Unit 2 Part 1 Study Guide – Election and Political Parties
You need to know:
1. Your Unit 2 Part 1 Vocabulary words
2. Factors that determined who votes (A.I.E.) –
a. Age – older people tends to vote
b. Education – the better educated a person is, more likely he/she will vote
c. Income – richer people often vote
3. Apathy is the main reason why people do not vote. What is apathy?
4. What are the three qualifications in order to vote in Virginia?
a. How old?
b. Citizen of what country?
c. What state should the person be living in?
5. If you cannot vote on the day of election, what is another way you can cast your vote? (hint: if you
cannot go to school, your name is placed on the absentee list)
6. There are 3 places to go and register to vote.
a. Where you get your license
b. When you use a stamp
c. You physically go to who’s office?
7. Remember, you need to register 22 days before election day.
8. We cast our vote during the general election, but really, who chooses the president and the vicepresident? (hint: the name is like a school, but is not a school, answer is in #9)
9. Review the steps in the Electoral College
10. What is winner-take all system?
11. Primary election is the 1st step in presidential election. What goes next? Nominating conventions,
election day, electoral college vote
12. What is the magic number a presidential candidate needs to be elected?
13. Remember: Each state have certain number of electoral votes depending on how many representative
they have plus the 2 senators. So if Alaska has 2 senators and 1 representative, how many electoral
votes they have? 1,2, or 3?
14. Review similarities and differences of Political Parties. Do they both try to win? Do they both have same
ideas? Do they both have a platform? Do they try to appear in the “center”? Do they influence public
policy?
15. The functions of political parties are, nominate candidates, educate voters, help their candidate win,
and monitor actions. Be ready to analyze and apply these functions to specific examples.
16. How many major political parties do we have here in the US? What are those two and who is the
conservative and who is the liberal? What about third parties, do they usually win?