1. Essential Vocabulary:
In your Interactive Notebook: Unit 4 - Lesson 2 Political Districts, Elections, & Voting Procedures
LESSON ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
How are local, state, and national elections administered?
Warm Up:
List two specific planks in the Democratic Party Platform
List two planks in the Republican Party Platform
Essential Vocabulary:
Partisan Elections
Board of Education
Nonpartisan Elections
State Judge Elections
At-large election
Voter registration process
Single Member District
Voter turnout
Constituent
Voter apathy
City Council
Early voting
County Commission
Absentee ballot

2. Unit 4: American Politics Lesson 2: Political Districts, Elections, & Voting Procedures
Class Website:
DEADLINES & HOMEWORK:
Lesson One:
Performance Task Deadlines: October 28
Vocab Quiz: October 28 or 29
Lesson Two:
Vocab Quiz: October 29 or 30 (End of class Quiz)
Lesson Three:
Performance Task Deadlines: November 3
Vocab Quiz: November 3rd
Lesson Four:
Performance Task Deadlines: November 4
Vocab Quiz: November 4
Lesson Five:
Performance Task Deadlines: November 5
Vocab Quiz: November 5
Lesson Six:
Performance Task Deadlines: November 9
Vocab Quiz: November 9
UNIT TEST: TUESDAY, November 10th
Lesson 1 Performance Task:
Two Options. Option One: Write these three paragraphs:
What are the core values and beliefs of the Democratic Party? Identify specific social and economic policy planks of their party platform.
What are the core values and beliefs of the Republican Party? Identify specific social and economic policy planks of their party platform.
Describe your own political beliefs / ideology. What Democratic or Republican policy proposals do you agree with and why?
Option Two: Personal Politics Project
First, demonstrate your understanding of the key differences between Democrats and Republicans with a paragraph citing clear examples.
THEN: See posting in classroom from 10/23
Select “Personal Politics” option

3. A Summary: The Two Party System American politics are dominated by two major political parties. Here are some basic differences.
Democratic
Republican
Supports social programs
Supports environmental and labor regulations
Believes those who make more money should pay higher taxes
Generally support a woman’s right to choose, gay rights and immigration reform
Want fewer government programs
Believe individuals should be left to succeed/fail on their own
Believe that higher taxes on the wealthy hurt job creation
Generally oppose abortion, same sex marriage, and immigration reform

4. You are Writing 3 paragraphs about political ideology
FORMAT OPTION ONE:
Write your ACECES Paragraphs (the lesson 1 PT)
What are the core beliefs of the Democratic Party?
2 specific examples
What are the core beliefs of the Republican Party?
Are you more of a Democrat, a Republican or neither?
2 Specific examples
FORMAT OPTION TWO:
Pick three issues we have studied.
Issue #1:
Describe it
What do liberals / democrats believe?
What do Conservatives / Republicans believe?
What do you believe?
Issue 2: same format
Issue 3: same format

5. We live in a REPUBLIC…what’s that again?
Republic = representative democracy
the people ELECT leaders to make decisions about how to run the government
Constituents – all the people that an elected leader represents
Example: our class elects ________________ to represent us in the Hillside Congress. Every student in the class is a constituent of __________

6. Political Districts
every person in the country has people who are elected to REPRESENT them in Congress and their State Legislature.
Everyone who lives in the SAME DISTRICT has the SAME REPRESENTATIVE
Representatives must live in their own district
districting clip:
NC has 13 seats in Congress, & 13 Congressional districts

7. Types of Political Districts
At Large Districts
Single Member Districts
Every voter in the entire city/county votes for an office
Elected official represents ALL voters; EVERYONE is a constituent
Example:
5 seats on county commission
Each voter votes for 5 people.
Top five vote earners win the seats
City/county is divided into separate areas (called districts)
Each district picks its own representative
Elected officials represent ONLY their own district
EXAMPLE:
5 seats on county commission
5 districts within the county
Each voter votes for ONE person from their district.
Winner in each district gets seat on commission

8. At Large or Single Member district?

9. Review: Redistricting
Redistricting – every 10 years after the census, the State Legislature redraws the lines for all the State and Federal election districts
This determines what neighborhoods are represented by which politicians at the state and federal levels

10. Gerrymandering What’s that?
DRAWING ELECTION DISTRICTS TO FAVOR ONE POLITICAL PARTY

11. Quick Think (in google form)
Do you think at-large districts or single member districts are better?
Which would make it more likely that elected officials listen to and respond to their constituents? Why?

12. HOW DO I VOTE? BEFORE THE ELECTION: VOTING ON ELECTION DAY
Must REGISTER to Vote at least 30 days before election
A U.S. Citizen
Resident of the state for at least 30 days before the election
18+ years old
Not currently serving a felony sentence
Mentally competent
Must update voter registration if you change addresses
ON ELECTION DAY
Other Voting Requirements:
Must have photo-ID when voting
VOTING ON ELECTION DAY
at your precinct (local voting place)
Early Voting
Vote at central locations in the two weeks before an election
Allows people more flexibility
Absentee Ballots
request by mail if you will be out of town for the election

13. Quick Think (in google form)
Why is it important to update your voter registration if you move from one address to another?
Your address determines which political districts you live in.
if you move, you might be voting in different political races for different candidates than you used to

14. North Carolina General Assembly
State House
State Senate
120 NC State House Districts
At large or single member districts?
50 NC State Senate Districts
At large or single member districts?

15. Essential Vocabulary:
In your Interactive Notebook: Unit 4 - Lesson 2 (CONTINUED) Political Districts, Elections, & Voting Procedures
LESSON ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
How are local, state, and national elections administered?
Warm Up:
List two specific planks in the Democratic Party Platform
List two planks in the Republican Party Platform
3 paragraphs on party platforms late?
Turn them in NOW please 
Essential Vocabulary:
Partisan Elections
Board of Education
Nonpartisan Elections
State Judge Elections
At-large election
Voter registration process
Single Member District
Voter turnout
Constituent
Voter apathy
City Council
Early voting
County Commission
Absentee ballot

16. Unit 4: American Politics Lesson 2: Political Districts, Elections, & Voting Procedures
Class Website:
DEADLINES & HOMEWORK:
Lesson One:
Performance Task Deadlines: October 28
Vocab Quiz: October 28 or 29
Lesson Two:
Vocab Quiz: October 29 or 30 (End of class Quiz)
Lesson Three:
Performance Task Deadlines: November 3
Vocab Quiz: November 3rd
Lesson Four:
Performance Task Deadlines: November 4
Vocab Quiz: November 4
Lesson Five:
Performance Task Deadlines: November 5
Vocab Quiz: November 5
Lesson Six:
Performance Task Deadlines: November 9
Vocab Quiz: November 9
UNIT TEST: TUESDAY, November 10th
Lesson 1 Performance Task:
Two Options. Option One: Write these three paragraphs:
What are the core values and beliefs of the Democratic Party? Identify specific social and economic policy planks of their party platform.
What are the core values and beliefs of the Republican Party? Identify specific social and economic policy planks of their party platform.
Describe your own political beliefs / ideology. What Democratic or Republican policy proposals do you agree with and why?
Option Two: Personal Politics Project
First, demonstrate your understanding of the key differences between Democrats and Republicans with a paragraph citing clear examples.
THEN: See posting in classroom from 10/23
Select “Personal Politics” option

17. Elected Bodies Group of people elected to serve a specific purpose
Examples:
Durham County Commission makes policy for a County
Durham City Council makes policy for the CITY of Durham
NC General Assembly – makes policy for North Carolina
Is BICAMERAL:
State Senate
State House
Durham County School Board – sets policy for schools

18. Other Elected Offices County Sheriff
District Attorney – chief prosecutor for the County
North Carolina Judges:
Supreme Court
Court of Appeals
Superior Court
District Court

19. Partisan v. Nonpartisan Elections
Ballot shows what political party each candidate represents
Parties decide what candidate it wants on the ballot
Independent candidates can gather signatures
No mention of political party
Candidates gather signatures to get on the ballot
EXAMPLES:
Judges
School Board
Fewer voters participate in non-partisan elections because:
They haven’t researched the candidates
Don’t have party labels to rely on (can’t just pick whatever D or R is there)
They may think these elections are less important

20. Pros and Cons of Non-partisan elections
More about the person running and less about their political party
Gives more of a chance to people that aren’t members of a major party
Cons:
Uninformed voters don’t know how to decide
Ballot position can be a decisive factor
EG: 1st name on ballot gets the most votes; the 5th name gets totally overlooked
Parties organize to support the people they like anyway, it’s just not officiall

21. Election Too Close to Call?
Runoff Elections
Some places require candidates to get 50%+1 of the vote to win.
If 3 or more candidates split the vote and no one reaches 50%, a RUNOFF election is held between just the top two vote getters
Happened in Wake County school board election
Recounts
If the popular vote is super close (less than 1%), there is an automatic recount of the votes to make sure no mistakes were made

22. Quick Write : Use Google Form
What is the difference between a “partisan” and “non-partisan” election?
What elected bodies or offices are non-partisan?
Should we make all elections partisan or keep non-partisan elections? Explain your opinion.

23. Voter Targeting & Strategy
The Voter File
The state keeps a record of who votes in each election
Information includes:
Voters age, address, (& phone # if listed on voter registration form)
Date of each election the person voted in
Indicates whether the person is a reliable voter likely to vote in every election, or an unreliable voter that only participates in presidential elections, etc.
Party affiliation (Democrat, Republican, Unaffiliated, etc.)
Voter file is a public record: anyone can buy it from the state

24. Voter Targeting & Strategy
Candidates, Political Parties, & other groups USE THE VOTER FILE to decide which voters to target for turnout
Voter turnout measures which people actually show up to vote
Two basic strategies:
turnout your core voters
Dem’s focus on getting unlikely D’s the polls; R’s focus on getting R’s out
Persuasion: focus on gaining support from unafiliated voters
Unaffiliateds are considered “swing” voters. Whichever party they end up supporting usually wins the election

25. Voter Targeting & Strategy
How do campaigns identify voters?
Phone banking – calling voters to ask if they can be counted on to support a candidate
Canvassing – knocking on doors to talk with voters about issues and convince them to support a candidate
Direct Mail – sending campaign propaganda to voter’s addresses (to be effective, this usually requires at least 3-4 pieces of mail per election cycle)
Voters are ranked on a 1-5 scale:
1 definite support; 2 – likely support; 3 – undecided; 4 – likely oppose; 5 – definite oppose
Results of phone calls and canvass are data-entered in the voter file & saved for future use

26. Voter Apathy
Many people don’t care about voting at all

30. Causes of Voter Apathy Don’t like Democrats or Republicans
Don’t think anything will ever change
Don’t see what the election has to do with them

31. Quick Think (in google form)
What are some reasons that voters may be apathetic?

32. ACTIVITY
Use a flexible format (written, cartoon, etc.) to respond to the following questions:
Suppose you are running for office. How would you use the voter file to help in your campaining?
How would you combat voter apathy and convince people that YOU are worth voting for?

33. KAHOOT! THIS Kahoot counts as a quiz grade  AND NOW…review Kahoots!!
Because your midterm is FRIDAY!  

34. Structured Reivew: Log into Schoolnet & access your test scores for:
Unit 2a Test
Pull up your test as I review challenging quesitons with the full class
Unit 3 Test

35. Work & Review Time: FORMAT OPTION TWO:
FORMAT OPTION ONE:
Write your ACECES Paragraphs (the lesson 1 PT)
What are the core beliefs of the Democratic Party?
2 specific examples
What are the core beliefs of the Republican Party?
Are you more of a Democrat, a Republican or neither?
2 Specific examples
FORMAT OPTION TWO:
Pick three issues we have studied.
Issue #1:
Describe it
What do liberals / democrats believe?
What do Conservatives / Republicans believe?
What do you believe?
Issue 2: same format
Issue 3: same format