Gov Unit Test 2 Flashcards
5 major roles of the members of the house and senate
1.legislator, 2.house member, 3.represent their constituents, 4.Preform oversight, 5.educate the public
Trustee
Lawmaker who votes based on their conscience & judgement, not necessarily by the views of their constituents
Delegate
Member of Congress who voted based on the wishes of their constituents
Partisan
Lawmakers who owe their first allegiance to their political party, and vote according to the party line
Term
A 2-year period of each odd numbered year that starts a new congress
Convenes
To begin (Jan 3)
Adjourn
To suspend until the next session
Recess
Several short periods of breaks in a session
A special session
An extraordinary session of legislative body, called to deal with emergency situations
Senate
-2 per state, 100 in Congress
- 30 YO, reside in state, citizen for 9 yrs
- continuous body bc only 1/3 of senate is running for election at a time
House of rep
- at least 1 per state, 435 total
- 25 YO, citizen for 7 yrs, resident of state
Incumbent
An official currently in office
Why do incumbents have an advantage for getting election
Name familiarity, higher odds of donation from party or businesses
Census
A complete count of a population
Apportionment
Distributed, as in, seats of legislative body
Re-districting
To divide, organize into new political districts
Gerrymandering
The drawing of electoral district lines to the advantage of a party/group
Informal qualifications to run for office
Party ID, name familiarity, gender, ethnic characteristics, political experience
Ruling of Wesberry vs Sanders (1964)
Congressional districts must be equal in population, as is practical
Ruling of Gomillion vs Lightfoot (1960)
Tuskegee city officials had redrawn the city’s districts unconstitutionally to ensure the election of white candidates in the city’s political races