Vocabulary Terms 5

  1. Party Plank—Term that refers to what the party’s policy is on a single issue.
  2. National Party Convention—Meeting held every four years when Presidential candidates are chosen and the party develops official policy beliefs.
  3. Grassroots Movement—Movement that is begun by common people
  4. Non-Partisan Elections—Elections are do not allow the use of political parties---usually for position that are seen as non-political such as school boards.
  5. Public Opinion—Generic term for what the majority of the public may believe about an issue—can be very misleading as a majority may represent only 51%.
  6. Interest Groups—Group of people with similar beliefs about an issue.
  7. Bias—Term that refers to a person is has already formed an opinion or listens only to one side.
  8. Impartial—Term that refers to a person who has not made a decision and is willing to listen to all sides of an issue.
  9. Lobbying—Act of trying to influence legislators to support a certain issue.
  10. Electorate—All the people who are eligible to vote in an election.
  11. Apathy—Term that refers to the idea that people do not care about political issues.
  12. Nominating—Process of selecting candidates to run for office---usually done by primary elections.
  13. Primary—Special elections that are usually held arounf May that are used to nominate candidates.
  14. Negative Advertising- Process of using advertisements that focus on the faults and shortcomings of your opponent rather than your goals.
  15. PACs—Groups that are formed in order to raise money for candidates running for office---they are limited to a 5,000 donation to an individual candidate.
  16. Campaign Finance Reform—Proposed legislation that would limit the amount of money used by candidates to run for office because of the influence that campaign donors may receive.
  17. Plurality—Term that refers to the way most elections are won---not my majority vote but by getting the most votes.
  18. Initiative—Process where voters in certain states are able to put proposed legislation on the general ballot to be approved or rejected by voters.
  19. Referendum—Process whereby legislators place proposed bills on the general ballot for approval after the legislators have already passed the bill.
  20. Exit poll—A voter may encounter one of these as he leaves the polls so that the media may better predict the winner of elections.

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  1. Straight Ticket—Voting only for the same political party all the way through a ballot.
  2. Split Ticket—Voting for candidates from either political party.
  3. Absentee Ballot—Voting that is done before election day because a voter is going to be unable to vote on election day.
  4. Run-Off—Special election between two candidates who did not achieve a majority of the vote—usually done in primary elections.
  5. Governor—Head of the state executive branch and leader of state government.
  6. Lieutenant Governor—Elected position that is similar to the Vice President but on the state level.
  7. Council of State- 8 departments that work directly under the governor that are elected by voters.
  8. General Assembly—Name for the North Carolina Legislature
  9. Leandro Case—Recent North Carolina case about funding issues in local school districts.
  10. State v. Mann-NC case that allowed slave holders to kill their slaves
  11. Charter—Local version of a Constitution—It is given to local governments by the State.
  12. CountyCommissioners—Group of people who govern the affairs of county government.
  13. Manager—Hired official who runs the day-to-day operations of county or city government.
  14. Sheriff—Local law enforcement officer for a county.
  15. Coroner—Local medical official who establishes the cause of death and conducts autopsies.
  16. Clerk—Local official who is responsible for the upkeep of all county records such as birth certificates and land deeds.
  17. DA—Local official who is in charge of prosecuting criminal cases on the local level.
  18. Ordinances—Term for local laws—also referred to as blue laws in some areas
  19. Incorporation—Official recognition from the state of a local government’s power.
  20. Annexation-- Term that refers to the addition of more land into a city or town.