US history ch 9 – Flashcards

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the electoral college
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protects the small states from being overwhelmed by the large states.
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the electoral college vote diverged from the popular vote in three elections during our nation's history; these divergences occurred in
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1876,1888, and 2000
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in 2000, for the first time since __, the electoral college vote diverged from the popular vote.
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1888
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in the 2000 presidential elections, Al Gore
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won the popular vote
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a candidate who wins the popular vote nationally
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may yet lose in the electoral college.
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to win the presidency, a candidate needs __ electoral college votes.
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270
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There are __ electoral college votes.
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538
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a __ is held at the state or local level when the voters must decide an issue before the next general election.
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special election
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the general election is a regularly scheduled election held in
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even-numbered years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November
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a __ is held to select the US president, vice president, and senators and representatives in congress.
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general election
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the president and vice president are elected every __ years
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four
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members of the house of representatives are elected every __ years
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two
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members of the senate are elected every __ years
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six
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a secret ballot that is prepared, distributed, and counted by government officials at public expense is known as the __ ballot.
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Australian
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in most states, __ provides a list of registered voters and makes certain that only qualified voter cast ballots.
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an election board
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__ are representatives from each political party who are allowed to monitor polling places to make sure that the election is run fairly and that fraud doesn't occur
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poll watchers
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when citizens vote for president and vice president, they are not voting directly for the candidates. instead, they are voting for electors who will cast their ballots
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in the electoral college
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the electors are selected during each presidential election year by the
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states' political parties
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each state has
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as many electoral votes as it has US senators and representatives
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the district of Columbia has
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three electoral voters
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if a state has a thirty-six members in the house of representatives, it has __ electoral votes.
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thirty-eight
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the electoral college system is primarily a winner-take-all system, in which
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the candidate who receives the largest popular vote in a state is credited with all that state's electoral votes
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the states of ___ and __ are the only exceptions to the winner-take-all feature of the electoral college.
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Maine; Nebraska
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in December, after the general election, electors meet in __ to cast their votes for president and vice president
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their state capitals
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in __, after the general election, electors meet in their state capitals to cast their votes for president and vice president
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December
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after the electors cast their votes, the ballots are sent to
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the US senate, which counts and certifies them before a joint session of congress held early in January
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__ and __ have the most electoral votes
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California; Texas
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states with the fewest electoral votes include __ and __
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Alaska; north Dakota
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if no presidential candidate receives the required number of electoral votes,
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the house of representatives votes on the candidates, with each state delegation casting only a single vote
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twice, in__ and __, no presidential candidate got an electoral college majority.
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1800;1824
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if no vice pres. candidate receives the required number of electoral votes, the
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senate chooses the v.p., with each state delegation casting only a single vote
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the first step in the long road to winning an election is
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the nomination process
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when elections fail, __ preconditions for freedom are not invariably lacking
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a liberal, market economy
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__ isn't a typical way to nominate a candidate for public office
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electoral college
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in the 2008 presidential elections, barack Obama
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won the support of only 32.6 percent of eligible voters
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this president came closest to winning a majority of the popular vote, even though he had the support of fewer than 40 percent of the electorate.
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Lyndon Johnson
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beginning in 1800, members of congress who belonged to the two political parties held __ to nominate candidates for president and vice president
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caucuses
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the congressional caucus system collapsed in __. it was widely seen as undemocratic.
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1824
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in 1824, the __ had to decide the presidential contest. it picked John Quincy Adams, even though Andrew Jackson had won more popular and electoral votes
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house of representatives
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in 1832, both parties settled on the __ as the method of choosing candidates for president and vice president.
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national nominating convention
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not until __ did ordinary voter in all states gain the right to select delegates to the national presidential nomination conventions
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1972
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by __, the convention system was the most common method of nomination political party candidates at the state and national level.
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1840
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those who attend a political party nominating convention are called __, and they are chosen to represent the people of a particular geographic area.
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delegates
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__ is accurate.
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in an indirect primary, voters choose delegates, who in turn choose the candidates.
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the power of states to run primary elections is limited by
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the first amendment right of freedom of association
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in an __ primary, voters can vote for a party's candidate regardless of whether they belong to the candidate's party.
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open
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in a __ primary, only party members can vote to choose that party's candidates, and they may vote only in the primary of their own party.
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closed
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in a __ primary, voters can vote for candidates from more than one party.
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blanket
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a __ allows voters to go to the polls to decide among candidates who seek nomination for office from their party.
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primary election
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in an __ primary, voters cast ballots for delegates who in turn choose the candidates.
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indirect
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currently, __ states choose national convention delegates through caucuses.
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twelve
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as more states opted to hold presidential primaries,
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the drama of national party conventions diminished
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the __ committee of each national political party evaluates the claims of national party convention delegates to be the legitimate representatives of their states.
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credentials
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with the rise of candidate-centered campaigns, the role of the __ in managing campaigns has declined.
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political party
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__ now manage nearly all aspects of a presidential candidate's campaign
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political consultants
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when major campaigns take time to discover negative information about opposing candidates, they are engaging in
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opposition research
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microtargeting
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is a process that involves collecting as much information as possible about voters in a database and then filtering out various groups for special attention.
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in the 2012 election cycle, the average house candidate spent about
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1.1 million
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total presidential campaign spending, including by candidates who lost in the primaries and through independent expenditures, reached __ in the 2011-2012 election cycle.
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4.5 billion
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under the federal election campaign laws, public financing for the general election is provided, if presidential candidates
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are willing to accept campaign-spending limits
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the federal election campaign act (FECA) allowed corporations, labor unions, and special interest groups to set up national__ to raise money for candidates.
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political action committees(PAC)
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under the FECA, there is __ limit on the total amount of PAC contributions during an election cycle.
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no
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under the FECA, political action committees(PACs) can contribute up to __ per candidate in each election.
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5,000
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soft money is
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a political contribution not regulated by federal law.
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the Bipartism Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (McCain-Feingold)
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banned soft money at the national level
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as a result of the supreme court's decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission(2010) and a federal court of appeals ruling in Speechnow vs. FEC(2010)
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groups cannot spend money on political ads that attack or praise specific candidates.
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after the supreme court's decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission(2010) and a federal court of appeals ruling in Speechnow vs. FEC(2010), a new type of organization came into existence to take advantage of the new rules. known officially as "independent-expenditure only committees," the new bodies were soon dubbed
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super PACs
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in the 2012 presidential elections, Fred Eyechaner gave more than 8 million to __ super PACs and committees
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democratic
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according to some lawyers, a 501(c)4 organization could make limited contribution directly to a candidate's campaign
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and could conceal the identities of its donors.
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