Lesson 1: Introduction to the world of U.S. elections

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 3

US ELECTIONS

Electing a President of the United States is a complex, expensive, and extended process. This year, the American people will elect a new president....are they ready for change? Will Kamala Harris become the first female Vice-president? Will experience play a deciding role and is Joe Biden going to end up in the Withe house? Or in the end will the Americans stick with 'the Donald'. Time will tell.......

FUN FACTS

• Election Day was designated as the Tuesday following the first Monday in November back in 1845. At the time, officials calculated that farmers needed a day to get to the country seat to cast ballots but did not want to interfere with church day on Sunday, so they chose Tuesday.
• John F Kennedy was the youngest man to be elected president at 43.
  
• Hillary Clinton is the first woman to clinch the nomination for a major party. But the first woman to run for president was Victoria Woodhull, leader of the Suffragette movement in the US, in 1872 - almost 50 years before women were allowed to vote in presidential elections (1920).
  
• At 70, Donald Trump would be the oldest candidate to be elected as a first-term president. Ronald Reagan was 69 when he won his first term, and 73 when he won for the second time.
• Want to give it a go next time? To be a presidential candidate you need to be: at least 35 years old; a permanent US resident for at least 14 years; and considered a natural US born citizen.

Lesson 1: Introduction to the world of U.S. elections

What do you already know?

If you watch the news, read newspaper or use social media you have probably heard all kind of things about the U.S. presidential elections. So let's test what you already know by playing a Kahoot. You can do this together with your classmates.

https://create.kahoot.it/details/88c5e683-620c-49cc-a256-628796be7e5f

The process explained

Electing a president is a complicated process in the U.S. It is not just a matter of who has the the most votes. The election is based on a system in which candidates need to win states. In this session you will have a look at this complicated proces.

In this session you are going to watch a video. This video explains the process of electing a U.S. president. The infographic on the next page helps you understand the video. Study the infographic first.

In the infographic and video are some keywords which you need to know in order to fully grasp the system of electing a president. If you need some more help have a look at the glossary first and complete task 1 first and then continue to the video and tasks 2.

Task 1: Warm up
An elector respresents a state.

1. False
2. True

Each state has the same amount of electors.

1. False
2. True

If you receive the most votes in a state, you win all the electors of that state.

1. False
2. True

The president and vice-president are elected at the same time.

1. False
2. True

If you win the most states, you win the elections.

1. False
2. True

If you receive the most votes (popular votes) throughout the entire country, you win the elections.

1. False
2. True

Study tip task 2 - word families

Example = election (noun), elect (verb), electoral (adjective)

Noticing patterns like this can help you work out the meaning of new words

Task 3: Grasped it?

Drag the words into the correct boxes

1. People in the USA
                   to elect a new                           every four years.

2. The last U.S. presidential                     was held in 2016.

3. The U.S. presidential elections aren’t won by                           vote.

4. U.S. presidential elections are decided by the number of votes cast in individual                            .

5. On election day citizens go to a voting center and            their vote for the candidate of their choice.

6. The amount of influence a state has is measured by the size of its                          .

7. A person who stands for election is known as a                        .

8. A candidate needs more than half of the total number of                                     to win the presidency.

vote

president

election 

popular 

states

cast

population

candidate

electors

How to select a candidate?

Both Rupblicans and Democrats need to select a candidate to run for president. But how does this selection process actually work? The terms 'primary'and caucus' play the main role in this process.

In this session you are going to read a text on how to select a candidate. Then continue to the tasks. 

Selecting a presidential candidate

READ THE TEXT:

Two political parties are dominating U.S. politics, it means only two people have any real chance in the presidential election every four years: the Republicans and the Democrats. So while a lot of Americans express frustration with the system and say they'd like more options on election day, if a voter wants to help decide who those two candidates are, they've got to take part in the party primary system.

It used to be that presidential candidates were selected at party conventions. Conventions still happen, but they're mostly ceremonial since primary elections have picked every candidate for more than 50 years. Violence broke out at the Democratic convention in 1968, the last time a party picked a candidate who hadn't won any primaries.

A lot has changed since then, but U.S. politics hasn't got any less confusing. Before the general election, most candidates for president go through a series of state primary elections and caucuses. Though primaries and caucuses are run differently, they both serve the same purpose. They let the states choose the major political parties’ nominees for the general election. Every state conducts their own primary election or caucus to select a presidential candidate and none of them do it exactly the same way.

Caucuses are more like neighbourhood meetings than a traditional primary. People show up and actually lobby for their candidates. They are usually held at a district level. In most, participants divide themselves into groups according to the candidate they support. Undecided voters form their own group. Each group gives speeches supporting its candidate and tries to get others to join its group. At the end, the number of voters in each group determines how many delegates each candidate has won.

  

Some states have open primaries -- meaning anyone can take part in the primary, even if they aren't registered party members. Other states have closed primaries -- meaning you have to join the party in order to vote.

In each primary or caucus you can win a certain number of delegates. These are individuals who represent their state at national party conventions. The candidate who receives a majority of the party’s delegates wins the nomination. When the primaries and caucuses are over, most political parties hold a national convention. This is when the winning candidates receive their nomination.

 If you would like to have more clarification on the process of selecting a candidate use the infographic and/or watch the video on the next page

Task 2: Choose them

Fill in the 6 words that are directly related to the process of selecting a presidential candidate. 

caucus - money - experience - conventions - primaries - electors - age - voting - district - TV - ads - parties -
president-elect

Choose the right words and fill in.

Describe in your own words the difference between a caucus and a primary and their role in selecting a presidential candidate.