PS 202: POLITICAL SCIENCE EXAM
Plurality - answers✔✔The highest number of votes garnered by any of the candidates for a
particular office but short of an outright majority
Office Groups (Massachusetts) Ballot - answers✔✔A ballot in which candidates are listed by
name under the title of the office they are seeking
Party Column (Indiana Ballot) - answers✔✔A ballot in which the names of candidates are
divided into columns arranges to political party
Straight Ticket - answers✔✔Originally, a type of ballot that allowed voters to pick all of one
party's candidates for various offices- for instance voting for all Democrats or all Republicans
Voter Turnout - answers✔✔The percentage of voting-eligible citizens who register to vote and
who do vote
Nonpartisan Elections - answers✔✔An election in which the candidates do not have to declare
party affiliation or receive a party's nomination; local offices and elections are often nonpartisan
Recall - answers✔✔A way for voters to oust an incumbent politician prior to the next regularly
scheduled election; they collect signatures to qualify the recall proposal for the ballot and then
vote on the ouster of the politician
Redistricting - answers✔✔The drawing of new boundaries for congressional and state legislative
districts, usually following a decennial census
,Interest Groups - answers✔✔Individuals, corporations, or associations that seek to influence
the actions of elected and appointed public officials on behalf of specific companies or causes
Primary Elections - answers✔✔Elections that determine a party's nominees for offices in
general elections against other parties' nominees
Establishment - answers✔✔The nexus of people holding power over an extended period of
time, including top elected officials, lobbyists and party strategies
Super PACs - answers✔✔Political action committees that can spend unlimited funds on behalf
of political candidates but cannot directly coordinate their plans with those candidates
Political Party - answers✔✔Organization that nominates and supports candidates for elected
offices
Factional Splits or Factions - answers✔✔Groups that struggle to control the message within a
party; for example, a party may be split into competing regional factions
Polarization - answers✔✔A split among elected officials or an electorate along strictly partisan
lines
Candidate-Centered Politics - answers✔✔Politics in which candidates promote themselves and
their own campaigns rather than relying on party organizations
Responsible Party Model - answers✔✔The theory that political parties offer clear policy choices
to voters, try to deliver on those policies when they take office, and are held accountable by
voters for the success or failure of those policies
, Political or Party Machines - answers✔✔Political organizations controlled by small numbers of
people and run for partisan ends. In the 19th and 20th centuries, these organizations controlled
party nominations for public office and rewarded supporters with government jobs and
contracts
Patronage - answers✔✔The practice of elected officials' or party leaders' handing out jobs to
their friends and supporters rather than hiring people based on merit
Nonpartisan Ballot - answers✔✔Ballots that do not list candidates by political party; still often
used in local elections
General Elections - answers✔✔Decisive elections in which all registered voters cast ballots for
their preferred candidates for political office
Party Conventions - answers✔✔Meetings of party delegates called to nominate candidates for
office and establish party agendas
Closed Primary - answers✔✔A nominating election in which only voters belonging to that party
may participate. Only registered Democrats can vote in a closed Democratic primary, for
example
Crossover Voting - answers✔✔Voting by a member of one party in another party in another
party's primary. This practice is not allowed in all states.
Open Primary - answers✔✔A nominating election that is open to all registered voters regardless
of their party affiliation
Runoff Primary - answers✔✔An election held if no candidate receives a majority of the vote
during the regular primary. The two top finishers face off again in a runoff to determine the
nominee for the general election. Such elections are held only in some states, primarily in the
South
Plurality - answers✔✔The highest number of votes garnered by any of the candidates for a
particular office but short of an outright majority
Office Groups (Massachusetts) Ballot - answers✔✔A ballot in which candidates are listed by
name under the title of the office they are seeking
Party Column (Indiana Ballot) - answers✔✔A ballot in which the names of candidates are
divided into columns arranges to political party
Straight Ticket - answers✔✔Originally, a type of ballot that allowed voters to pick all of one
party's candidates for various offices- for instance voting for all Democrats or all Republicans
Voter Turnout - answers✔✔The percentage of voting-eligible citizens who register to vote and
who do vote
Nonpartisan Elections - answers✔✔An election in which the candidates do not have to declare
party affiliation or receive a party's nomination; local offices and elections are often nonpartisan
Recall - answers✔✔A way for voters to oust an incumbent politician prior to the next regularly
scheduled election; they collect signatures to qualify the recall proposal for the ballot and then
vote on the ouster of the politician
Redistricting - answers✔✔The drawing of new boundaries for congressional and state legislative
districts, usually following a decennial census
,Interest Groups - answers✔✔Individuals, corporations, or associations that seek to influence
the actions of elected and appointed public officials on behalf of specific companies or causes
Primary Elections - answers✔✔Elections that determine a party's nominees for offices in
general elections against other parties' nominees
Establishment - answers✔✔The nexus of people holding power over an extended period of
time, including top elected officials, lobbyists and party strategies
Super PACs - answers✔✔Political action committees that can spend unlimited funds on behalf
of political candidates but cannot directly coordinate their plans with those candidates
Political Party - answers✔✔Organization that nominates and supports candidates for elected
offices
Factional Splits or Factions - answers✔✔Groups that struggle to control the message within a
party; for example, a party may be split into competing regional factions
Polarization - answers✔✔A split among elected officials or an electorate along strictly partisan
lines
Candidate-Centered Politics - answers✔✔Politics in which candidates promote themselves and
their own campaigns rather than relying on party organizations
Responsible Party Model - answers✔✔The theory that political parties offer clear policy choices
to voters, try to deliver on those policies when they take office, and are held accountable by
voters for the success or failure of those policies
, Political or Party Machines - answers✔✔Political organizations controlled by small numbers of
people and run for partisan ends. In the 19th and 20th centuries, these organizations controlled
party nominations for public office and rewarded supporters with government jobs and
contracts
Patronage - answers✔✔The practice of elected officials' or party leaders' handing out jobs to
their friends and supporters rather than hiring people based on merit
Nonpartisan Ballot - answers✔✔Ballots that do not list candidates by political party; still often
used in local elections
General Elections - answers✔✔Decisive elections in which all registered voters cast ballots for
their preferred candidates for political office
Party Conventions - answers✔✔Meetings of party delegates called to nominate candidates for
office and establish party agendas
Closed Primary - answers✔✔A nominating election in which only voters belonging to that party
may participate. Only registered Democrats can vote in a closed Democratic primary, for
example
Crossover Voting - answers✔✔Voting by a member of one party in another party in another
party's primary. This practice is not allowed in all states.
Open Primary - answers✔✔A nominating election that is open to all registered voters regardless
of their party affiliation
Runoff Primary - answers✔✔An election held if no candidate receives a majority of the vote
during the regular primary. The two top finishers face off again in a runoff to determine the
nominee for the general election. Such elections are held only in some states, primarily in the
South
