Act 5 Reading Questions:
NAME - _________________________________ Due Date ______________
Section # 1 - Who Can Vote:
1. How has the history over voting changed over the past 200 years in America?
2. Today, what are the qualifications to vote in the United States?
3. Where can you register to vote?
4. What must you have when you register to vote for the first time?
5. Describe the process of absentee voting:
Section #2: Similarities and Differences Between the Major Parties
1. Political parties provide a key link between _____________ and their elected _______________.
2. What is one difference between the Democrats and the Republicans?
3. What is one way the Democrats and the Republicans are similar?
4. Why would the Democrats and Republicans try to appeal to large numbers of voters?
5. What is a party platform?
6. What are third parties?
7. List two important third party candidates and their political parties.
Section #3: Functions of Political Parties
1. One of the roles of political parties is to recruit and ______________________________ candidates.
2. Identify and explain the three other roles of political parties?
3. Name 3 ways political parties can help educate citizens about issues.
4. Why do party members monitor actions of office holders?
5. Name a key role of political parties during elections to help candidates win.
Section # 4 - The Mass Media:
1. How does mass media set the public agenda?
2. What is the role of mass media during elections?
3. Look at the chart for the following questions:
a. What type of mass media do most Americans consider to be their main source of news and
information?
b. Which age-group accesses the internet most?
c. What do you consider to be your main source of news and information?
SECTION 5 QUESTIONS BEGIN ON NEXT PAGE
Section #5 - Paying for Election Campaigns:
1. How much money is spent on national, state, and local elections every four-year period?
2. What does the money spent in elections pay for?
3. List 3 ways candidates pay for elections.
Section #6 - Electoral College:
1. What is the Electoral College?
2. Why was the Electoral College established?
3. What is an elector?
4. When people in each state vote, they are not actually voting for the President and Vice-President. When
the people vote in each state, they are actually choosing:
_____________________________________________________________________________.
5. Virginia has 13 electoral votes. In Virginia, if 51% of Virginians vote for Barack Obama and 49% of
Virginians vote for Mitt Romney…
a. How many electoral votes would Barack Obama get? _____
b. How many electoral votes would Mitt Romney get? ______
6. The numbers of electors from each state is based on the state’s _______________________.
7. To be elected President, how many electoral votes must the candidate receive? __________
8. Look at the map of electoral votes for each state to answer the following questions:
a. If you were a candidate, what are the top three states you would want to win?
b. Why would you want to win those states the most?
c. Could you ignore all of the other states? _____ Why or why not?