What are the two major political parties in the United States?
Democrats and Republicans
What is a form of government in which political decisions are made directly by the entire body of qualified citizens?
Direct democracy
What is the formal process of selecting a person for public office or of accepting or rejecting a political proposition by voting?
An election
Where do we see some of the original elections used in antiquity?
Ancient Athens, Roma, selection of popes and emperors
What is the date of Election Day in the U.S.?
November 5th
When did national political parties begin developing?
Toward the end of the 18th century
What are electoral districts of small population controlled by a single person or family?
Rotten boroughs
What is the right to vote in political elections called?
Suffrage
How many presidents have been elected with fewer popular votes than their opponents?
Four presidents
How was the Vice President originally determined?
The person with the second largest number of electoral votes would become Vice President
According to modern polls, do most Americans prefer the Popular Vote or Electoral College voting system?
Popular Vote
Which electoral system, Popular Vote or Electoral College, is thought to create bias against third parties and independent candidates?
Electoral College
What did authoritarian regimes attempt to achieve when using elections?
Popular legitimacy
Which electoral system, Popular Vote or Electoral College, is generally seen to protect the interests of small states and sparsely populated areas?
Electoral College
With systems of plural voting, some groups get an electoral advantage. In the United Kingdom, what two groups could cast more than one ballot until 1948?
University graduates and business owners
By what year did all, but one, of the states select electors by direct popular vote?
1836
Which Constitutional Amendment provided Electoral College representation for Washington, D.C.?
The Twenty-Third Amendment
How is the number of electors determined for each state?
What supporter of the Electoral College argued that while it might not be perfect, is was "at least excellent."
Alexander Hamilton
What are the only two states that do not have a winner-take-all electoral system?
Maine and Nebraska
What bill is attempted to be passed through state legislatures that would eliminate the Electoral College, without requiring a Constitutional Amendment?
National Popular Vote (NPV) bill
What was the name of the group that proposed the Electoral College near the end of the Constitutional Convention?
The Committee on Unfinished Parts
These regions held non-competitive elections that had only one choice for voting for or against the official candidate.
One-party communist regimes of eastern Europe and the Soviet Union
In 2011, how many members of the state Senate faced a recall vote in Wisconsin?
9. Six Republicans and three Democrats
What part of the U.S. Constitution stipulated that states could select electors in any manner they desired?
Article II, Section 1