Unit 7: Influencing the Government

Why did the Founders create the Electoral College?

• They trusted the people to vote directly for the president.

• To keep the number of candidates running for president to a minimum

• They wanted the larger states to dominate the election process.

• To compromise between Congress choosing and the people choosing because they didn't trust either of them.

What did the 12th Amendment do to alter the Electoral College?

• It required the electors to vote for the president and vice president separately.

• It gave each state more electoral votes.

• It gave more electoral votes to the smaller states.

• It completely got rid of the Electoral College.

How is it determined how many electors are given to each state?

• It is based solely on the state's population.

• By adding together the number of Representatives and Senators from that state.

• By adding together the number of Representatives and Senators from a neighboring state.

• The number of electors are randomly assigned to each state by a lottery.

What happens if no candidate wins more than the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency?

• The Senate gets to choose the president.

• The House of Representatives gets to choose the president.

• A runoff election is held between the top two candidates.

• The candidate that won the popular vote becomes president.

What is the difference between the popular vote and the electoral vote?

• The popular vote elects the President while the electoral vote is made up of electors from each of the states who elect the Vice President.

• The popular vote is the number of votes the Vice President gets in the election while the electoral vote is the number of votes the President gets.

• The popular vote is the total vote of the people and decides who wins the Presidency and Vice Presidency while the electoral vote is used to elect members of Congress.

• The popular vote is the number of votes a candidate receives from the voters while the electoral vote is the votes cast by state electors chosen by the political party of their home state and is what elects the
  President and Vice President.

The number of votes that a candidate receives from voters is called the

• plurality

• poll

• electoral college

• popular vote

State political parties choose _______ to vote for the party’s candidates for president and vice president.

• electors

• candidates

• leaders

• delegates

The _______ chooses the president and vice president.

• faithless elector

• three-fifths compromise

• electoral college

• popular vote

What is one way that elections and voting impact citizens at the local, state, and national levels?

• by empowering citizens to choose their representatives and contribute to the direction of public policy

• by having no influence on policy making or the selection of local, state, and national
  leaders

• by increasing the number of non-political organizations participating in governance

• by removing the need for citizens to participate in the policy-making process

What is a primary election?

• An election to determine the final winner of a political office

• A nationwide vote to elect the President
  and Vice President

• An election where the two main political
  parties run against each other

• An election for party members to choose
  their party's nominee for the general
  election