Election Vocabulary
- Print out the
Election Vocabulary List.
Keep this page in your Research Folder.
- Next, do the flash card and matching activities.
- Need more practice? Do the word search and concentration activities!
- For extra credit, learn more election lingo! Go to
Keep your election vocabulary lists in your notebook or folder for future
reference.
Did
you know that government is all around us and that decisions made by government
affect us? Often in cities, states and
countries, groups of people who share the same political opinions want their
government to make
decisions in a certain way. Many times the people who hold opinions in common
form a group that elects leaders who best
promote those ideas. These groups are
called political parties.
Political parties hold conventions to publicize their party’s platform and
choose candidates. The political parties build an “idea
platform’ for
their conventions. The platform of ideas is the
stand
that the parties take on certain issues.*
Political Parties
A political party is a group of voters organized to support certain public
policies. The aim of a political party is to elect officials who will try to
carry out the party's policies.
A political party offers candidates for public office. It sets out positions
on issues that may range from war and taxes to how children should be educated.
When people in a democracy disagree about what the government should do, voters
express their opinions by voting for the candidates that most closely reflect
their views. Political parties provide a way for voters to easily identify a
candidate's positions.
Political parties may be large or small, national or local. Large political
parties generally have millions of members and supporters. In democratic
election campaigns, parties compete freely for votes. Such competition is one of
the hallmarks of democracy.**
The political parties
encourage voters to support their candidates through many methods such as
sponsoring debates, advertising, fundraising, letter or e-mail writing
campaigns, slogans, making speeches and hosting big meetings called
conventions. After that,
for the eight to 10 weeks
between the Convention and Election Day, the Presidential and Vice-Presidential
candidates “go to the people.” That is, the ELECTION
CAMPAIGN STARTS!
Campaigning is a huge job to get
done in a short amount of time. Thank goodness that THE
KID CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE has volunteered to run the campaigns of Obama and
McCain! Are you ready to do a great job??? If you are ready to meet the challenge
of being part of a great campaign management team, click on the TASK
button above to get started!
|
Meet
the Candidates!
