Section 3 - Elections Key Terms

Question 1

Hard Money

Answer 1

Direct money donations to candidates from individuals or interest groups.

Question 2

Soft Money

Answer 2

Direct money donations to political parties.

Question 3

Federal Election Campaign Act

Answer 3

A 1971 law to limit “hard money” donations to candidates. Started the
requirement for interest groups to have their own PAC – Political Action Committee to report their hard
money contributions to the FEC – Federal Election Commission

Question 4

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act

Answer 4

A 2002 law to limit “soft money” donations to political parties.

Question 4

incumbents

Answer 4

A candidate for office who presently holds that office and is running for re-election.

Question 4

incumbency advantage

Answer 4

The tendency of voters to re-elect the candidate who is currently serving in a
position or to select candidates who have previously served.

Question 5

primary election

Answer 5

A pre-election among members of the same political party, designed to narrow the
field or identify the person who will ultimately serve as the one political party’s nominee on the
November Election Ballot for a particular office. Primaries can be ‘open’ or ‘closed.’

Question 5

caucus

Answer 5

A meeting of party members where delegates are selected to support a candidate for a party’s
presidential nomination or other party issues are discussed. Caucuses occur at local, state, and national
levels.

Question 6

independent voters

Answer 6

: voters who indicate no preference for one political party or another.

Question 7

“safe” states

Answer 7

A state with historically strong leanings toward a particular political party, requiring
relatively little effort from that party to win campaigns. The opposite of a safe state is a “swing state.”

Question 8

swing states

Answer 8

States with a history of voting for both political parties in recent presidential elections,
considered by both sides as ripe for persuading.

Question 9

swing voters

Answer 9

voters who don’t have a definite preference for the candidate of a political party, and
therefore are open to voting the candidate of any political party.

Question 10

general election

Answer 10

The November election where candidates for elected office are formally chosen, or
where the allocation of presidential electoral votes is decided.

Question 11

electors

Answer 11

Persons selected by each state to cast Electoral College votes.

Question 12

electoral votes

Answer 12

Electoral College votes which, according to the Constitution, are the votes that actually
elect a president

Question 13

winner-take-all

Answer 13

A system of voting in which the candidate who wins a plurality of the popular vote is
elected. In U.S. presidential campaigns, most states use this system, awarding all their Electoral College
votes to the candidate who wins 50.01% or more of the popular vote.

Question 14

district method

Answer 14

Method of allocating the Electoral College votes of a state in a presidential election
among candidates according to the popular vote in each congressional district. The district method is
rare, with most states using the winner-takes-all method.

Question 15

faithless electors:

Answer 15

Disparaging name for electors who violate their pledge to support a particular
presidential candidate voting instead for someone else

Question 16

congressional voting district

Answer 16

One of 435 legally established voting areas of a state represented by one
member of the House of Representatives. Each congressional voting district is approximately equal in
population to all other congressional districts (that’s the equal proportions method).