US Elections Crossword

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Across
  1. 1. An elector who casts their vote in a different way to that dictated by their state's outcome
  2. 4. Groups within a party that take different view on issues (e.g. Blue Dog democrats)
  3. 7. The system for the Presidential election, voters choose electors who cast their vote for a candidate
  4. 10. The state with the highest number of electoral college votes
  5. 11. The name for the sitting politician going into an election, they have an advantage over their challengers
  6. 14. Money donated to political parties, instead of candidates, to avoid breaking campaign finance restrictions, normally using loopholes to donate more.
  7. 15. A political committee that makes independent expenditures to swing elections, but does not contribute to particular candidates.
  8. 16. State based meetings to choose a party’s candidate for a presidential election.
  9. 17. Along with Nebraska this state uses a different system than winner takes all for allocating their electoral college votes
  10. 18. The state with the lowest number of people per electoral college vote, so the voters are overrepresented
Down
  1. 2. The chamber whose members sit for 6 years and represent their state
  2. 3. The political party defined by a more conservative set of ideas and policies
  3. 5. The period between candidates announcing declaring intention to run, and the start of the primary process.
  4. 6. State based election to choose a party’s candidate for a presidential election.
  5. 8. An event occurring late in the presidential election race which has the capability to disrupt a particular candidate with little time to recover.
  6. 9. A group that advocates policy around a specific and limited policy area (e.g. NRA)
  7. 12. The US political party defined by more liberal ideas and policiies
  8. 13. ________ effect - Where an extremely popular candidate at the top of the ticket (president or governor) helps elect candidates (from the same party) for smaller offices.