Chapter 10: Elections



Chapter 10: Elections

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Fully democratic elections are occasions in which

|a. |political opposition is minimized. |

|b. |current power structures are legitimated. |

|c. |multiple principals choose political agents. |

|d. |popular enthusiasm for the government is mobilized. |

2. In an American election setting, the main reason for the possibility of adverse selection is hidden

|a. |action. |

|b. |finances. |

|c. |opinions. |

|d. |information. |

3. In an American election setting, the main reason for the possibility of moral hazard is

|a. |hidden action. |

|b. |competitive races. |

|c. |early primary races. |

|d. |imperfect information. |

4. Not knowing all aspects of the actions taken by an agent is the essence of

|a. |moral hazard. |

|b. |adverse selection. |

|c. |bounded cognition. |

|d. |information underload. |

5. The factors that will best mitigate moral hazard is

|a. |rules and guidelines. |

|b. |voting and protesting. |

|c. |education and training. |

|d. |transparency and publicity. |

6. In a representative democracy, citizens and elected politicians relate with each other respectively as

|a. |servants and masters. |

|b. |principals and agents. |

|c. |coaches and teammates. |

|d. |producers and consumers. |

7. In terms of the principal-agent relationship, the emphasis on the citizens as the active elements in the constitutional order is described by the

|a. |agency approach. |

|b. |consent approach. |

|c. |delegation formulation. |

|d. |representation formulation. |

8. Perhaps the oldest and most obvious device used to regulate voting and its consequences is

|a. |purging of the polls. |

|b. |controlling the turnout rate. |

|c. |incorporation of the Wickersham Ballot. |

|d. |manipulation of the electorates composition. |

9. Until recent years, some states manipulated the vote by the discriminatory use of

|a. |party ballots, closed primaries, and registration drives. |

|b. |poll taxes, literacy tests, and scheduling of voting hours. |

|c. |“smoke-filled backrooms” and “wine-and-dine” lobbying. |

|d. |“get-out-the-vote” movements and campaign finance regulations. |

10. The most important regulation of the Americans electorates composition is its unique requirements for

|a. |registration. |

|b. |minimum age. |

|c. |party declaration. |

|d. |property ownership. |

11. In examining elections, the ratio comparing the number of people who voted to a baseline population is called the

|a. |fall-off rate. |

|b. |turnout rate. |

|c. |fall-over rate. |

|d. |turnover rate. |

12. The voting age in American elections was set to eighteen by the

|a. |Motor Voter Bill. |

|b. |Voting Rights Act. |

|c. |Twenty-sixth Amendment. |

|d. |Federal Elections Campaign Act. |

13. The Nineteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920, extended the vote to

|a. |women. |

|b. |African Americans. |

|c. |persons eighteen years of age or older. |

|d. |convicted felons who have served their time. |

14. The significant decline in voter turnout coincided with the adoption of laws across much of the nation requiring eligible citizens to

|a. |register. |

|b. |pay a poll tax. |

|c. |pass a literacy test. |

|d. |declare a party affiliation. |

15. The critical years during which voter turnout dramatically declined across the United States coincided with the

|a. |introduction of the two-party system. |

|b. |adoption of personal registration laws. |

|c. |rise of negative campaigning on television. |

|d. |initial radio broadcasts of the national party conventions. |

16. Personal registration was one of several reforms of political practices initiated at the turn of the twentieth century by

|a. |Libertarians. |

|b. |Progressives. |

|c. |Urban Democrats. |

|d. |Agrarian Socialists. |

17. The ostensible purpose of voter registration was to

|a. |increase voter participation. |

|b. |discourage fraud and corruption. |

|c. |enhance political responsiveness. |

|d. |encourage immigrant and ethnic voters. |

18. In order to ease voter registration restrictions, Congress passed the 1993

|a. |“Motor Voter bill.” |

|b. |“Pallet Ballot” law. |

|c. |Election Inspection Act. |

|d. |“Sunrise in Franchise” resolution. |

19. Low rates of voter turnout in the United States can best be explained by

|a. |the two-party system. |

|b. |a weakened party system. |

|c. |campaign finance regulation. |

|d. |limited access to public education. |

20. Historically, the principal agents responsible for the direct mobilization of voters has been

|a. |political parties. |

|b. |elected officials. |

|c. |editorial writers. |

|d. |county election boards. |

21. A type of electoral process in which a candidate must receive more than 50 percent of all votes cast in the relevant district to win a seat in a legislative body is a

|a. |majority system. |

|b. |plurality system. |

|c. |minority system. |

|d. |proportional representation |

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

|a. |caucus. |

|b. |plurality system. |

|c. |majority system. |

|d. |proportional representation system. |

23. A multiple-member district system that allows each political party to participate in governance according to its percentage of the vote is a

|a. |majority system. |

|b. |plurality system. |

|c. |minority system. |

|d. |proportional representation system. |

24. In American congressional elections, a minor party winning 10 percent of the popular vote would probably get how many congressional seats?

|a. |zero |

|b. |ten |

|c. |forty-three |

|d. |fifty-three |

25. Generally, systems of proportional representation work to the electoral advantage of

|a. |individual candidates. |

|b. |cities and urban areas. |

|c. |smaller or weaker social groups. |

|d. |larger and more powerful social forces. |

26. Americans have usually sought to influence electoral outcomes by manipulating the

|a. |form of ballots. |

|b. |criteria for victory. |

|c. |political succession plans. |

|d. |organization of electoral districts. |

27. Drawing electoral district lines to favor the party in power is

|a. |redlining. |

|b. |redistricting. |

|c. |shelterbelting. |

|d. |gerrymandering. |

28. Redrawing congressional boundary lines in such a way as to divide and disperse a black population that otherwise would have constituted a majority within the original district is called

|a. |majority redlining. |

|b. |racial gerrymandering. |

|c. |prejudicial shelterbelting. |

|d. |discriminatory redistricting. |

29. Justice Sandra Day OConnor wrote in a 1993 majority opinion that if district boundaries were so “bizarre” as to be inexplicable on any grounds other than an effort to ensure the election of minority group members to office, white voters would have reason to assert that they had been the victims of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering, in the Supreme Court case,

|a. |Shaw v. Reno. |

|b. |Wilder v. Barker. |

|c. |Nance v. Mueller. |

|d. |Henson v. Sloane. |

30. In the United States, the framers of the Constitution intended that the only elected officials at the national level to be subject to direct popular selection would be

|a. |Senators. |

|b. |Presidents. |

|c. |Supreme Court Justices. |

|d. |Congressional Representatives. |

31. In the electoral college, the slate that wins casts all the states electoral votes for its partys candidate in each state except for

|a. |Alaska and Hawaii. |

|b. |Maine and Nebraska. |

|c. |New Mexico and Vermont. |

|d. |Connecticut and Rhode Island. |

32. If no presidential candidate receives a majority of all electoral votes, the names of the top three candidates would be submitted to the

|a. |Senate. |

|b. |Supreme Court. |

|c. |state legislatures. |

|d. |House of Representatives. |

33. A contest with an electoral college concentrates campaign activities

|a. |in large states. |

|b. |at the national level. |

|c. |in contestable states. |

|d. |in highly urbanized areas. |

34. An electoral format prepared and administered by the state rather than political parties, which presents the names of all the candidates for any given office on the same ballot in order to ensure the secrecy of voting, is called the

|a. |hanging chad. |

|b. |butterfly ballot. |

|c. |Belgium ballot. |

|d. |Australian ballot. |

35. Before the introduction of the Australian ballot to the American system, each ballot was

|a. |secret. |

|b. |identical. |

|c. |exclusive to one party. |

|d. |administered by the states. |

36. Ticket splitting has led to

|a. |ballot fraud. |

|b. |plurality voting. |

|c. |divided government. |

|d. |strengthened political parties. |

37. The choice of a ballot format is usually made by the

|a. |state. |

|b. |county. |

|c. |U.S. Senate. |

|d. |U.S. House of Representatives. |

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

|a. |electorate. |

|b. |referendum. |

|c. |per curium election. |

|d. |unmediated franchise. |

39. A vote on final approval of a legislative act that is referred to the electorate is known as the

|a. |recall. |

|b. |initiative. |

|c. |franchise. |

|d. |referendum. |

40. The process that provides citizens a way forward in the face of legislative inaction is the

|a. |recall. |

|b. |initiative. |

|c. |franchise. |

|d. |referendum. |

41. The device introduced by Populists to allow voters to remove governors and other state officials from office prior to the expiration of their terms is called

|a. |recall. |

|b. |conviction. |

|c. |referendum. |

|d. |impeachment. |

42. Under California laws, voters in a special recall election in October 2003 replaced Governor Gray Davis by electing movie star

|a. |Warren Beatty. |

|b. |Clint Eastwood. |

|c. |Robert Redford. |

|d. |Arnold Schwarzenegger. |

43. The referendum, initiative, and recall all entail shifts in the

|a. |partisan alignment. |

|b. |agenda-setting power. |

|c. |composition of the electorate. |

|d. |boundaries of electoral districts. |

44. The incumbent president loses the chance for a second term in office because voters are unsatisfied with the current state of the economy. In this case, the voters employed

|a. |speculative voting. |

|b. |prospective voting. |

|c. |retrospective voting. |

|d. |contemporaneous voting. |

45. Political scientists call choices that focus on future behaviors:

|a. |expectancy theory. |

|b. |prospective voting. |

|c. |advanced selection. |

|d. |anticipatory decision-making. |

46. The median voter theorem states that issue voting encourages

|a. |partisan loyalty. |

|b. |candidate divergence. |

|c. |diminished voter turnout. |

|d. |policy moderation of candidates. |

47. In terms of the political process, issue voting encourages

|a. |partisan loyalty. |

|b. |policy innovation. |

|c. |ideological extremism. |

|d. |candidate convergence. |

48. In the 2004 presidential race, President Bush and the Republicans accused Senator John Kerry of being

|a. |lazy. |

|b. |stubborn. |

|c. |uninformed. |

|d. |inconsistent. |

49. At the federal level, campaign finance practices in the United States are regulated by the

|a. |Voting Rights Committee. |

|b. |Federal Election Commission. |

|c. |U.S. Election Oversight Board. |

|d. |Presidential Election Campaign Fund. |

50. Organizations established by corporations, labor unions, or interest groups to raise and distribute funds for use in election campaigns are called

|a. |lobbyists. |

|b. |political parties. |

|c. |public interest groups (PIGs). |

|d. |political action committees (PACs). |

51. To provide funding for their political allies, many congressional and party leaders have established

|a. |party PACs. |

|b. |political PACs. |

|c. |leadership PACs. |

|d. |congressional PACs. |

52. The right of individuals to spend their own money to campaign for office is a constitutionally protected matter of free speech and not subject to limitation according to the Supreme Courts 1976 decision in

|a. |Stanton v. Pike. |

|b. |Dole v. Kennedy. |

|c. |Buckley v. Valeo. |

|d. |Harrison v. Aspen. |

53. Independent spending by individuals or interest groups on a campaign issue not directly tied to a particular candidate is called

|a. |public funding. |

|b. |issue advocacy. |

|c. |campaign finance. |

|d. |partisan fundraising. |

TRUE/FALSE

54. Over the past two centuries, elections have come to play a significant role in the political processes of most nations.

55. In democracies, elections can serve as institutions of legitimation.

56. In democracies, elections can serve as safety valves for social discontent.

57. In the United States, recent Democratic and Republican candidates have basically agreed on issues of taxing, social spending, and government regulation.

58. In working toward their own self-interests, candidates usually try to reveal as much as possible about themselves.

59. Adverse selection is a problem caused by hidden action.

60. Moral hazard is a problem produced by hidden information.

61. Political supporters who donate a lot of money to a successful presidential candidate may get to spend the night in the Lincoln bedroom of the White House.

62. Moral hazard makes the public vulnerable to abuses of the power delegated to elected agents.

63. Tolerating small advantages that incumbency gives in electoral contests will encourage politicians to moderate their natural inclination to strike private deals.

64. In the American political context, congressional procedures have become more transparent over time.

65. Mr. Janeway plans on retiring after this school year. He just bought a 60 foot sailboat which he will keep in the British Virgin Islands. He will be giving sailing tours, snorkeling trips, and sunset cruises from November to May.

66. Elections allow the government to exert a good deal of control over when, where, how, and which of its citizens will participate in politics.

67. Governments rarely attempt to regulate the composition of the electorate.

68. Governments frequently seek to manipulate the translation of voters choices into electoral outcomes.

69. Virtually all governments attempt to insulate policy-making processes from direct electoral intervention.

70. Almost all states in the U.S. allow felons and ex-felons to vote in presidential elections.

71. Levels of voter participation in twentieth-century American elections are quite high compared to those of the other Western democracies.

72. 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.

73. 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.

74. Registration requirements helped diminish widespread electoral corruption.

75. Registration made it much easier for ordinary citizens to participate in the electoral process.

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