Political Dictionary Chapter 7

Prepared by Damaris Toma

1.      Nomination - Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to an office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. SIG– Before a person can run for presidency or any other office of the United States, he or she must first be chosen through a process like the nomination process.

2.      General Election - Generally held on the first Tuesday in November, this is the election in which the final decision is made and candidates are elected to federal, state, and local levels of government. An election to choose from among candidates who were nominated in a primary election. In an Alaska general election, measures such as initiative petitions also appear on the ballot, as do judges up for retention. SIG– This is the election in which the actually nominees run for office and try to win that spot which they are running for.

3.      Caucus - an informal meeting at which potential voters and candidates (or their representatives) talk about the issues and their preferred candidate, and then decide which candidate they support and which delegates to send to their political party's convention. Not every US state has caucuses. The meeting of members of a political party, usually to decide policy or select members to fill positions. Also, the group itself. SIG– this is yet another form of the nomination process.

4.      Direct Primary - a primary where voters directly select the candidates who will run for office. A form of election in which voters choose a party's nominees for public office. In most primaries, eligibility to vote is limited to voters who are registered members of the party. SIG– this really allows the people, the actual voters to get involved with the nomination process.

5.      Closed Primary - a primary election in which only those voters who have registered as belonging to a particular political party can vote. For example, if it is a Republican primary election, only those people who are registered Republicans can vote (since that election is to choose the Republican candidate who will eventually run for office in the general election). SIG– this really does not allow voters to have a very private form of voting, which is the democratic thing to do.

6.      Open Primary - a primary in which any registered voterr can vote (but must vote for candidates of only one party). SIG– this is very different from the closed primary, because not only is this held privately but also you are given the opportunity to vote for either one of the parties.

7.      Blanket Primary - a primary election in which the names oof all the candidates for all the parties are on one ballot. SIG– this is just basically another form of the open primary nomination process.

8.      Runoff Primary – held when the two top vote getters in the first party primary face one another, and the winner of that vote becomes the nominee. SIG– in case of a tie or a very close race, the results can be determined by another nomination election process.

9.      Nonpartisan Election – elections in which candidates are not identified by party labels. SIG– this way people could vote for the actual person based on their beliefs and their statues rather than vote for a person based on his or her political affiliation.

10. Absentee Voting  - Absentee voting is where provision is made for voting by electors at polling booths away from their home electorates. SIG- At any election a qualified voter may vote an absentee ballot for any reason. There are four ways to vote absentee: in person, by mail, by personal representative (special needs voting) or by fax.

11. Coattail Effect – The effect of a strong candidate running for an office at the top of a ballot helping to attract voters to other candidates on the party’s ticket. SIG– this way the other party is at a disadvantage because people could wrongly vote.

12. Precinct - the smallest geographic area in US votiing subdivisions, in which local party officials are elected. A precinct usually has from 200 to 1,000 voters in it. Each precinct has an elected precinct captain (the neighborhood party leader). The purpose of a precinct is vote for a candidate and to elect delegates who will go to the city or county convention, and relay the precinct's vote for that candidate. SIG– since the precinct is so small it has very few voters, which means few voter turnouts, which can also mean poor voter results.

13. Polling Place - A building or facility where voters go to vote. A place where voters go to cast their votes in an election. SIG- A polling station or polling place (the latter usage being favored in the USA) is where voters attend to cast their ballot in an election as part of the voting process in a democracy.

14. Ballot - A ballot is a device (originally a smalll ball - see blackball) used to record choices made by voters. Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared. In the simplest elections, a ballot may be a simple scrap of paper on which each voter writes in the name of a candidate, but governmental elections use either pre-printed or electronic ballots, in a wide variety of designs. The voter casts their ballot in a box at a Polling Station. SIG– it is on the ballot that the nominee and his/her party is listed on.

15. Political Action Committee (PAC) - PAC's are political groups that are not formally related to a particular political party, but are associated with other groups (like labor unions, corporations, etc.). PAC's try to influence elections and candidates by giving money to them so that they can later have laws passed that would favor their group. SIG– you find these people to either associate themselves with a small party, which is not a dominant party, or to be independent.

16. Subsidy - a grant paid by a government to an enterprise that benefits the public; "a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence". A payment that a government makes to a producer to supplement the market price of a commodity. Subsidies can keep consumer prices low while maintaining a higher income for domestic producers. SIG- Money paid by a government to encourage people do something the government believes is desirable. Many governments once offered subsidies to help people buy fishing boats.

17. Soft Money – money that is given to a political party but is not given specifically to support a particular candidate. This money is supposed to be used for purposes such as voter registration drives, administrative costs and general political party expenses, but is often used by the parties to help particular candidates. SIG– Soft money refers to contributions given, at least nominally, to a political party for "party building" activities rather than for the direct support of particular candidates and campaigns. Prior to the 2002 passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, individuals and corporations could donate unlimited amounts of soft money to political parties.

18. Hard Money - Funding given by a political party and individual contributors to a candidate for office that is regulated by the campaign finance laws and must go directly to the candidate and can be spent as the candidate chooses. SIG- Cash or currency, as opposed to credit.