1. Preparing to Vote (Packet 17)

2. General voting words Ballot: the paper you vote on. Candidate: someone running for office. Issues: important ideas or concerns. Endorsement: when someone says they’re supporting / backing a certain candidate. Proposals: another name for issues.

3. Ways to find out about candidates and/or issues Newspapers – especially the editorials Magazines – Time, Newsweek, etc… Television – even those Sunday morning shows - or the political channels Radio – Talk radio Debates – TV / radio for big debates Pamphlets – often sent to your house

4. Political Parties Major Democrats Republicans Others (Minority Parties) http://www.politics1.com /parties.htm Some others are Non-Partisan (no party)

5. Primary and General Elections An election to nominate (name) candidates to run for office. For example: there may be 5 different Democrats wanting to run for office, so in a primary, they’ll vote to see which one of the 5 will be the one to run. The election that decides who will be the one who actually wins and takes office.

6. Closed / Open Primaries You must be registered as a member of a political party to vote. Democrats could only vote for primary Democrats. Would keep the other side from voting for someone who wouldn’t beat their candidate. Every registered voter can vote – no matter which political party they belong to.

7. Split tickets Voting for people in more than one political party (splitting your vote a couple of ways). Example: voting for a Republican President and a Democratic Governor In some primaries, you cannot vote a split ticket.

8. Absentee Ballots If for some reason you know ahead of time you won’t be able to vote, you can get an absentee ballot. Like: soldiers in another country, people out of their home state for vacation or business, or elderly people who’d have a hard time getting out to vote.

13. Soweto, South Africa (1994)