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Нажимая кнопку "Продолжить", я принимаю политику конфиденциальности

Primary Election, preliminary election in which voters select a political party's candidates for public office. Primary election winners from each political party compete in a general election to determine who will hold the public office. Because each party's nominees are chosen by the public rather than by party leaders, primary elections are generally considered more de­mocratic than other methods. In the United States, pri­mary elections serve to nominate candidates for many local, state, and national offices, and they play an im­portant role in selecting candidates for the presidency. Few other nations use primaries. State political parties that do not use primary elections may instead select candidates through the caucus sys­tem. A caucus is a meeting of party members at which the party conducts its business, discusses policies, and chooses delegates to higher-level party conventions. Most caucus nominating systems begin with small meetings of party members in a precinct, the smallest electoral district within a county. For example, in the Iowa caucus system, more than 2,000 precincts hold caucuses on the same day. Precinct caucus participants in each party indicate their preference for a candidate. These preferences guide the selection of delegates to county, district, state, and national party conventions, where the party's candidate is actually chosen.

II. The influence of primary elections

Primaries have greatly changed the character of elec­tions in the United States. Before primaries were widely adopted in the 20th century, powerful state and local party leaders- the so-called political bosses- con­trolled the selection of nominees at political conven­tions. The bosses had the power to select delegates to the convention, so they could extract political favors from candidates in exchange for ensuring that delegates would support the candidate. Primary elections reduce the power of party leaders by allowing voters to select nominees directly. The primary system also offers lesser-known candidates a better chance of winning elections than do other nominating systems. In regions or states where one political party dominates, primaries may hold more importance than the general election.

Candidates in a primary election, except those who run unopposed, campaign against candi­dates from their own party. The primary system thus encourages prospective nominees to publicly oppose the views of competing candidates and focuses attention on the individual candidates instead of the unity of the party. Critics have pointed out a number of weaknesses in the primary system. One criticism is that primaries place an additional burden on voters, who usually must choose among numerous candidates for the various offices without the guidance of any official endorsement of the party leadership. Another criticism is that prima­ries have considerably increased the length and expense of political campaigns, since candi­dates must campaign for and win both the primary election and the general election. In the United States, campaigns typically last many months. In other nations, such as the United Kingdom, campaigns are much shorter, often only a matter of weeks. Finally, although the primary election has curbed the worst excesses of political bosses and so-called political machines, it has also weakened state party organizations by barring them from performing one of their most powerful functions- the preliminary screening of candidates. Interest groups, business and labor organizations, and the press to some extent have taken over the functions formerly performed by the party leaders.

Ill . Types of primaries

Primary elections differ depending upon the law in the state in which the election is being held. The most common form is the closed primary, in which voters must be registered members of the political party or declare their party affiliation before they are allowed to vote in that party's primary election. Voters may participate in a different party's primary in subsequent elections if they change their party registration. About 40 of the 50 states use closed primaries. Other states use open primaries, in which any voter can vote in any party's primary. Voters are given the ballots of all parties and select the party ballot on which they wish to vote in the secrecy of the voting booth. Having selected the ballot of one party, how­ever, the voter in the open primary is confined to the candidates of that party and cannot vote for candidates of an opposing party. A few states use the blanket primary. In this type of primary, the names of all candidates of all parties are printed on a single ballot, and the voter may vote for a candidate for each office, crossing party lines at will.

Nonpartisan primaries are preliminary elections in which candidates are listed on the ballot without mention of political affiliation. The two candidates who receive the highest number of votes face each other in the general election. In some states, however, any candidate who receives a majority of all votes cast in the primary is declared elected. Nonpartisan primaries are often used for the selection of judges, municipal officials, school boards, and other local officials. Primaries may be direct or indirect. In a direct primary, voters select the party's nominee directly. Most primary elections are direct primaries. In an indirect primary, voters choose delegates who select the party's nominee at a party convention. The indirect primary is used today in presidential contests, but rarely in races for other elected offices. States vary in their rules governing what requirements candidates must meet to be listed on the primary ballot and whether political parties may endorse candidates before the primary. States also have different rules concerning the percentage of votes needed for a candidate to win a primary election. Some states only require that a candidate get more votes than the next leading candidate- that is, a plurality of votes. Other states require the candidate to re­ceive a majority of votes- at least 50 percent of all votes cast- to win. In primaries that re­quire a majority for victory, one candidate often does not capture a majority of the vote. Then the state must hold a second primary, known as a run-off primary, between the top two vote-getters. Louisiana uses a unique variant of the open primary system for every elected office except president of the United States. In a sense, the Louisiana open primary is non-partisan. Candidates from both parties run in the same primary election. A candidate is elected to office if he or she wins a majority of votes in the primary. Otherwise, the top two vote-getters face each other in the general election, even if they are from the same party. Because a candidate can win election in the first round, this method, despite its name, is really not a primary election at all. Rather it is a two-round general election, similar to that used in France to elect its president.

IV. Presidential primaries

A presidential primary is used to select a party's nominee for president of the United States. Presidential primaries differ from direct primaries. Presidential primaries are a type of indi­rect primary because each party's nominee is chosen by delegates at the party's national convention, not by popular vote. In most state presidential primaries, voters vote for the per­son they wish the party to nominate for president, and the election results tell the state's dele­gates which candidate they are to vote for at the national convention. Because the delegates in most states are bound by the results of the primary, voters have the most important role in the nomination of presidential candidates. In another type of presidential primary, voters directly elect delegates to the national convention. The delegates are listed on the ballot as pledged to a candidate or uncommitted. Whatever system is used, national conventions today serve mainly to ratify the results of presidential primaries and caucuses. States use various ways of allocating delegates to presidential candidates. Most states allo­cate delegates to candidates in proportion to the number of votes cast for the candidates in the primary. In this system, known as proportional representation, a candidate who receives 25 percent of the vote in a state primary receives 25 percent of the state's delegates. Rules set by each political party govern the minimum percentage of votes a candidate must receive to win delegates. Other states use the winner-take-all method, in which the candidate who wins the most votes receives all of that state's delegates.

In the United States, presidential primary elections typically take place over a period of four to six months. Each state determines the date of its own primary. The presidential primary season traditionally begins with the New Hampshire primary in February or early March and culminates with national party conventions in July or August. However, candidates' cam­paigns begin as much as a year before the first primary. i Except when popular incumbent presidents seek renomination by their own party, presiden­tial primary campaigns are hotly contested, typically attracting from 6 to 12 major candidates in each party. The earliest primaries are the most important, since they provide the first indi- ^; cations of a candidate's popular support and chance of nomination. Candidates who win ' early primaries attract a great deal of media coverage, which usually portrays them favorably j as a "winner." They are therefore able to raise more money, recruit more supporters to work , for them, and increase their standing in public opinion polls. All of these factors increase the i chances that the victorious candidate will attract more voters in later primaries, both to favor i their candidacy and to turn out to vote. Thus, candidates who win early primaries gain politi­cal momentum, and candidates who fare poorly often drop out of the race. Even so, as the campaign moves from state to state, leading candidates may lose and new candidates may emerge. Many states have sought to play a greater role in the nomination process by moving their primary date earlier in the year, when candidate fortunes swing most dramatically. Many states have also aligned their primaries with those of nearby states, creating so-called regional primaries. For example, in 1988 16 states, mostly from the South, held their prima­ries on Tuesday, March 8, nicknamed "Super Tuesday." The growth of regional primaries unexpectedly made campaigns more costly to run, because they required more extensive, and therefore more expensive, advertising on television and in other mass media. Regional pri­maries also made it harder for the little-known outsider, as Jimmy Carter was in 1976, to win the presidential nomination- although not as hard as in the days before presidential primaries.

V. History

In the early years of the American republic, during a period in which political parties were first becoming organized, candidates for president and vice president were selected by a caucus consisting largely of party members in Congress. This method was denounced as "King Caucus" by the followers of Andrew Jackson, who failed to receive the presidential nomination in 1824 because of lack of support in the congressional caucus. By the 1830s political parties had become more organized, and they were able to appeal to the public for support. The parties adopted the national party convention for selecting presidential and vice-presidential candidates, ensuring that every state party was represented. First used in the United States in the presidential election of 1832, the nominating conven­tion was hailed as a great reform, and it spread rapidly to all levels of government. Voters of the party, meeting locally, elected delegates to city or county conventions, which selected the nominees of the party for local offices and elected party officers to manage the party affairs until the next convention. Each convention also elected delegates to the next higher conven­tion. In theory the system was truly representative, each convention representing the wishes of the rank-and-file voters of the party. In practice, however, delegates to the convention were usually picked by party bosses. By the end of the 19th century, the convention was criticized as part of a corrupt, boss-dominated system.

Political reformers from the Progressive movement sought to end the domination of party bosses and so adopted an existing but little-used reform-the primary election. The Democ­ratic Party had held the first primary election in 1842 in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, but until the Progressive era, the use of primary elections was limited to local elections in cities and counties. During the 1890s the Progressives were instrumental in instituting primaries in several statewide elections. In 1901 Florida enacted the first law giving state or local offi­cials the option of using a primary system to elect delegates to the Democratic national con­vention, but officials declined to use the system. In 1905 Wisconsin, under the leadership of Governor Robert M. La Follette, Sr., a Progressive Republican, passed the first law mandat­ing a presidential primary. By 1917 all but four states had adopted the primary system for some or all elected offices. Presidential primaries, although created at the beginning of the 20th century, were not very important then. Relatively few states used them, and even fewer required their delegates to vote as the public had in the primary election. As a result, the way to win the presidential nomination was by appealing directly to party leaders. Following the bitterly disputed nomination of Hubert Humphrey at the 1968 Democratic national conven­tion, the parties reformed the old, boss-dominated system. By the 1972 election, primaries had become the dominant path to the presidential nomination. Since then, candidates have run for their party's presidential nomination by campaigning for the support of the public in presidential primaries and the few primary-like caucuses, such as the Iowa caucuses. Although primary elections are generally considered democratic, during the first half of the 20th century they were part of an ingrained system of excluding African Americans from voting in the racially segregated South. Officials of the Democratic Party in the South barred African Americans from membership in the party and used a closed-primary law to admit only white persons to its primaries. Since that party was then dominant in Southern politics, Democratic candidates were the only ones with any chance of winning office in the subse­quent general election. Therefore, African Americans essentially were excluded from the only election that counted. The white primary, as it came to be called, was declared unconsti­tutional by the United States Supreme Court in 1944 in the case Smith v. Allwright. How­ever, African Americans were not guaranteed the right to vote in the South until the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Exercises:

 

Study the vocabulary:

To hold the public office - занимать пост

To select candidates for the presidency

The caucus system - caucus ['kɔːkəs] (caucuses) (in North America and New Zealand) a meeting of the members of a legislative body who are members of a particular political party, to select candidates or decide policy, the members of a caucus

A precinct - ['priːsɪŋ(k)t] a district of a city or town as defined for policing purposes

 Conventions - a large meeting or conference, especially of members of a political party or a particular profession or group

To extract political favors from candidates - obtain (something such as money or information) from someone unwilling to give it

To select nominees directly - a nominee – a person who is nominated as a candidate for election or for an honor or award

To hold importance

To run unopposed - in something such as an election or a war, if someone is unopposed, there are no opponents competing or fighting against them.

To campaign against candidates from their own party

Prospective nominees - (of a person) expected or expecting to be something particular in the future

Official endorsement -  an endorsement is a statement or action which shows that you support or approve of something or someone

To bar smb from performing their own functions -  to prevent or prohibit (someone) from doing something or from going somewhere

Closed primary -  (предварительные выборы, в которых имеют право участвовать только зарегистрированные члены партии; распространены в большинстве штатов), primaries (in the US) a preliminary election to appoint delegates to a party conference or to select the candidates for a principal, especially presidential, election

To declare their party affiliation - If one group has an affiliation with another group, it has a close or official connection with it. (formal)

Open primaries -   предварительные выборы, в которых имеют право участвовать не только зарегистрированные члены партии, но и другие избиратели; проводятся в штатах Аляска, Гавайи, Миннесота, Северная Дакота, Юта, Вермонт и Висконсин

To select the party ballot - a system of voting secretly and in writing on a particular issue, a strike ballot | [mass noun] the commissioners were elected by ballot, (the ballot) the total number of votes cast in such a process, he won 54 per cent of the ballot, the piece of paper used to record a person's vote

To vote in the secrecy of the voting booth

The blanket primary - первичные выборы по "списку-простыне."  Предварительные выборы (primaries), на которых выставляется длинный список кандидатов от нескольких партий на различные посты в один день (например, кандидата на пост губернатора (governor) от одной партии, на место сенатора от другой и т.п.). Такой тип выборов практикуется в штатах Вашингтон и Аляска

To cross party lines at will

Nonpartisan primaries -   внепартийные первичные выборы . Первичные выборы с использованием единого бюллетеня для кандидатов от разных партий. Обычно такой вид бюллетеня используется при выборах в судебные органы и некоторые местные органы власти. Луизиана - единственный штат, где такая процедура применяется также при выборах должностных лиц штата и конгрессменов.

To be listed on the ballot

To receive the highest number of votes

To face each other in the primary election

To receive a majority of all votes cast in the elections

To be declared elected

Presidential contests

In race for offices

To meet the requirements

To be listed on the ballot

The percentage of votes needed for a candidate to win the election

A run-off primary - второй тур предварительных выборов

The top vote-getters

To run in the election

To be elected to office

To ratify the results - sign or give formal consent to (a treaty, contract, or agreement), making it officially valid

To allocate delegates to presidential candidates - to assign or allot for a particular purpose

Incumbent presidents - currently holding office

To seek renomination - повторное выдвижение кандидата

To be hotly contested

To attract a great deal of media coverage

To increase the standing in public opinion polls - standing among the voters - репутация у избирателей

To gain political momentum to drop out of the race

The rank-and -file voters - the ordinary members of organization rather than the leaders

To screen - производить проверку благонадёжности. They will screen all their candidates for the job. — Они будут тщательно проверять всех кандидатов на эту должность

Turnout of voters - явка (избирателей на выборы). Good weather on a polling day was the reason for a low turnout. — Из-за хорошей погоды в день выборов явка избирателей была низкой.

Answer the following questions:

1. Why are primary elections considered to be more democratic?

2. What’s caucus?

3. How can primaries reduce the power of party leaders?

4. How can primaries help prospective nominees?

5. Why is primary election system criticized

6. What are the types of primaries?

7. Why are presidential primaries a type of indirect primaries?

8. Why was the national party convention for selecting presidential and vice-presidential candidates adopted?

ELECTION

I Introduction

Election, procedure that allows members of an organization or community to choose representatives who will hold positions of authority within it. The most important elections select the leaders of local, state, and national governments. The chance to decide who will govern at these levels serves as an opportunity for the public to make choices about the policies, programs, and future directions of government action. At the same time, elections promote accountability. The threat of defeat at the polls exerts pressure on those in power to conduct themselves in a responsible manner and take account of popular interests and wishes when they make their decisions.

In the United States, elections are held at regular intervals. National presidential elections take place every four years. Congressional elections occur every two years. Elections for state and local office usually coincide with national elections. The responsibility for organizing elections rests largely with state and local governments. State laws specify how elections are to be administered, determine the boundaries of electoral districts, and specify the qualifications of candidates. State, county, and municipal election boards administer elections. These boards establish and staff polling places and verify the eligibility of individuals who come to vote.

II Voting rights

Native-born or naturalized (foreign-born) U.S. citizens over the age of 18 possess the right to vote. Citizens can lose their right to vote. All states prohibit felons (people convicted of serious crimes) from voting during their imprisonment or parole, and 13 states bar felons from voting for life. However, convicted felons who have regained their right to vote cannot be denied the right to vote if they move to any of those 13 states.

During the early years of the nation's history, legislatures in the United States generally restricted the right to vote to white males over the age of 21. In addition, many states also limited voting rights to those who owned property or paid more than a specified annual tax. State governments began to rescind property and tax requirements during the 1820s and 1830s. By the end of the Civil War in 1865, the majority of these requirements had disappeared, at least as they affected voting by white males. Women did not fully gain the right to vote in the United States until the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1920.

At the time of the Civil War, black males had won the right to vote in most Northern states. The 15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1870, secured their right to vote throughout the nation. Despite the 15th Amendment, the states of the former Confederacy effectively rescinded the voting rights of blacks in the 1880s. During this period, the Southern states created what was called the Jim Crow system of racial segregation. As part of this system, a variety of devices, such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and property qualifications, prevented virtually all blacks from voting. During the 1950s and 1960s, the civil rights movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders, demanded the restoration of black voting rights. Enactment of the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act accomplished this goal. This law provided for the U.S. Department of Justice to oversee registration of voters in states with histories of discrimination against minority citizens.

Women won the right to vote in 1920, through ratification of the 19th Amendment. This amendment resulted primarily from the activities of the women's voting rights, or suffrage, movement led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Carrie Chapman Catt. The suffragists held rallies, demonstrations, and protest marches for nearly a half-century before achieving their goal. The most recent expansion of voting rights in the United States took place in 1971, with the ratification of the 26th Amendment. This amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

III Voter participation

Compared to voter participation rates of citizens in other democracies, participation in U.S. elections is low. Slightly more than 50 percent of those eligible participate in national presidential elections. Barely 30 percent of eligible voters take part in congressional elections during nonpresidential election years. Turnout plummets even further in state and local races that do not coincide with national contests. In European nations, by contrast, voter turnout consistently exceeds 80 percent.

During the 19th century, American political party machines boosted voter participation rates by employing hundreds of thousands of workers to organize and mobilize voters and bring them to the polls. In some areas, turnout among those eligible to vote approached 90 percent. Political machines began to decline in strength in the early 20th century and have since largely disappeared. Without party workers to encourage them to go to the polls, and even to bring them there if necessary, many eligible voters will not participate. In the absence of strong parties, participation rates have dropped severely among poorer and less-educated citizens. Voting rates are nearly twice as high among the wealthiest fifth of the population as they are among the poorest fifth. A weakened party system has contributed to the creation of an American electorate that is smaller and more skewed toward upper income groups.

IV Voter registration

In addition to differences in political party strength, these national differences in voter participation result from variations in registration rules and the organization of elections. In Europe, governments automatically register their citizens as voters. In the United States, eligible voters must register with state election boards before they may vote. Progressive Era reformers introduced registration requirements at the end of the 19th century to make voting more difficult and thereby reduce voting fraud and other forms of electoral abuse. In Southern states, these requirements also provided an additional way to deprive both blacks and poor whites of the opportunity to vote. In urban areas, registration rules discouraged immigrant and working class voters from going to the polls.

Registration requirements have eased in most states since the 1960s. An eligible individual may now register to vote by simply mailing a postcard to the state election board. The 1993 federal “Motor-Voter” Act required states to make such postcards available in motor vehicle, public assistance, and military recruitment offices. Legislators hoped that easing burdens on voters might reverse trends in voting participation.

V Electoral systems

The manner in which governments organize elections and determine winners also affects participation rates. Majority systems require that a victorious candidate receive more than 50 percent of the vote. Under a plurality system, winning candidates need only receive more votes than any opponent. Systems of proportional representation award legislative seats to competing political parties in rough proportion to their percentage of the popular votes cast. European nations commonly use this electoral system. Virtually all national elections in the United States use the plurality system, although the majority system survives in some primary, state, and local elections, especially in Southern states.

In general, proportional representation works to the advantage of smaller or weaker groups in society, while plurality and majority rules tend to help larger and more powerful forces. In Europe, for example, a party that wins 10 percent of the national vote might win 10 percent of the parliamentary seats. In the United States, by contrast, a party that wins 10 percent of the vote will probably win no seats in Congress. Proportional representation tends to increase the number of competitive political parties within an electoral system—for example, the multiparty systems in Europe. Because they offer smaller parties little chance of success, plurality and majority systems usually reduce the number of competitive political parties—for example, the mostly two-party system in the United States.

Proportional representation systems boost participation by increasing the value of a vote to smaller or more marginal portions of a national population. In the United States, plurality or majority systems have reduced the incentive to vote of citizens who do not identify closely with the Democratic or Republican Party. Disillusionment with the major parties and their candidates for office has led not only to declining rates of voter participation, but to an increase in the percentage of voters who identify themselves as “independent.”

VI Types of elections

In most nations, political party leaders select candidates for office in a general election. The United States is one of the few nations to hold primary elections prior to the general election campaign. In these elections, voters select the party's candidates for office. Progressive Era reformers introduced the primary at the beginning of the 20th century as another way to weaken the influence of political party machines in general elections.

The primary is followed by the general election, which normally is the decisive electoral contest. In some states, however, a runoff election between the two candidates receiving the largest number of primary votes may precede the general election.

Some states also provide for referendum voting. The referendum is a process that allows citizens to vote directly on proposed laws or other governmental actions. Voters in several states have voted to set limits on tax rates, to block state and local spending proposals, to prohibit social services for illegal immigrants, and to deny special legal protection for homosexuals.

Although it involves voting, the referendum is not an election. The election is an institution of representative government. In an election, voters choose officials to act for them. The referendum, by contrast, is an institution of direct democracy. In a referendum, voters govern directly without intervention by government officials. The validity of referendums, however, is subject to judicial review. If a court finds that a referendum outcome violates the state or federal constitution, it can overturn the result. For example, federal court judges set aside most of the provisions of the 1994 California referendum curtailing social services to illegal aliens.

VII Redistricting

State legislatures redraw the boundaries of congressional districts every ten years in response to population changes determined by the national census. The purpose of redistricting is to ensure that congressional seats are fairly apportioned among the citizens of a state. However, some legislators manipulate the boundaries of electoral districts to influence electoral outcomes. The majority political party may “pack” a district with supporters so that it becomes “safe,” or “crack” the district by diffusing or entirely zoning out supporters of the opposing party. This process is often called gerrymandering, a term coined in 1812. At that time, Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry persuaded the state legislature to create a strangely shaped district, which to many resembled a salamander—thus the term gerrymander—to advance the electoral prospects of a supporter.

In the past, one common purpose of gerrymandering was to reduce the electoral strength of racial minorities in congressional districts. The 1982 extension of the Voting Rights Act, however, directed Southern states to redraw congressional districts to secure stronger minority representation. At that time, 50 percent of American blacks lived in the South, comprising about 20 percent of the Southern population. However, only 2 of 108 Southern members of the House of Representatives were black. Redistricting in the South has since led to the election of 17 African American Democratic representatives in the South, all from districts with black majorities.

While redistricting along racial lines may have strengthened black Americans politically, the Republican Party in the South also has benefited from such redistricting. One effect of fencing black voters into designated “minority-majority” districts has been to create adjoining districts that are predominantly white and conservative. Critics of the policy argue that demographically balanced districts offer opportunities for governance through coalition building and compromise. Redistricting along racial lines, by contrast, only serves to polarize the races and place ceilings on the careers of minority politicians by limiting their exposure to broadly based constituencies. Federal courts also have challenged the constitutionality of such redistricting. In 1995 the Supreme Court of the United States struck down a black-majority district in Georgia, which consisted of 22 counties. In rendering this decision, the Court stated that race may not be the “predominant factor” in the creation of electoral districts. Subsequent Supreme Court decisions in 1996 and 2003 made similar points.

VIII How voters decide

Many Americans identify personally with and maintain a sense of loyalty to either the Democratic or Republican Party. Voters often acquire partisan identification in childhood as a result of parental influence. Issues and policy preferences also influence voters' choices. For example, concerns about crime may encourage voters to elect the candidate with the strongest platform against it. In addition, the character of a candidate influences voters. Perceptions of honesty, morality, and the ability to lead matter to most voters. Many voters also prefer candidates who share their own racial, religious, or ethnic background.

IX Electoral realignments

The outcomes of elections often have important consequences for governmental programs and policies. In the United States, elections have had their greatest impact during times of “critical realignment”—periods when the balance of power between the major parties shifts. Two of the most important realignments in American history took place in 1860 and 1932. In 1860 the newly formed Republican Party elected Abraham Lincoln and won control of the government on a platform calling for the abolition of slavery in the territories. This precipitated the secession of the Southern states and the Civil War, followed by a period of consolidation of national power over the states. In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt led the Democrats to victory during the Great Depression. The Democrats remained in power for many years and greatly expanded the social service and regulatory functions of the American government.

Exercises:

Answer the following questions:

What is the role of representatives? ( представитель; делегат; уполномоченный elected representative — выбранный представитель)

Why is it important to choose the right candidate?

Why do elections promote accountability?

How often do national presidential (congressional) elections take place?

Who administers elections?

What’s the responsibility of election boards?

 

VOTING RIGHTS

Who doesn’t have the right to vote?

What’s the 15^th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution famous for?

What goal did enactment of the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act accomplish?

When did women win their right to vote?

What was ratified in the 27^th Amendment?

 

VOTER PARTICIPATION

What reduced voter participation?

VOTER REGISTRATION

What are registration rules in the U.S.?

ELECTORAL SYSTEMS

Majority system -  requires that a victorious candidate receive more than 50 percent of the vote.(Cистема определения результатов голосования, при которой избранным считается кандидат, получивший большинство голосов избирателей.)

Plurality system -  winning candidates need only receive more votes than any opponent

SYSTEM OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION awards legislative seats to competing parties in rough proportion to their percentage of the popular votes cast.

(Система пропорционального представительства (в Италии, Бельгии, Финляндии и др. государствах ) - порядок определения результатов голосования по выборам в представительские органы.  При котором распределение мандатов между партиями осуществляется в соответствии с количеством полученных их кандидатами голосов. (Для этого устанавливается квота избирательная .)

 

What groups of people does proportional representation tend to help?

Why have the majority and plurality system reduced the incentive to vote of the citizens who do not identify closely with the Democratic or Republican parties?

To what has disillusionment with the major parties and their candidates led?

 

TYPES OF ELECTIONS

What is referendum?

REDISTRICTING

What is the purpose of redistricting?

Study the vocabulary:

- to hold positions of authority

- to make choices about the policies, programs, and future directions of government action

- to promote accountability

- to rest (largely)with

- to determine to boundaries of electoral districts

- to specify the qualifications of candidates

- to administer elections

- to staff polling places

- to verify the eligibility of individuals who come to vote

- to posses the right to vote

- to rescind property - [rıˈsınd] to annul or repeal

- to extend the right to vote

- racial segregation - the enforced separation of different racial groups in a country, community, or establishment - an official policy of racial segregation

- poll tax - подушный избирательный налог

- property qualifications - имущественный ценз

- enactment - the process of passing legislation принятие закона, введение закона в силу We support the call for the enactment of a Bill of Rights. — Мы поддерживаем призыв принять "Билль о правах".

- suffrage - the right to vote in political elections ['sʌfrɪʤ] 1) а) право голоса, избирательное право to extend / grant suffrage — предоставить право голоса, наделить избирательным правом female / women's suffrage — избирательное право для женщин universal suffrage — всеобщее избирательное право Syn: franchise 1) голос (при голосовании) 2) одобрение, согласие Syn: approval , approbation

- to hold rallies - organize a rally -  проводить съезд

- eligible ['ɛlɪdʒɪb(ə)l] (often eligible for/to do something) - having the right to do or obtain something

- to plummet - decrease rapidly in value or amount

- Election boards will count the ballots by hand. Election board - счетная комиссия . Комиссия из представителей двух ведущих политических партий для наблюдения за ходом выборов. Обычно состоит из трех членов [commissioner] и двух секретарей [clerk], назначаемых официальными властями округа [county] на каждом избирательном участке election board

- to win seats (in Congress)

- validity [vəlɪdɪti]  Some people, of course, denied the validity of any such claim  validity - something such as a result or a piece of information is whether it can be trusted or believed. 

- census ['sensəs] (pl. -suses) an official count or survey of a population, typically recording various details of individuals

- gerrymandering - [ʤe̱rimæ̱ndərɪŋ] Gerrymandering is the act of altering political boundaries in order to give an unfair advantage to one political party or group of people. With the help of skilful gerrymandering, the Party has never lost an election since.

- incitement - [ɪnsa͟ɪtmənt] If someone is accused of incitement to violent or illegal behaviour, they are accused of encouraging people to behave in that way. British law forbids incitement to murder... He still faces charges of incitement. ...an incitement to religious hatred .