hold government accountable
Political parties provide a key function in American politics by providing voters with a mechanism in which to _____________
political party
A(n) __________ is a group of individuals who join together to choose candidates for elected office, whether by informal group voting or a formal nominating process
party platform
A(n) __________ lays out the party's core beliefs and policy proposals
party in the electorate
Classic political scientists, such as V.O. Key, use the term __________ to describe the general patterns of voters' party identification and their behavior on election day
party in the government
If political parties can develop a solid majority of the party in the electorate, that can translate this into a strong majority of the __________?
party identification
An attachment or allegiance to a political party is referred to as
political parties
The broadest and most open gateway to participation is offered to the American people by _______
proof of identity and address
What is typically required to register to vote?
National committees
__________ are at the top of the party organization, and their members are chosen by each state party organization
qualified challengers
Besides raising funds, one of the primary jobs of the congressional party committees is to recruit _______
primary election
One manner in which political parties select candidates when more than one person is seeking the office is to hold a(n) ________
general election
An election in which voters choose their elected officials is known as a(n) _________?
affiliate with a political party
?The state of Oklahoma, as well as several others, has a closed primary. This means that voters must ________
semiclosed
A(n) __________ primary is one in which party-affiliated voters cast votes in their party's primary, and nonaffiliated voters can choose which party's primary to vote in
open
A(n) __________ primary is one in which voters do not have to affiliate with a party before voting. Instead, voters are given ballots with each party's list of candidates; they can choose which ballot to use but are restricted to voting for only one party
unconstitutional
?In California Democratic Party v. Jones, the Court ruled that blanket primaries were ________
delegates
In presidential primaries, voters are not actually voting for the candidates themselves; rather, they are choosing _______ who will support that nominee at the party nominating convention
direct democracy
The constitutional requirements regarding elections indicate that the Framers wanted to set up barriers against
House of Representatives
According to the U.S. Constitution, only the ____________ was(were) to be elected directly by the people
electors in the Electoral College
The formal selection of the president of the United States is in the hands of the
equal to the number of senators and members of the House of Representatives
How many electoral votes does each state get?
270
To win the presidency, a candidate needs to win __________ electoral votes
Electoral College
The __________ has never worked as the Framers had envisioned, as an institution that would allow a group of independent decision makers to get together in the many states and deliberate over who would make the best president
House of Representatives
If no candidate achieves a majority of electoral votes, the _________ decides the outcome of the election
Twelfth
The__________ Amendment combined the vote for president and vice president into one ballot, with the person running for each office named
redistricting
Depending on patterns of population growth or decline, states win or lose congressional seats with each new census. State legislatures are responsible for drawing the district lines, in a process known as
public sentiment
The staggering of senatorial elections helps to insulate senators from ?shifts in _______?___.
census
The Constitution requires that members of the House of Representatives be apportioned, within each state, according to population, which is counted in a(n)
gerrymandering
When political parties redraw district lines in order to benefit one political party over another, it is called
invisible primary
Once a candidate decides to run for president, he or she enters what has been called the__________. No votes are cast, but candidates are jockeying for position so they can be ready to do well in the initial primaries and caucuses
permanent campaign
Many have expressed concern over what has been called the__________, a worry that politicians, especially presidents, spend too much time working toward reelection and not enough time governing
Iowa
The__________ caucus, the nation's first and most famous caucus, requires that people attend a meeting of about two hours in which they indicate their preferences and then try to convince those who are undecided to join their candidate's group
party platform
At the party conventions, the __________ is formally adopted, laying out the plan for governmen
Federal Election Campaign Act
In 1971, Congress tried to put candidates on an equal financial footing and make them less beholden to special interests through the
become too powerful
The Framers listed the powers of the legislature in the Constitution because they were afraid that the legislative branch would ________
bicameral
Congress is__________; that is, it is divided into two separate chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate
?large states could not control the legislative agenda
?By setting the size of House of Representatives by population and the Senate equal regardless of population, the Framers ensured that ________
natural born citizenship
The Constitution differentiates between the two chambers by all of the following EXCEPT_________
reside in the state that he or she represents
To be a member of the House of Representatives, an individual must _____
six years
What is the term of office for U.S. senators?
be a U.S. citizen
To be a senator, an individual must
white and male
Despite advancements made by underrepresented groups in the electing members to Congress, it is still predominantly ______________
Senate
From 1789 to 1913, the mode of election for the _________ was indirect: citizens voted for members of their state legislatures, who then selected these individuals
Seventeenth
The mode of election for the Senate was changed with the ratification of the _________ Amendment
2 years
What is the term of office for members of the House of Representatives?
census
Because the Framers knew that the country would grow, they required a __________, of the population every ten years, after which the number of congressional districts in each state would be adjusted to reflect population changes
435
The House started with 65 members and eventually grew to __________ members by 1929, at which point the number was limited
redistricting
The House of Representatives is subject to _________, which is the redrawing of the boundaries of congressional districts in a state to make them approximately equal in population size
Voting Rights
The _________ Act of 1965 prohibited states and political subdivisions from denying or abridging "the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color
House of Representatives
?According to the Constitution, all bills for raising revenue should originate in the _________