ELECTION PROCESS
I. Primary^
Primaries are elections held to nominate a candidate for a particular
party. Primaries developed in the early twentieth century as
a way of making the selection of candidates more democratic, rather
than letting the party leaders choose a candidate.There are two kinds
of primaries:
Closed Primary: A voter may vote only in the primary
held by his own party.
Open Primary: A voter may vote in the primary
of any party. It is also called a "crossover" primary
because voters can "cross over" from their own party to vote in
another party´s primary.
II. Election Day ^
After each party has chosen its candidate (nominee) in the primaries,
there is a general election to decide who will become president.
Election Day is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. That means that Election Day can never be on November
1st.
Voter Registration
Federal Election Commission English
Federal Election Commission Spanish
The
Electoral College was established by the founding fathers as
a compromise between election of the president by Congress & election by popular vote (direct election). Voters go to the polls
and cast their ballot for electors.
Electoral
College NARA
Electoral College
history / William C. Kimberling
Electoral College Map electoral-vote.caida.org
Election
2000 Vote Totals USA Today
Electoral College Map PBS
III. Inauguration Day^
The newly-elected president will take his oath of office (will
be inaugurated) on January 20.
Oaths
of Office president / dates & locations
Oaths of Office
president / dates & locations / infoplease
POLLS ^
Polls
Real Clear Politics
Polls pollingreport
Polls
Rasmussen
Polls Gallup
Polls Zogby
Iowa Electronic Market reliable predictor ;--)
Quiz
U.S. Election Process True-False
Quiz
Electoral College / Richard Warrenfield
Quiz Inauguration
/ Truman LIbrary
Quiz Inauguration
/ PBS
Quiz
Teachers First
Quiz
Washington Post
Candidate
In Latin candidus means `glittering, white´.
In ancient Rome, a man campaigning for office wore a white toga
& was consequently called candidatus `clothed in white´.
Ballot
English borrowed the word "ballot" from the Italian balla `ball´, & its diminutive form ballotta `little
ball´. Before the days of printed forms & voting machines,
secret voting was done with little balls.
Inauguration
In ancient times, people believed in omens &
looked for them on important occasions. Latin augur meant
a member of the highest class of official diviners of ancient Rome,
whose duty it was to observe & interpret omens, such as the
flight of birds. The verb form inaugurare meant to
check omens before an important event, such as the proclamation
of an emperor. From the past participle inauguratus is
derived English `inaugurate´.^
Etymology: Picturesque Word Origins, Webster´s
New International Dictionary
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