Quiz questions on US Electoral system

1. How are the primary elections different from general elections?

At the primary elections the party members choose candidates who would represent their party in the general elections. At general elections American citizens who are eligible to vote, elect officials from among the nominees put forward in the primary elections.

2. What is the difference between primaries and caucuses?

In the primaries, registered party members are given the prepared list of prospective candidates that have been placed on a ballot at a pre-primary convention, or via petitioning. The party members then vote for their preferred candidate by secret ballot.. In a caucus the party members gather together for face-to-face meetings in each precinct to hold open debates on the merits of individual candidates. This process can go on for a few hours until a final vote is cast. The results of the vote, reported precinct by precinct, show which candidate received the largest percentage of the vote.

3. What stages do primary elections go through?

The primary elections go through pre-primary conventions, primaries or caucuses.

4. What is the difference between “voters” and “electors”?

Electors – people who are to vote for the President and Vice President on behalf of their states.

Voter - someone who votes in an election

5. What is the major purpose of the national party conventions?

Their main purpose of the national party conventions is to nominate the parties candidates for presidency.

6. What kind of elections are midterms?

The Congressional elections held in the middle of the President’s term of office have a special name of “ midterms” to distinguish them from those elections to Congress that occur in the same year as the Presidential election

7. What offices are up for election in midterms?

In Congressional elections, all seats in the House of Representatives and one-third of the seats in the US Senate are up for election

8. Who is a “running mate”?

Running mate - vice-presidential candidate.

9. What is “to win by a large margin”?

to win by a large margin – win the election by considerable odds

10. What are the swing states?

Swing states are ones in which recent presidential elections have been decided by a narrow margin – in some cases, less than 1 percent.

11. What are the “battleground states”?

Those states where the popular vote is usually close, and the outcome is up for grabs.

12. Why are the members of the Electoral College referred to as “pledged electors”?

Because they give promise to vote for their respective party.

13. What electors are referred to as “faithless electors”?

Faithless electors - electors who betray their pledge and vote for the other party’s candidate, which is perfectly legal.

14. When is Election Day held? Why?

To save voters’ time, different kinds of elections are usually held on the same Election Day. Elections are held every four years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November. November was chosen because it was the most convenient month for farmers and rural workers to be able to travel to the polls – after harvest time but before winter weather made travel difficult. Why the first Tuesday after the first Monday? Because on Sunday farmers had to attend a church service and Monday was spent travelling to the polls.

15. What were the reasons for establishing the Electoral College?

The Framers of the Constitution wanted people to actively participate in choosing their leaders and saw 2 ways to accomplish this: to establish a direct popular election or to give Congress the power to select the president.

But the Founding Fathers feared the idea of direct popular election. There were no organized national political parties yet, no structure by which to choose and limit the number of candidates. Besides, with poor media and communication, a very good candidate could be popular regionally, but remain unknown to the rest of the country. In addition, not many people knew much about government, politics, or presidential elections. A large number of people lived in rural areas, many of them could not read or write. So, the Founding Fathers thought that even if these "common people" could vote, they wouldn't necessarily make the best decision on who would make the best president.

On the other hand, the Framers of the Constitution realized that election by Congress would reflect not so much the actual will of the people as the views and preferences of the members of Congress. As a compromise, they had the Electoral College system.

16. How does the winner-take-all system work?

The winner-tale-all system means that voters are canst by electors on this system basis meaning that the candidate who received the majority of votes in the state gets ALL the electors’ votes.

For instance,if 51% of popular votes in California are cast for the Republican candidate and 49% - for a Democratic candidate, California’s 55 electoral votes would not be distributed proportionally (51% - for a Republican and 49% - for a Democrat), but instead, all of California’s 55 electoral votes will go to the winner – that is for a Republican.

17. How many electors is each state entitled to?

Each state has a number of electors equal to the number of its Senators (2 in each state) plus the number of its Representatives, which is proportional to the state's population.

18. How is the total number of people in the Electoral College determined?

The Electoral College includes the electors from all the 50 states plus the District of Columbia. Each state has a number of electors equal to the number of its Senators (2 in each state) plus the number of its Representatives, which is proportional to the state's population. Currently, the Electoral College includes 538 electors (equal to 100 Senators, plus 435 Representatives, plus 3 electors representing Washington, D.C.). Each elector can cast one vote called the “electoral vote.”

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16