front 1 Political Action Committee | back 1 An organization that raises money to elect and defeat candidates and may donate money directly to a candidate’s campaign subject to limits. |
front 2 Soft Money Loophole | back 2 The unregulated flow of large unlimited donations to political parties for party-building like voter registration/GOTV. |
front 3 Buckley v. Valeo | back 3 Ruled that the government can limit campaign contributions to prevent corruption but cannot limit campaign spending because it's protected under the first amendment. |
front 4 Linkage Institution | back 4 Channels that connect individuals with government, including elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media. |
front 5 Suffrage | back 5 The right to vote. |
front 6 26 th Amendment | back 6 Allows those eighteen years old and older to vote. |
front 7 15 th Amendment | back 7 The right to vote cannot be denied because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. |
front 8 19 th Amendment | back 8 The right to vote cannot be denied on the basis of sex/gender. |
front 9 17 th Amendment | back 9 The direct election of the U.S. senators by the people, instead of the senators being chosen by the state legislature. |
front 10 24 th Amendment | back 10 Prohibits congress and the states from imposing poll taxes as a condition for voting in federal elections. |
front 11 Voter Turnout | back 11 The number of eligible voters who participate in an election as a percentage of the total number of eligible voters. |
front 12 Demographics | back 12 Measurable characteristics of a population, such as economic status, education age, race or ethnicity, and gender. |
front 13 Political Efficacy | back 13 A person’s belief that he or she can make effective political changes. |
front 14 Political Mobilization | back 14 Efforts by political parties to encourage their members to vote. |
front 15 Registration Requirements | back 15 A set of rules that govern who can vote and how, when, and where they vote. |
front 16 Motor Voter Laws | back 16 Allows people to register to vote when getting or renewing a driver’s license or using certain government services. |
front 17 Absentee Ballot | back 17 Voting completed and submitted by a voter before the day of an election without going to the polls. |
front 18 Rational Choice Voting | back 18 Voting based on what a citizen believes is in his or her best interest. |
front 19 Retrospective Voting | back 19 Voting based on an assessment of an incumbent’s past performance. |
front 20 Prospective Voting | back 20 Casting a ballot for a candidate who promises to enact policies favored by the voter. |
front 21 Party-Line Voting | back 21 Voting for candidates who belong only to one political party for all of the offices on the ballot. |
front 22 Electoral College | back 22 A constitutionally required process for selecting the president through slates of electors chosen in each state, who are pledged to vote for a nominee in the presidential election. |
front 23 Winner-Take-All-System | back 23 A system of election in which the candidate who wins the plurality of votes within a state receives all of that state’s votes in the electoral college. |
front 24 Swing States | back 24 A state where levels of support for the parties are similar and elections swing back and forth between Democratic and Republican. |
front 25 Get Out The Vote | back 25 Efforts to mobilize supporters. |
front 26 Federal Election Campaign Act | back 26 Regulating campaign finance, aiming to make elections fairer by limiting contributions. |
front 27 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act | back 27 A law designed to limit soft money (unregulated funds) in federal elections, stopping national parties and federal candidates from raising large unlimited contributions. |
front 28 Citizens United v. FEC | back 28 Ruled that corporations and unions can spend unlimited money on independent political advertisement. |
front 29 Super PACs | back 29 An organization that may spend an unlimited amount of money on a political campaign, as long as the spending is not coordinated with a campaign. |