Super-PAC – a group which can raise and spend
unlimited amounts of money to support or oppose
a candidate, but which is not allowed to donate
directly to a campaign or coordinate with a
campaign
Hybrid PACs (Carey Committees) – A hybrid PAC
that isn’t affiliated with a candidate and has the
ability to operate as both a normal PAC and a
Super-PAC and have a separate bank account for
each purpose.
Open primary – A primary in which all voters in the
state can take part only, regardless of party
membership and registration
Closed primary - A primary in which only registered
voters can take part
Semi-closed primary – a primary in which
registered voters must vote for that party and
unregistered voters are unbounded
, Frontloading – the movement of primaries to an
earlier point in the calendar in order to give more
significance to a primary or caucus within a state
National Party convention – A national convention
of the republican and democratic parties in which
they formally nominate their presidential candidate
and affirm their party platform for the coming
election
Party platform – the principles and policy goals of a
political party, similar to a party manifesto
Battleground state – a state in which the candidate
it will support is uncertain and which therefore
sees a lot of campaigning activities in order to win
votes, also known as a swing state
Bellwether state – A state that has historically
tended to vote for the winning presidential
candidate
Electoral College vote – ECV, a vote allocated to a
state based on its population, which us cast by an
elector to elect a president and vice-president
, Elector – a person who is nominated to cast an ECV
on behalf of their state
Faithless elector – A persona who was nominated
to cast an ECV on behalf of their state but who cast
their ballot for someone other than whom their
state voted for
Party system – The number of parties which have a
realistic chance of forming a government
Campaign finance – the funds raised by a
candidate or their party to support their campaign
for office
Soft money – money donated to a party rather than
a candidate and used for party building activities
rather than the endorsement of a candidate
directly, it is subject to a few limits
Hard money – donations directly to an electoral
campaign and subject to strict limits
Factions – groups within a political party that share
and ideological agreement that might be different
to other groups within the same party
Chapter 21 – US Democracy and
participation definitions
Electoral college – a body of people who cast votes
on behalf of their states to formally elect the
president and vice president of the USA
Invisible primary – the time between a candidate
formally announcing their intention to run for
presidential office and the first official primary or
caucus
Primary – an intraparty election to determine who
will compete on the ballot for the party in the
presidential election
Caucus - An intraparty town-hall meeting in which
voters physically exercise their preferences in
order to decide who will represent their party on
the ballot in the presidential election
Political action Committees PACs – a group which
can raise money to support a candidate in an
, election, donating a maximum of $5,000 to their
campaign directly
Super-PAC – a group which can raise and spend
unlimited amounts of money to support or oppose
a candidate, but which is not allowed to donate
directly to a campaign or coordinate with a
campaign
Hybrid PACs (Carey Committees) – A hybrid PAC
that isn’t affiliated with a candidate and has the
ability to operate as both a normal PAC and a
Super-PAC and have a separate bank account for
each purpose.
Open primary – A primary in which all voters in the
state can take part only, regardless of party
membership and registration
Closed primary - A primary in which only registered
voters can take part
Semi-closed primary – a primary in which
registered voters must vote for that party and
unregistered voters are unbounded
, Frontloading – the movement of primaries to an
earlier point in the calendar in order to give more
significance to a primary or caucus within a state
National Party convention – A national convention
of the republican and democratic parties in which
they formally nominate their presidential candidate
and affirm their party platform for the coming
election
Party platform – the principles and policy goals of a
political party, similar to a party manifesto
Battleground state – a state in which the candidate
it will support is uncertain and which therefore
sees a lot of campaigning activities in order to win
votes, also known as a swing state
Bellwether state – A state that has historically
tended to vote for the winning presidential
candidate
Electoral College vote – ECV, a vote allocated to a
state based on its population, which us cast by an
elector to elect a president and vice-president
, Elector – a person who is nominated to cast an ECV
on behalf of their state
Faithless elector – A persona who was nominated
to cast an ECV on behalf of their state but who cast
their ballot for someone other than whom their
state voted for
Party system – The number of parties which have a
realistic chance of forming a government
Campaign finance – the funds raised by a
candidate or their party to support their campaign
for office
Soft money – money donated to a party rather than
a candidate and used for party building activities
rather than the endorsement of a candidate
directly, it is subject to a few limits
Hard money – donations directly to an electoral
campaign and subject to strict limits
Factions – groups within a political party that share
and ideological agreement that might be different
to other groups within the same party
