Chapter 4 Flashcards
What were the US efforts to expand suffrage?
constitutional amendments, us laws, and us court decisions
What is the intent of registering to vote?
Defeat fraud
What is the effect of registering to vote?
To reduce voting turn-off
Primary election
Partisan
General election
Partisan
Special election
Varied
Local election
Non-partisan
What types of direct primaries are there?
Open, blanket, and closed
Open direct primary
No party identification
Blanket direct primary
Vote on all candidates in both parties
Closed direct primary
Show party identification
Special elections
Fill vacancies, constitutional amendments, local bond issues, and local referenda
What are the two types of party organizations?
Temporary and permanent
Temporary party organization
Party primary, precinct convention, county convention, and state convention
What does the state convention do?
Elect national delegates and elect permanent state committee
Permanent party organization
Primary election - the county executive committee and state executive committee
What does the county executive committee do?
Elect precinct chair and elect county chair
Re-alignment party organization
Historic one party state, conservative vs liberal ideology, 1990s: a two party state, party in the legislature
What is campaign financing?
It is needed to raise political money, the role of PAC’s, federal financing rules, and Texas state regulation
Texas state regulation
Texas Ethics Commission, designate campaign treasurer
What is a defining characteristic of representative democracies?
Elections
Which individuals are legally disqualified from voting?
Mentally incompetent
Which lists are used to purge the names of voters from the voter registration polls?
Corner’s reports, list of felony convictions, and list of adjudications of mental incompetence
19th Amendment
Full suffrage to women in Texas
Smith vs. Allwright
Banned the use of white primaries
Carrington vs. Rash
Members of the military could enjoy full rights of suffrage in Texas
Which case changed the state’s early voter registration requirement in Texas?
Beare vs. Smith
Direct primary
A method of selecting the nominees from a political party where party members elect the candidates who represent them in the general election
What did the Terrell Election enable political party members to do?
Select political party nominees by allowing a direct primaries
What does the Texas Election Code require of each political party?
They receive 20% of the gubernatorial vote to hold a primary election
What must a candidate do to win a Texas primary?
Win 60% plus one of the vote
When is a runoff primary vote held?
When one of the two top contenders of a second primary did not receive a majority of the votes
What does a closed primary allow?
Party members to participate
When are the general elections in Texas held?
Tuesday after the first Monday in November of even - numbered years
Who is the chief election officer of the state?
The secretary of state
Who was the first African American elected to a state wide office in Texas?
Morris Overstreet
Soft money
Money spent by political parties on behalf of political candidates, especially for the purposes of increasing voter registration and turnout
Political action committees
Organizations that raise and then contribute money to political candidates
In state elections, what two factors predominate?
Party identification and incumbency
What is another name for the Massachusettes ballot?
Office block ballot
Supporters of major political parties support which the use of which ballot?
Party column ballot
