Put the correct words from a–d below in the text.
Watch the video to check your answers
Primary elections are how political
parties in the US
pick their strongest (1)____ to run for president. The
parties do this by holding mini-elections in each of the states and the
candidate with the most (2)____ from these
elections becomes the parties “official
nominees”, these nominees then face each other in the national election for
president. But this isn’t the whole story. There are 5
things that make it a bit more complicated than that.
Complication
№ 1. Primaries and Caucuses.
In every state, the local party
leaders decide how to run their elections. The most common choices are (3)____
and caucuses. Primaries are just like standard elections. Go to the polls
whenever you can, stand in long line, hide in a booth, then tick a box or press
a button and your vote is cast in complete anonymity. A caucus, however is a
public (4)___. People
gather in groups, wherever space is available, then literally take sides in the
room with everyone else who likes the same (5)___.
The groups debate each other and if people change their minds, they need to
physically switch sides. At the end of the debates the party representatives
count the number of people in each group. If you leave too early, your vote
doesn’t (6)____.
This
description of primaries and caucuses is really all you need to know but the
specifics can vary widely. That’s because there are 50 (7)___ all of which hold
at least two primaries and caucuses for the big parties, and possibly more for
the small (8)___. Covering all the local variants would take a tediously long
time, which your short attention span for boring political videos wouldn’t tolerate – and you need to stay focused
because there are 4 more things to cover.
Complication № 2. Who can vote?
In the
National Presidential election all American (9)___ over the age of 18 can vote,
with 2 exceptions, you can’t live here (prison) or here (territories). But
primaries are in–state elections with lots of different rules. Most states and parties will only let
you vote in the primary if you are an official member of the party. This is
called a closed primary, because the voting is closed to (10)____ members, but
some citizens are independents and not registered with any party. If you are
independent and live in a state with closed party elections, tough luck, no
voting for you. Some states, however, have semi-closed primaries where (11)___
can pick one and only one primary to vote in. Parties allow this because the
presidential election is often determined by independents, so knowing which
candidates they like is useful. Finally, in a few states the parties really
play fast and loose with open primaries, here any citizens no matter which
party they’re (12)___ with can pick a primary to vote in. But it’s not just the
states that have primaries. They’re also held in the District of Columbia and we all forgot
territories holding primaries. Here it is a bit odd though, considering the
territorial (13)___ can’t vote in the actual presidential election. Lastly,
there are Americans living (14)___ who, depending on the party, vote in a block
as though they all live together in one big extra state. When all these
elections take place depends on Complication № 3.
Complication №
3. Who votes when?
Primaries
are not conducted all at once, but are
(15)___ out over a year. This leads to fights between the states about who gets
to be at the head of the line, who is stuck at the back. Inevitably last minute (16)____ dates happens
even if the parties often take away votes from these uncivil states. When it
comes to be number one nobody beats New Hampshire, who wrote it into state law
that their primary will always be at least a week ahead of everyone else’s. This
isn’t a problem until some other state has the bright idea to do the same, and
then we have an infinite loop in our system and have to force a law. But wait,
you say: “Doesn’t Iowa
already go first?” Yes, but New Hampshire lets them get away with it for two
reasons: first, Iowa’s
election is a caucus and so New
Hampshire is still technically the first primary. And
second: New
Hampshire thinks that Iowa
is stupid and doesn’t matter.
Other states
try to (17)____ their influence not by cutting in line but by forming an alliance
and holding their primaries at the same time. The biggest (18)___ of the
election cycle is called Super Tuesday where, depending on how many states can
agree with each other, around half of them might (19)___ giving out a whole
pile of votes. Which brings us to Complication
№ 4.
Complication № 4. Votes, that
aren’t votes.
So this
whole time you’re were probably thinking that citizens give votes straight to
the candidates, but no. Instead, the votes are given to a bunch of guys, called
delegates, who in turn, will give them to candidates as requested. Maybe...
Depending on the state, delegates might be required to vote as the citizens
did, or they might be completely free to ignore the citizens and vote for
whomever they want. Who are these people? The (20)____ are local party VIPs,
such as state reps and officials.
The more citizens who live in a
state, the more delegates that state gets. Later in the year, when all the
states have finished their primaries, the delegates travel to a huge gathering
for their party called the National (21)_____. It’s here that the official vote
to select the party’s (22)_____ for president happens. But it’s not just these
delegates who do the voting.
Complication
№ 5. Super Delegates.
Super
delegates are the top members of the party such as (23)____ and former
presidents. They go to the National Convention not to (24)____ the people but
to represent the current party establishment and can vote for whomever they
want. Depending on the party, the super delegates might be up to 20% of the
voters at the National Convention. Usually by the time the national convention
happens all the candidates, save one,
have dropped out of the (25)_____, so the convention is just a rubber stamp and
a big party. But if the fight between candidates is still ongoing, the
delegates and super delegates are the ones with the (26)_____ decision.
In
summary: Over the course of a year the states, plus DC, plus the territories,
and the Americans abroad hold their primaries or caucuses. When finished the
delegates representing the citizens who voted in those elections travel to the
national convention. Most of the delegates are forced to vote as the citizens
of their state wanted them to, but some of them are free to vote as they like.
At the national convention the delegates meet up with the super delegates who
represent the best interests of the party and together they make the final
decision on who will be the nominee for (27)____. Tired? Don’t be, because now
the race for the presidency began. Of course, you can skip all that and jump
straight into the election as an (28)_____, the only downside to this strategy
is nearly certain defeat.
|
1.
|
(a)
|
nominate
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(b)
|
politics
|
(c)
|
party
|
(d)
|
candidate
|
|
2.
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(a)
|
voter
|
(b)
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votes
|
(c)
|
voting
|
(d)
|
elections
|
|
3.
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(a)
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primal
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(b)
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prime
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(c)
|
primaries
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(d)
|
first election
|
|
4.
|
(a)
|
voter
|
(b)
|
vote
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(c)
|
elections
|
(d)
|
voter
|
|
5.
|
(a)
|
persons
|
(b)
|
parties
|
(c)
|
candidate
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(d)
|
man
|
|
6.
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(a)
|
count
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(b)
|
calculate
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(c)
|
assess
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(d)
|
evaluate
|
|
7.
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(a)
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country
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(b)
|
states
|
(c)
|
nation
|
(d)
|
people
|
|
8.
|
(a)
|
voter
|
(b)
|
candidate
|
(c)
|
election
|
(d)
|
parties
|
|
9.
|
(a)
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citizens
|
(b)
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citizenship
|
(c)
|
person
|
(d)
|
American
|
|
10.
|
(a)
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non-political
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(b)
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non-party
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(c)
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indifferent
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(d)
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foreign
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|
11.
|
(a)
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independents
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(b)
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independence
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(c)
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non-party
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(d)
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sovereignty
|
|
12.
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(a)
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familiar
|
(b)
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fixed
|
(c)
|
registered
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(d)
|
registration
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|
13.
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(a)
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residents
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(b)
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inhabitants
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(c)
|
citizen
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(d)
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native
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14.
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(a)
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far
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(b)
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away
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(c)
|
out
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(d)
|
abroad
|
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15.
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(a)
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spread
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(b)
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divide
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(c)
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last
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(d)
|
split
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|
16.
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(a)
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ploy
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(b)
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conflict
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(c)
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defrauding
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(d)
|
fighting
|
|
17.
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(a)
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boost
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(b)
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grow
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(c)
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improve
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(d)
|
changing
|
|
18.
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(a)
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union
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(b)
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united
|
(c)
|
compromise
|
(d)
|
alliance
|
|
19.
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(a)
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take
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(b)
|
participate
|
(c)
|
participant
|
(d)
|
make
|
|
20.
|
(a)
|
delegates
|
(b)
|
delegation
|
(c)
|
politician
|
(d)
|
voter
|
|
21.
|
(a)
|
union
|
(b)
|
alliance
|
(c)
|
collection
|
(d)
|
Convention
|
|
22.
|
(a)
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nominate
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(b)
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nominee
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(c)
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nomination
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(d)
|
name
|
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23.
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(a)
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congressmen
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(b)
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congress
|
(c)
|
politics
|
(d)
|
delegate
|
|
24.
|
(a)
|
help
|
(b)
|
vote
|
(c)
|
represent
|
(d)
|
presentation
|
|
25.
|
(a)
|
tournament
|
(b)
|
competition
|
(c)
|
run
|
(d)
|
race
|
|
26.
|
(a)
|
end
|
(b)
|
final
|
(c)
|
last
|
(d)
|
latest
|
|
27.
|
(a)
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president
|
(b)
|
presidential
|
(c)
|
leading
|
(d)
|
president’s
|
|
28.
|
(a)
|
single
|
(b)
|
sovereign
|
(c)
|
independent
|
(d)
|
independence
|
1 Give
Ukrainian equivalents for the following words and expressions.
Primary,
caucus, to boost, nominee, to require.
2 Comprehension questions.
1. Who can vote?
2. What do primaries mean?
3. What is the name of the biggest alliance of the
election cycle?
4. Who are the delegates?
5. What decision do delegates make at the national
convention?
3
Say if the following statements are true according to the text.
1. At the end of the debates party representative counts
the number of people in each group.
2. In the National Presidential election all American
citizens over the age of 16 can vote.
3. Iowa’s election is a caucus and so New Hampshire is still technically the first
primary.
4. The biggest alliance of the election cycle is called
Super Thursday.
5. The delegates are local party VIPs, such as state reps
and officials.
6. When all the states have finished their primaries, the
delegates travel to a huge gathering for their party called the National
Convention.
7. Super delegates are the top members of the party such
as congressmen and former presidents.
8. If you leave too early your vote doesn’t count.
9. Most states and parties will only let you vote in the
primary if you are an official member of the party.
Depending on
the party, the super delegates might be up to 45% of the voters at the National
Convention.