Deck 10: Elections

Question 1

In the 2016 presidential election, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton won the popular vote because she won more support from _______________, the largest group within the American electorate.

A) major metropolitan area voters
B) registered Democrats
C) independent voters
D) women

Answer 1

D

Question 2

As of mid-2018, a dozen states and the District of Columbia had either already implemented or passed voter registration reforms that would allow people to register when renewing their driver's licenses or state identification cards, or when interacting with any state agency that collects documents with the information required for determining voting eligibility.What is likely to be a result of such laws?

A) An increase in total turnout for most elections
B) An increase in voter fraud, according to social science research
C) Higher turnout in presidential elections only
D) No change-voter turnout and fraud rates will stay much the same

Answer 2

A

Question 3

In the 1960s, the U.S.Supreme Court held "one person, one vote" was to be the standard in the drawing of any electoral district, whether at the federal, state, or local level.In so doing, the court held that districts must have comparably sized populations within their jurisdictions.The Court made an exception for the election of U.S.senators, however, because:

A) the Constitution guarantees equal representation of states in the Senate, something left unchanged through amendment.
B) Senate exception to the "one person, one vote" rule was enacted under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
C) the Senate's structure is directly tied to the rationale and functioning of the Electoral College.
D) the Court declined to get into further election controversy, fearing politicization.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Voter turnout in the United States is typically calculated by looking at the total number of votes in any election, and dividing that number against the total voting age population in a given jurisdiction.Unfortunately, this simple formula:

A) overstates the true turnout rate by not accounting for double or fraudulent voting.
B) overstates the true turnout rate by including the votes of resident foreign nationals and undocumented immigrants.
C) understates the turnout rate due to inaccurate population numbers.
D) understates the true turnout rate because it includes noncitizens, institutionalized or mentally incapacitated persons, and felons without the right to vote in their states.

Question 5

At the beginning of the Republic, most states restricted voting rights to:

A) property owners over the age of 21.
B) white men over the age of 18, who were property owners and citizens.
C) white citizens over the age of 21 who could pass a literacy test
D) white men over the age 21, with many states further mandating property ownership.

Question 6

During the same turn-of-the-century years in which many states began requiring voter registration, what did many states use to keep immigrants and black people from voting?

A) Closed primaries
B) Literacy tests
C) Property-holding requirements
D) Voter ID laws

Question 7

One thing all parts of the United States have, despite differences in the party in power, is overlapping political boundaries.People can live in the same congressional districts but vote in vastly differing city council districts, for instance, and also in school districts at variance with either, even while voting in the same polling place.These boundaries create which practical problem, one that voter registration helps solve?

A) A recurring pattern of surges and declines in voter turnout.
B) Varying combinations of elected offices, with each combination requiring a different ballot.
C) Increased congressional district gerrymandering.
D) Increased voter fraud.

Question 8

Between 1890 and 1910, what were termed progressive movement reforms included the creation of state voter registration requirements.This reform, like others, was justified on the grounds that it would reduce corruption and voter fraud, such as that associated with urban political machines.Even so, voter registration systems were instituted with the goal of:

A) weakening urban factions within parties, while keeping immigrants and black people from voting.
B) decreasing turnout as a means of gaining seats for candidates associated with progressivism.
C) eliminating centralized national party control over presidential candidate nominations.
D) professionalizing elections, since it was thought that registration would help officials keep better track of voting across different jurisdictional lines.

Question 9

While the results of the 2016 presidential and congressional elections signaled a shift to the right in U.S.politics, as compared to the Obama era, the shift had strongly populist overtones that seemed to parallel elections in:

A) American state-level legislative races, mainly.
B) local races in suburban and rural areas.
C) Europe, including the United Kingdom's June 2016 Brexit referendum vote, in which a majority voted in favor of leaving the European Union.
D) nearly all advanced industrial democracies.

Question 10

While presidential election polling leading up to the 2015 election was not far off the mark in suggesting a popular vote win for Hillary Clinton, polls were off in states with ____________, ones that gave Donald Trump his Electoral College edge.

A) larger percentages of undocumented immigrants, including California
B) significant white working-class populations
C) more religious voters, particularly evangelicals
D) larger industrial and manufacturing economies, including California

Question 11

The way the Electoral College works creates a population inequity in presidential elections because:

A) large states receive more of a say than small states.
B) "swing" or "battleground" states, where the candidates are more competitive, get most of the attention from campaigns.
C) under the Constitution large states are entitled to fewer electors per resident than smaller states.
D) states with higher metropolitan area populations have more voting power than states with rural populations.

Question 12

Individuals who are _____________ have the right to vote in American federal elections, unless they are imprisoned or, in some states, ex-felons.

A) living in the country and at least 18 years old
B) citizens who are at least 18 years old
C) citizens or approved foreign nationals who are least 21 years old
D) American citizens

Question 13

_________________ provide(s) the basis for administering elections in the United States.

A) Federal, as opposed to state, election law and decision making
B) Voter authentication measures, such as the photo identification now mandated in a growing number of states,
C) Voter registration lists or databases
D) Widely varying and often overlapping jurisdictional boundaries

Question 14

Over two-thirds of American states were allowing some form of early voting-that is, voting during a designated period before an official election day by the mid-2010s.Meanwhile, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado allowed voting by mail.These reforms allowed for the rise of:

A) notable increases in voter fraud within jurisdictions that allowed the practices, especially mail-in voting, according to research.
B) convenience voting.
C) national voter turnout rates that approached those of major Western European countries.
D) voter identification laws, given greater concerns about voter fraud.

Question 15

Women tend to identify and vote more with ________________ than men do.

A) the Democratic Party
B) liberal interest groups
C) groups that support abortion rights
D) the Republican Party

Question 16

In the 2010 decision Citizens United v.Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court held that a federal campaign finance reform law had wrongly imposed restrictions on ________________ by corporations.

A) independent expenditures (i.e., spending not going to campaigns or political parties)
B) campaign contributions
C) funding of campaign political opinion polling
D) financial contributions of party-led get-out-the-vote efforts

Question 17

Large majorities of African Americans and Hispanic voters have tended to back __________ candidates.

A) independent
B) only minority
C) Democratic
D) Republican

Question 18

A third-generation Cuban-American woman living in the Miami area, Zamira, has become good friends with Mindy, a native white Floridian who lives just two blocks away from her.Despite a difference in cultural backgrounds, the two-both new to their neighborhood-have bonded not only over their love of local foods, but fondness for discussion of political news and issues.They are surprised, even so, to learn that they live in different congressional districts. What they soon realize is that, although their neighborhood is typically thought of as a more liberal-leaning area, Florida state legislators placed Mindy's street in a more Republican district to dilute Democratic voter strength and boost Republican chances of winning seats.
What political practice did Florida legislators engage in here?

A) Gerrymandering for partisan advantage
B) Gerrymandering to dilute minority group voting strength
C) Clearly illegal redistricting
D) Redistricting to punish Cubans, traditionally Republican voters, who now vote Democratic

Question 19

Even though Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election, Republican nominee Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote.While every race has its nuances or quirks as well as multiple reasons for their ultimate results, similar outcomes occurred in four previous American presidential races, ones tied to:

A) the fact that Electoral College members can vote however they choose, despite the popular vote.
B) the need for candidates to campaign for Electoral College votes by winning individual states, rather than votes in a direct, popular election.
C) shifts in partisan identity within the electorate.
D) population shifts in the American states, particularly growth in southern and southwestern states.

Question 20

Turnout in congressional midterm elections has, in recent times, tended to be ____________ the percentage turnout for presidential elections.

A) considerably lower than
B) much higher than
C) nearly equal to
D) slightly higher than

Question 21

A country that allows political parties to receive legislative seats in accordance with the percentage of the vote they respectively win in elections (for a particular jurisdiction; for example, at the national level or local level) is said to have this type of election system:

A) first-past-the-post.
B) plurality.
C) majority.
D) proportional representation.

Question 22

When California voters placed a measure on the ballot in 2003 to remove their unpopular governor, Gray Davis, from office, they made use of the state's _________ election process.

A) ejection
B) initiative
C) referendum
D) recall

Question 23

About half of American states allow for a process known as ____________, one where citizens can bring issues before voters that state legislatures cannot, or do not want to resolve or confront.

A) recall
B) initiative
C) franchise
D) referendum

Question 24

Before the introduction of the Australian ballot to the American system, ballots were often:

A) public record, after individuals completed them.
B) identical.
C) printed by political parties or slates of candidates.
D) administered by private organizations only.

Question 25

The process that allows citizens to vote directly on proposed laws or other governmental actions is called:

A) a quorum.
B) a referendum.
C) a direct election.
D) an unmediated election.

Question 26

The single strongest predictor of how a person will vote is that individual's:

A) party identification.
B) political ideology.
C) self-interest.
D) economic well-being.

Question 27

Which term best describes the apportionment of voters in districts in such a way as to give unfair advantage to one political party?

A) Reapportionment
B) Gerrymandering
C) Logrolling
D) Pork barrel

Question 28

A type of electoral process in which a candidate must receive more than 50 percent of all votes cast in a jurisdiction to win a seat in a legislative body is:

A) a plurality system.
B) a majority system.
C) a first-past-the-post system.
D) proportional representation.

Question 29

Which term do political scientists use to describe vote choices that focus on expectations of future behavior-ones tied, for example, to promises of economic and policy change?

A) Predictive voting
B) Advanced selection
C) Retrospective voting
D) Prospective voting

Question 30

Going into the 2018 midterm congressional elections, the District of Columbia and 17 states were set to allow individuals to register to vote on an election day.Washington state had, meanwhile, approved the same for implementation in 2019.The opportunity this gives potential voters is known as:

A) same-day registration.
B) precinct-level validation.
C) automatic registration.
D) same-day authentication.

Question 31

Which election reform, adopted in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, was aimed at preventing vote buying and voter intimidation?

A) Ballots provided by political parties
B) The secret ballot
C) Women's suffrage
D) Party primary elections

Question 32

The presidential electors from each state who meet after the popular election to cast ballots for president and vice president are collectively called the:

A) Electoral Senate.
B) Electoral College.
C) House of Representatives.
D) Federal Elections Commission.

Question 33

The electoral format that presents the names of all candidates for any given office on the same ballot, allowing voters to select any candidate of their choice for each office, is called the _______________ballot.

A) open
B) Populist
C) Australian
D) ticket-splitting

Question 34

In 1993, Congress passed and President Clinton signed into law the National Voter Registration Act, popularly known as the "motor voter" law, which allowed:

A) states the option of legalizing same-day registration.
B) voter registration drives to be carried out on roadsides, in official state election vehicles.
C) voter registration at state driver licensing agencies, as well public-assistance and military-recruitment offices.
D) states to more easily transport lower-income and elderly voters to polling places, through federal grants-in-aid and technical assistance.

Question 35

The framers of the U.S.Constitution had originally intended which of the following offices to be subject to direct popular election?

A) Senators
B) Presidents
C) Federal judges
D) Members of the House of Representatives

Question 36

Most elected officials in the United States, including those for members of Congress and most state officials (but not the president and vice president), are chosen in first-past-the-post, or ________________________ elections.

A) single-member district and plurality winner
B) multimember district and plurality winner
C) single-member district and clear majority winner
D) free and fair, and clear majority winner

Question 37

In the 2016 federal elections, every state that had Senate seats up for grabs in 2016 saw voters choose Senate members of the same party as the presidential candidate they voted for.In other words, no state where a majority voted for Republican nominee Donald Trump elected a Democratic senator, and no state where a majority voted for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton elected a Republican senator. Therefore, researchers suggest that the 2016 results showed an increase in people voting for the same party in different races, or _____________ voting, and a decrease in people voting for different parties in different races, or ______________ voting.

A) party line; nonpartisan
B) straight ticket; split ticket
C) party ticket; independent
D) party loyalty; turncoat

Question 38

In presidential elections, states are allocated Electoral College votes that equal their number of:

A) representatives in the House.
B) senators.
C) representatives in the House and Senate, combined.
D) registered voters per capita.

Question 39

The type of electoral system in which victory goes to the individual who gets more votes than any other candidate is called a:

A) single-member district system.
B) plurality system.
C) majority system.
D) proportional representation system.

Question 40

If the incumbent president loses an election for a second term in office because voters are unsatisfied with the current state of the economy, the voters employed:

A) speculative voting.
B) prospective voting.
C) retrospective voting.
D) common sense.

Question 41

Campaigns in the United States, particularly those for president and congressional seats, are known for being unusually long due mainly to:

A) the need to reach majoritarian outcomes, in addition to lengthy election calendars.
B) the unusually wide geographic distribution of the American electorate.
C) the need for extensive and consistent media coverage.
D) the need to reach voters and the associated need to raise funds, along with lengthy election calendars.

Question 42

Australia and Mexico require citizens to vote.

Question 43

Congress prohibited unlimited party spending (called soft money) and banned certain sorts of political attack advertisements by interest groups in the last weeks of a campaign in 2002 with the:

A) Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (or McCain-Feingold, popularly).
B) Federal Election Campaign Act Renewal (or McCain-Feingold, popularly).
C) Citizens United Act.
D) McCain-Valeo Reform Act (or Bipartisan Reform Act).

Question 44

What demographic characteristics do social scientists see as the strongest predictors of who turns out to vote in most American elections?

A) Age, education, and residential mobility
B) Education and income
C) Age, race, and gender
D) Gender, education, and residential mobility

Question 45

After the 1965 Voting Rights Act that made certain voter suppression policies illegal, Mississippi prevented the election of black candidates to Congress through this strategy, one commonly used by states to dilute the voting strength of groups:

A) literacy tests.
B) barring most minority voters from polling places.
C) the mandating of poll taxes.
D) gerrymandering to prevent the election of black candidates to Congress.

Question 46

The congressional and state legislative redistricting process does have certain constraints, among them that districts must have:

A) equal numbers of registered voters.
B) clear boundary lines, and roughly comparable populations.
C) equal populations, and no majority racial or ethnic group.
D) equal populations, and contiguous lines.

Question 47

In the 2010 case Citizens United v.Federal Elections Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002's restrictions on corporations' independent expenditures-that is, money spent on candidate or issue advocacy, without being given directly to a campaign-violated their:

A) First Amendment rights to free speech.
B) right to privacy, given the mandate to divulge contributors' names.
C) First Amendment right of association.
D) right to participate in elections.

Question 48

The responsibility for congressional redistricting lies, in most states, with:

A) Congress and, when plans are challenged, federal courts.
B) state legislatures, alone.
C) state legislatures and the governors, under the supervision of the courts and sometimes with the consultation of a commission.
D) state courts, alone.

Question 49

In recent years, voter turnout in the United States has been high relative to that in other Western democracies.

Question 50

While the Constitution gives states control over the administration of federal elections, _______________ are typically tasked with running polling places.

A) local governments
B) special election districts
C) state attorneys, in consultation with legislators,
D) government contractors

Question 51

Which of the following organizations must a private group-say, a business firm or labor union-establish in order to raise funds and distribute them to candidates' election campaigns or political parties?

A) A 527 group
B) Political party
C) Fundraising commission
D) Political action committee (PAC)

Question 52

No democratic country makes voting compulsory or legally required.

Question 53

The wide use of elections is thought to keep government policy close to the preferences and interests of its constituents.

Question 54

When the framers of the Constitution established the Electoral College, they required each state's legislature to choose its electors.Since the 1860s, however, all states have chosen electors by:

A) delegating selection to state party organizations.
B) popular vote.
C) a combination of popular vote and consent of legislators.
D) indirect popular vote.

Question 55

Partisan manipulation of congressional and state legislative redistricting has become much easier in recent years due to:

A) higher levels of partisan polarization.
B) sophisticated mapping software and more data on local voting patterns and demographics.
C) legislative appointment of "special masters" to draw maps for redistricting.
D) the Census Bureau's division of the population into census blocs, which typically contain a few dozen people.

Question 56

In 2010, a federal district court struck down California's Proposition 8, a ballot initiative approved by a majority of voters that banned same-sex marriage within the state.In declaring the law unconstitutional, the court showed that:

A) state referendum results are less respected than laws passed by legislatures.
B) California's initiative and referendum process is deeply, and uniquely, flawed.
C) initiative and referendum do not really allow voters to act directly.
D) state referendum results, like all states laws, are subject to federal judicial review.

Question 57

To ensure that their populations are equal, U.S.House and state legislative districts must be redrawn every:

A) five years, after the U.S.Census Bureau updates population estimates.
B) 10 years, after another federal census of the American population is completed.
C) so often, depending on funding, but within 15 years.
D) four years, in order to also correct for possible gerrymandering.

Question 58

The most sweeping change in campaign finance regulations came with passage of the _____________ in 1971.

A) Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
B) Federal Election Campaign Act
C) Lobbying Reform Act
D) Buckley-Valeo Reform Act

Question 59

A super PAC, the popular name given to independent expenditure-only committees established in the wake of the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, may raise __________________ and spend the monies on candidate or issue advocacy.

A) limited funds from individuals only
B) unlimited funds from individuals and corporations
C) tightly regulated and limited funds from individuals and corporations
D) unlimited funds from individuals and limited funds from corporations

Question 60

Almost all states in the United States prohibit felons from voting in elections.

Question 61

An initiative is an institution of direct democracy.

Question 62

American politicians have sought to influence the electoral outcome by redrawing district boundaries.

Question 63

A referendum is an election held to remove a sitting official from office.

Question 64

The electoral format that presents just the names of the candidates for just a single party is called the Australian ballot.

Question 65

In the United States, the proportion of eligible voters actually going to the polls was considerably smaller in the nineteenth century than it is today.

Question 66

An electoral system in which the candidate who gets the most votes wins the election is called a majority rule system.

Question 67

Voter turnout declined sharply around the turn of the twentieth century because a two-party system replaced the multiparty system of the nineteenth century.

Question 68

In the 1976 case Buckley v.Valeo, the Supreme Court ruled that keeping candidates from contributing money to their own campaigns violated their right to free speech.

Question 69

Personal registration poses a significant burden for potential voters and decreases turnout.

Question 70

The United States has always used a secret ballot system.

Question 71

The single strongest predictor of how a person will vote is that individual's attachment to a political party.

Question 72

In European countries, voter registration is automatically handled by national governments.

Question 73

The presidential candidate who wins a plurality of the popular vote in the country wins the presidency.

Question 74

One explicitly stated goal of early-twentieth-century reformers who pushed for voter registration was to decrease voting by immigrants and black people.

Question 75

Voter registration research has shown that almost 90 percent of registered voters do vote, but that only about 80 percent of the eligible electorate is registered.

Question 76

Individuals who vote on the basis of past performance are said to be retrospective voters.

Question 77

Most electoral contests in the United States are decided on the basis of plurality rules.

Question 78

Elected officials in the United States today are generally selected from single-member districts.

Question 79

Even with various refinements by leading experts, the denominator of the turnout rate may still be too small for the United States, thereby making America look more participatory than other democracies.

Question 80

Most Americans identify with one or the other of the two major political parties.