4.6/4.7 Flashcards
electoral geography
a subfield of political geography that analyzes the geography of political preference and how geography can shape voting outcomes
voting district
a territorial division for casting votes in public election, generally, only those who live in voting districts are permitted to cast their vote there
electoral college
a body of 538 electors in the US; a majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the president; a state’s number of electors equals the number of members in its congressional delegation (one for each member of the house of reps and every state gets two for senators)
reapportionment
the process by which the 435 seats in the US house of reps are divided proportionately by population among the 50 states following every US census.
redistricting
the process of drawing new boundaries for the US congressional districts to reflect the population changes since the previous US census
gerrymandering
the manipulation of voting districts boundaries to favor a particular political party group, or election outcome.
packing
gerrymandering a voting district by concentrating all of the opposition party into one district, thereby creating a large majority of that party in the district while ensuring they cannot win any election
cracking
gerrymandering a voting district by dividing opposition votes into many districts, thus diluting the opposition’s votes to ensure it does not form a majority in any district
unitary state
an independent state that concentrates power in the central government and grants little or no authority to its subnational units
federal state
an independent country that disperses significant authority among subnational units
examples of unitary state
france, Japan, Republic of Ireland, China, Saudi arabia
example of federal state
US, Germany, Canada, Australia, Switzerland
democracy
citizens elect leaders and can run for offic
autocracy
a country that runs according to the interests of the ruler rather than the people
