1. Essential Vocabulary:
In your Interactive Notebook: Unit 3/4 - Lessons 7 & 8 Elections, & Voting Procedures
LESSON ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
How does North Carolina handle its voting system?
What is “straight ticket voting” & why are some elections non-partisan?
Warm Up:
On paper: Try to fill out the sample ballot I gave you as you entered.
If you don’t know what to do, use a pencil.
Then answer these in classroom:
Do you know who you would vote for for each office?
Do you know what each office deals with?
Do you know what these bonds are about?
How might you feel if you tried to vote, and didn’t know what to put for some of these contests?
Essential Vocabulary:
Candidate
Bond Issues
Ballot
Voter registration
Partisan vs. Nonpartisan Elections
Eligibility
process
Voting Precinct
State judge elections
Voter turnout
Voter apathy
Single member vs. at large districts
Early voting
Absentee ballot
Open seats
Straight ticket voting
“Safe” Seats
Split-ticket voting
Referendum
Today’s Plan:
How to vote (and make it count!)
Down-ballot races
REGISTERING TO VOTE! You 16 yet?   

2. Unit 3/4: Constitution & American Politics Lesson 7: Elections, & Voting Procedures
Class Website:
DEADLINES & HOMEWORK:
Lessons 7 & 8: Nov 7 & 9
Lesson 9: Thursday, Nov 10
Vocab Quiz, covers lessons 7-9 (End of class Quiz)
Lesson 10: Monday, Nov 14
Performance Task Deadlines:
Lesson 11: Tues, Nov 15
Updated Mid-Unit Quest (emphasizes politics: Nov 16)
Lesson 12: The Supreme Court
Lesson 13: The First Amendment
Lesson 14: Right to Privacy (Amendments 2 & 9)
Lesson 15: Due Process
Lesson 16: Other Amendments
Unit Test: Nov 23? 28?
Lesson 7 Performance Task:
Please answer our essential question using at least five key vocabulary terms.
How does North Carolina handle its voting system?
What is “straight ticket voting” & why are some elections non-partisan?

3. HOW DO I VOTE? VOTER REGISTRATION: WAYS TO VOTE: ON ELECTION DAY
Register 30 days before election
A U.S. Citizen & 18+ y/o
Resident of the state for at least 30 days before the election
Not currently serving a felony sentence
Mentally competent
Must update voter registration if you change addresses
WAYS TO VOTE:
Early Voting
Vote at central locations in the two weeks before an election
Allows people more flexibility
ON ELECTION DAY
Must vote at your precinct
local voting place
Polls open: 6:30am-7:30pm
Absentee Ballots
request by mail if you will be out of town for the election

4. How to Vote: Look at your ballot as we go over these…
Top of the Ticket
Major races that most voters are focused on:
U.S. President
Governor of your state
U.S. Senator
Down-ballot Races
Other races that many voters haven’t paid much attention to:
State House / Senate
County Commission
State Judge
Council of State
Soil & Water commissioner
Straight Ticket Voting
Casting ballot for ALL of the candidates from YOUR political party
Vote for every Democrat / Republican
Split Ticket voting
Casting ballot for SOME Democrats and SOME Republicans, depending on the candidate & race

5. How to Vote: Look at your ballot as we go over these…
Partisan elections
Most offices allow candidates to run AS the NOMINEE of their political party.
Party affiliation appears on the ballot next to candidate name
Non-partisan elections
Some races don’t allow you to run as a member of a party, only as an individual
Party affiliation DOES NOT appear on ballot
Find examples on ballot:
NC Supreme Court (IMPORTANT!)
District Court Judge
Soil & Water Supervisor
Straight Ticket Voting?
Doesn’t work in non-partisan races!!!!

6. 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

7. REFERENDA – WHAT ARE THOSE? Let the People be Heard
REFERENDUMs allow citizens to vote directly for/against a proposed law
Bypasses the legislature and governor;
In North Carolina, referenda must be placed on the ballot BY the County or State government
Some states allow citizens to gather petitions to put something on the ballot directly, without support of the legislature.
North Carolina DOES NOT ALLOW citizen-led ballot referendums

8. Referenda Examples On Durham’s Ballot tomorrow
National Examples tomorrow
Bond Requests allow the County to borrow or otherwise raise money for public projects such as:
Schools
Libraries
Museums
Public buildings
Legalizing Marijuana
Recreationally: CA, NV, AZ, MA, ME
For medical use: 4-5 others
Minimum Wage Increases:
Colorado, Arizona, Maine; Washington, South Dakota
Gun Control Laws
Maine, California, Nevada, Washington
Education:
GA proposal would allow the state to turn public schools over to for-profit charter school companies

9. Election Vocabulary: Types of Elections & Candidates
Candidate – person running for office
Incumbent – person running for RE-ELECTION
“open seat” – election for an office in which NO INCUMBENT is running
“safe” seat – election in which the incumbent is NOT challenged
Happens when a district is gerrymandered so that one party has a big advantage in that district and is nearly guaranteed a win

10. 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

11. 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 (see ballot):
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

12. At Large or Single Member district?

13. 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
Recall Election
some states allow voters to remove an official from office BEFORE the end of their term

14. 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.

15. Voter Turnout & Voter Apathy
Voter Turnout – perecentage of registered voters that SHOW UP AND VOTE in the election
Voter apathy – not bothering to vote even though you have the right to

19. 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

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

21. 2016 Election Activity  Election Day is Tomorrow!!
Use and follow instructions on your handout.
IN CLASS RIGHT NOW:
Shade in electoral map on the front (safe states)
Fill in 1st column of chart showing how each swing state voted in 2012
At home tomorrow:
Watch the election results come in
Use the data to finish filling in your map and chart
Answer the questions

22. AND NOW…review Kahoots!!
After the kahoot – vocab quiz time!  
AND NOW…review Kahoots!!

25. Work & Review Time: Work on Review Packet if you are Done with this.
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