1. Key Chapter 8 Vocabulary Political Parties

2. Elections to select nominees in which only people who are registered with that party may vote for the party’s candidates. It encouraged party loyalty.
Closed Primaries

3. Voting for one party for one office and another party for other offices
Ticket Splitting

4. An electoral “earthquake” where new issues emerge, new coalitions replace old ones, and the majority party is often displaced by the minority party. Critical election periods are are sometimes marked by national crisis and may require more than one election to bring about a new party era.
Critical Election

5. Proportional Representation
An electoral system used throughout most of Europe that awards legislative seats in proportion to the number of seats won in an election.
Proportional Representation

6. Elections to select party nominees in which voters can decide whether they want to participate in Republican or Democratic contests (aka “crossover voting”).
Open Primaries

7. When two or more parties join together to form a majority in a national legislature. This form of government is quite common in the multiparty systems of Europe.
Coalition Government

8. The gradual disengagement of people from the parties, as seen, in part by shrinking party identification.
Party Dealignment

9. Electoral contenders other than the two major parties
Electoral contenders other than the two major parties. American third parties are not unusual, but they rarely win elections.
Third Parties

10. Winner-take-all system
An electoral system in which legislative seats are only rewarded to the candidates who came in first in their constituencies. This severely hurts the success of 3rd party candidates.
Winner-take-all system

12. The displacement of a majority party by a minority party following a critical election period.
Party Realignment

13. A coalition formed by Democrats which dominated U. S
A coalition formed by Democrats which dominated U.S. politics from the 1930’s to the 1960’s. Its basic elements were the urban working class, ethnic groups, catholics and jews, the poor, Southerners, African-Americans, and intellectuals.
New Deal Coalition