Voting/The electoral process Flashcards
The right to vote
Suffrage
denied the right to vote
disenfranchise
5 Stages that extended suffrage in America
Stage 1: elimination of religious and property qualification
Stage 2: protecting any citizen from being denied suffrage
Stage 3: gave women suffrage
Stage 4: eliminated poll taxes/kept poor from voting
Stage 5: gave 18 y/o’s suffrage
Voter qualifications (4)
- citizenship
- residence
- 18 yr old
- voter ID
2 discriminatory voter qualifications that have been outlawed?
- literacy test: to see if you could read or write
- poll taxes: money paid before you could vote
groups that are denied to vote (4)
- people in a mental institution
- people in prison for a felony
- people dishonorably discharged from military services
- aliens
top 5 reasons people give for not voting
- not registered
- my 1 vote won’t make a difference
- not enough choices
- systems corrupt
- APATHY- “lazy” and take their freedom for granted
greek word referring to those who did not vote
idiotes “idiot”
4 step process of choosing the presidents
- primaries and caucuses (nominate candidates)
- national convention (the party official endorses candidates)
- general election (popular vote)
- electoral college
nominations of (candidates) are made in 4 different ways:
- self-announcement: person simply states that they’re running for office
- caucus: a group of like-minded influential people meet to select the candidate
- direct primary: an intraparty election- an election within the party
- convection: form of national convection to choose candidates
2 major types of primaries
open primary: open to all people no matter what party
closed primary: open to only party members (most states use)
state that traditionally vote for the same party
safe state
(battleground states) states that up for grabs each election cycle
swing state
the medium by which a voter registers a choice in an election
ballot
type of ballots:
- voice-original
- paper
- Australian ballot (basic form used today)