| Term | Definition |
|---|
| activist | Individuals, usually outside of the government, who actively promote a political party, philosophy, or issue they care about. |
| Australian ballot | A government-printed ballot of uniform size and shape to be cast in secret that was adopted by many states around 1890 in order to reduce voting fraud associated with party-printed ballots cast in public. |
| communalists | Those who join organizations and participate in politics but not in partisan campaigns. |
| grandfather clause | A clause added to registration laws allowing people who did not meet registration requirements to vote if they or their ancestors had voted before 1867 (before blacks were legally allowed to vote). This was to exempt poor and illiterate whites from registratation requirements established to keep former slaves from voting. Declared unconstitution in 1915. |
| literacy test | A requirement that citizens pass a literacy test in order to register to vote. Established to prevent former slaves from voting. Illiterate whites could still vote because of grandfather clause. |
| motor-voter bill | A bill passed in Congress in 1993 to make it easier for Americans to register to vote. Requires states to allow voter registration by mail, when one applies for a driver's license, and at state offices that serve the disabled or poor. |
| poll tax | A requirement that citizens pay a tax in order to register to vote. Adopted by many states to prevent former slaves from voting. |
| Voting Rights Act of 1970 | Legislation that gave 18-year-olds the right to vote in federal elections. |
| white primaries | The practice of keeping African Americans from voting in primary elections. |
| caucus | An association of members of Congress created to advocate a political ideology or regional, ethnic, or economic interest. |
| congressional campaign committee | A committee in each party to help elect or reelect members. |
| realigning period | Features a sharp, lasting shift in the popular coalition supporting one or both parties. |
| factional parties | Parties formed by a split within one of the major parties. |
| Mugwumps | A name for party volunteers who later come to form their own reform movement. |
| national party chair | The person elected and paid to manage day-to-day work of a national political party. |
| national committee | Delegates from each state who manage party affairs between conventions |
| national convention | A meeting of elected party delegates every four years to nominate presidential and vice-presidential candidates and ratify a campaign platform. |
| office bloc ballot | A ballot listing all candidates for a given office under the name of that office. |
| organizational party | A party that stresses national organization to raise money and give assistance to local candidates and party units. |
| party column ballot | A ballot listing all candidates of a given party together under the name of that party. |
| plurality system | An electoral system in which the winner is the person who gets the most votes but not necessarily the majority of the votes. |
| political machine | A party organization that recruits members by dispensing patronage. |
| solidary groups | Parties organized around sociability, rather than tangible rewards or ideology. |
| stalwarts | A name to party professionals, as opposed to volunteers. |
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