POLI 309                                                                                                                             Fall 2006

GUIDE TO IN-CLASS FINAL EXAM

            As indicated on the syllabus, the In-Class Final Exam will be held on Monday, December 18, 10:30-12:30 in PUP 206. It will cover those parts of Sections IV not covered in the midterm exam through the remainder of the course (but excluding the final section on Presidential Nominations, which has not been covered at all either in class or readings).

            The general format will be similar to that of the In-Class Midterm Exam. You will be presented with the following instructions:

In a brief paragraph for each item, identify and discuss the significance of ten of the following fifteen items. (6 minutes each item for a total of 60 minutes)

There are these changes from the midterm. First, the suggested time is six, rather than five, minutes for each item, making the exam 60, rather than 50, minutes long. Second, you will be allowed to work longer than 60 minutes if you wish, up to a maximum of the full two-hour time slot for final exams. Third, while one answer may refer to, or draw on, another answer, you will be asked to write ten separate answers.

            The fifteen items will be drawn from the following list. All items listed below were mentioned (with some emphasis) in class lectures and discussions, course handouts, and/or the PowerPoint presentations, but references to other course readings will contribute to strong answers in some areas. The items below are not of equal generality or importance, and the more general or important ones are more likely to appear as items on the test. But many items below that do not appear as questions on the test may nevertheless be appropriately used in (good) answers (as may items listed in the Guide to the Midterm Exam).

            Duverger’s Law

            12^th Amendment

            transformation of Electoral College

            pledged electors

            faithless electors

            popular vs. legislative selection of electors

            district system for electing electors

            general ticket system for electing electors

            generalized plurality system for electing electors

            1824 election

            American historical “party systems”

            First Party System

            Second Party System

            Third Party System

            Fourth Party System

            Fifth Party System

            Sixth Party System

            realigning elections

            landslide Presidential elections

            closest Presidential elections

            1876 election

            1960 election

            wrong winner/reversal of winners

            districted electoral systems

            manufactured majority

            minority President

            effective number of candidates

            pivotal state

            tipability of electoral vs. popular vote

            1912 election

            1860 election

            Electoral College as a vote counting mechanism

            swing ratio

            historical vs. cross-sectional assessment of swing ratio and partisan bias

            uniform national swing

            political landscape vs. political tides

            PVEV (Popular Vote/Electoral Vote) function and charts

            bias vs “rounding error” in PVEV function

            wrong winner interval

            apportionment effects (in districted electoral system)

            perfectly apportioned district system

            imperfect apportionment in Electoral College system

            distribution effects (in districted electoral system)

            25%-75% rule (in distribution effects)

            weighted voting game

            power index

            Shapley-Shubik index

            Banzhaft index

            voting weights vs. voting power

            dummy player/voter

            individual voting power in two-stage EC voting game

            electoral college deadlock

            House contingent procedure

            1825 House rules

            House deadlock

            Senate contingent procedure

            Electoral College alternatives

            proportional (Lodge-Gossett) plan

            district (Mundt) plan

            automatic plan

            national bonus plan

            direct popular vote variants