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| A regularly scheduled election to choose the U.S. president, vice president, and senators and representatives in Congress. General elections are held in even-numbered years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. |
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| An election that is held at the state or local level when the voters must decide an issue before the next general election or when vacancies occur by reason of death or resignation. |
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| A secret ballot that is prepared, distributed, and counted by government officials at public expense; used by all states in the United States since 1888 |
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| A ballot (Indian Ballot) that lists all of a party's candidates under the party label. Voters can vote for all of a party's candidates for local, state, and national offices by making a single "X" or pulling a single lever. |
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| A ballot (Massachusetts ballot) that lists together all of the candidates for each office. |
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| A representative from one of the political parties who is allowed to monitor a polling place to make sure that the election is run fairly and to avoid fraud. |
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| A member of the electoral college |
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| The group of electors who are selected by the voters in each state to elect officially the president and vice president. The number of electors in each state is equal to the number of that state's representatives in both chambers of Congress |
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| A system in which the candidate who receives the most votes wins in contrast, proportional systems allocate votes to multiple winners. |
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| A meeting held to choose political candidates or delegates. |
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| An official meeting of a political party to choose its candidates. Nominating conventions at the state and local levels also select delegates to represent the citizens of their geographic areas at a higher-level party convention. |
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| A person selected to represent the people of one geographic area at a party convention. |
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| An election in which voters choose the candidates of their party, who will then run in the general election. |
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| An election held within each of the two major parties, Democratic and Republican, to choose the party's candidates for the general election. Voters choose the candidate directly, rather than through delegates. |
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| A primary in which only party members can vote to choose that party's candidates. |
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| A primary in which voters can vote for a party's candidates regardless of whether they belong to the party. |
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| A committee of each national political party that evaluates the claims of national party convention delegates to be the legitimate representatives of their states. |
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| A professional political adviser who, for a fee, works on an area of a candidate's campaign. Political consultants include campaign mangers, pollsters, media advisers, and "get out the vote" organizers. |
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| The comprehensive plan for winning an election developed by a candidate and his or her advisers. The strategy includes the candidate's position on issues, slogan, advertising plan, press events, personal appearances, and other aspects of the campaign. |
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| A legitimate way of evading a certain legal requirement |
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| Campaign contributions not regulated by federal law, such as some contributions that are made to political parties instead of to particular candidates. |
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| An expenditure for activities that are independent from those of a political candidate or a political party. |
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