Party Time
This document, written by a political party at their National Convention, outlines their stance on major issues.
What is a Party Platform?
This ideology generally believes that government should be active in promoting social welfare and protecting civil rights.
What is liberalism?
This type of election is held to narrow down the field of candidates within a party before the general election.
What is a Primary Election?
This is the name of the legislative branch in North Carolina.
What is the General Assembly?
This regulatory agency was created in 1974 to enforce campaign finance laws.
What is the FEC (Federal Election Commission)?
One of the most basic functions of a political party is to find potential leaders and formally name them as the party's choice for office.
What is Nominating Candidates?
On the classic political spectrum, the Republican Party is located on this side.
What is the Right?
This allows voters to remove an elected official from office before their term is up (though not used at the federal level).
What is a Recall?
Unlike the US President and Vice President, the NC Governor and Lieutenant Governor are elected in this manner.
What is Separately?
This type of organization pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates.
What is a PAC (Political Action Committee)?
They are usually credited with bringing specific policy issues to the forefront which typically are adopted by another party.
What are Third Parties?
This political party is associated with the left, or liberalism.
What is the Democratic Party?
In this type of primary, voters must be registered members of a specific party to vote for that party's candidates.
What is a Closed Primary?
This group of elected executive officials includes the Attorney General, Commissioner of Agriculture, and Secretary of State.
What is the Council of State?
In Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of this constitutionally protected right.
What is Free Speech?
Its the name for the individual issues that a party addresses to make up their platform.
What are planks?
This ideology supports "School Choice" and voucher programs, believing that market competition improves education.
What is Conservatism?
This type of election is utilized when no candidate receives over 50% of the vote. Candidate(s) on the bottom are removed and this type of election occurs with a reduced number of candidates.
What is a Runoff election?
This is the primary governing body of a county in North Carolina.
What is the Board of County Commissioners?
This 2010 Supreme Court case ruled that corporations and unions can spend unlimited amounts of independent money to influence elections, leading to the rise of Super PACs.
What is Citizens United v. FEC?
Its is the type of voting that is characterized by voting only for the party you identify with regardless of policy positions.
What is Straight Ticket Voting?
This ideology prioritizes individual liberty above all else, opposing government intervention in both the economy (taxes) and personal lives (drug laws).
What is Libertarianism?
This allows citizens to propose new laws to be voted on. This does not occur at the national level, but can be used at the state/local level.
What is an initiative?
Judges in NC are distinctly different from judges at the federal level in this way.
What is they are elected (not appointed)?
This term refers to unlimited money raised by parties for "party-building purposes," which was largely banned by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold).
What is Soft Money?