Elections are a fundamental aspect of any democratic society, allowing citizens to choose their leaders and shape the direction of their country. From local elections to national elections, the process of voting and selecting representatives is a complex and multifaceted endeavor. The electoral process can be different from one country to another, and it's important to understand the rules and procedures in each country. However, not everyone is aware of the interesting trivia and facts surrounding elections. Here are a few examples of election trivia questions that might test your knowledge:
- Who were the first two presidential candidates in the United States?
- What is the name of the process of selecting a presidential nominee before an election?
- What is the name of the act that guarantees voting rights to all adult citizens in the United States?
- What is the name of the process of casting and counting votes in an election?
- What is the minimum age for a person to vote in the United States?
These are just a few examples of the many fascinating facts and trivia related to elections. Whether you're a student of political science or just someone who is curious about how elections work, these questions can be a fun and interesting way to learn more about the electoral process.
222 Election Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2024)
- They’d have to wait until 1920 in the USA and 1971 in Switzerland! Thanks to the work of Kate Sheppard, among others, New Zealand was the first country in the world to give votes in national elections to what group of people?
Answer: Women
- Deputy director of the Pawnee Parks Department Leslie Knope, played by Amy Poehler, emerges victorious in a city council election against Paul Rudd’s Bobby Newport during the season four finale of what NBC comedy?
Answer: Parks and Recreation
- The 2000 U.S. presidential election was officially decided by a controversial Supreme Court decision following a recount of votes in what state? The recount determined that George W. Bush had defeated Al Gore in that state by a mere 537 votes.
Answer: Florida
- In 2004, allegations of fraud against Viktor Yanukovych, the purported winner of a presidential election, led to the Orange Revolution in what country?
Answer: Ukraine
- Double the last letter in the name of a strong cotton fabric to get what verb that means going through a district to solicit votes in person?
Answer: Canvass
- Pittsburgh was the location of the first commercial radio broadcast in the U.S. When KDKA hit the air on November 2, 1920, it was to share the results of which kind of election that had just taken place?
Answer: Presidential
- David Palmer successfully won a presidential election after Jack Bauer foiled an assassination attempt on him during his campaign, in what Fox drama series?
Answer: 24
- On May 3, 2022, incumbent Todd Young was the only Republican candidate in the U.S. Senate primary election in which state?
Answer: Indiana
- Since 1965, residents of Gambia have been casting their votes for president by dropping a small object into a drum. What’s the name of the tiny glass globes they use instead of paper ballots?
Answer: Marbles
- Which Republican president was the most recent to win Hamilton County, Ohio, home of Cincinnati, in 2004?
Answer: George W. Bush
- He attended the University of Georgia and owned several agribusinesses before entering politics. He has served as the Secretary of State in his home state while in the midst of an extremely close governorship election. He received national attention when his state was one of the first to start the "re-opening" process during the COVID-19 pandemic. Who is this man?
Answer: Brian Kemp
- “Compulsory,” “universal civic duty,” and “mandatory” are all terms that describe which act that citizens of legal age must partake in if they live in countries like Australia, Luxembourg, and Egypt?
Answer: Voting
- What state, previously governed by figures like Bob McDonnell and Ralph Northam, is the only on in the U.S. where governors are prohibited from running for consecutive terms?
Answer: Virginia
- Joe Crowley, a 10-term incumbent and chair of the Democratic Caucus, was famously upset in his 2018 election bid by what now-Representative?
Answer: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
- Days after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who continued to lead his party after stepping down, the Liberal Democratic Party was victorious in July 2022 elections in what country?
Answer: Japan
- According to the most recent US census numbers, it is the state with the highest percentage of indigenous people. After beating former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a 2022 special election, Mary Peltola became the first indigenous member of congress from what state?
Answer: Alaska
- Perhaps the most popular novelty t-shirt of the last twenty years was inspired by Napoleon Dynamite imploring his classmates to vote for whom in the class president election?
Answer: Pedro
- In response to a question about pay equity during a 2012 presidential debate, Mitt Romney stated that when filling his cabinet as governor of Massachusetts, women's political group MassGAP sent him nearly 200 résumés of female candidates, which Romney clumsily described with what four-word phrase?
Answer: "Binders full of women"
- In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump fired what then head of the FBI? One of the reasons Trump gave was this director’s handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s e-mails during the 2016 election.
Answer: James Comey
- The most common method used in U.S. elections is often abbreviated "FPTP," where the acronym stands for what four-word phrase?
Answer: First past the post
- Just like the sports analytics of "Moneyball," Nate Silver uses sabermetrics to balance political polling on what website named for the number of electors in the U.S. Electoral College?
Answer: FiveThirtyEight
- In 2020, Sarah McBride became the first openly transgender state senator in American history when she was elected to the legislature of what second-smallest state?
Answer: Delaware
- In the 2000 and 2004 elections, who was the campaign manager and senior advisor for George W. Bush?
Answer: Karl Rove
- The election of 1912 was the first one to feature the 48 contiguous states, thanks to Arizona and New Mexico joining the union prior to the election. Both of those states went to which eventual winner?
Answer: Woodrow Wilson
- In the Electoral College, each state has a number of electors that equals the number of members of that state's House of Representatives contingent plus two (each state having two Senators). The District of Columbia has three electors. What is the total number of electors comprising the Electoral College?
Answer: 538
- Former Florida Governor Robert Ritchie should have known not to run against a show’s protagonist as he was only able to muster 119 electoral votes against incumbent Jed Bartlet during the 2002 presidential election on what NBC White House drama?
Answer: The West Wing
- Who was chief justice of the Supreme Court at the time the controversial Supreme Court decision "Bush v. Gore," was handed down on December 12, 2000?
Answer: William Rehnquist
- What’s blowing up, Doc? Exploding cigars, pianos, and watermelons are some of the unorthodox tactics used in a cartoon pitting Yosemite Sam in a mayoral race against what wascal?
Answer: Bugs Bunny
- What Kentucky-born presidential candidate swung his support to John Quincy Adams after finishing fourth in the 1824 election, helping Adams to prevail in a House of Representatives vote?
Answer: Henry Clay
- The 2008 Presidential election featured the major party tickets of Obama-Biden and McCain-Palin. It also featured a few independent candidates, including which man and consumer advocate, who ran for President in 1996, 2000 and 2004 under the Green and Reform party lines?
Answer: Ralph Nader
- Famous for his "March to the Sea," what Civil War Union general chose not to parlay his military success into a political career, declining calls to run for election as President of the United States?
Answer: William Tecumseh Sherman
- The Fifth Party System in the United States, which hosted relative Democratic dominance with their New Deal Coalition, began with which president's 1932 election?
Answer: Franklin D Roosevelt
- The public comment "I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach" is thought to be a major reason that Democrat Terry McAuliffe lost his 2021 bid to be re-elected as governor of what state?
Answer: Virginia
- Aunt Viv's husband, Uncle Phil, runs for Superior Court Judge against his former law school mentor in an episode of what 1990s sitcom?
Answer: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
- "Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow" was a Super PAC founded by what US comedian who raised awareness of Super PACs in his late-night television program during 2012?
Answer: Stephen Colbert
- Taking 525 electoral votes to Walter Mondale's 13, what President won re-election in 1984 in one of the biggest landslides in American history?
Answer: Ronald Reagan
- In the United Kingdom, the Conservative Party has been in power stretching back to when David Cameron defeated Gordon Brown in the general election in which year?
Answer: 2010
- The second debate between candidates for the 2024 Republican Presidential nomination took place at the Simi Valley, California library honoring what former U.S. President?
Answer: Ronald Reagan
- Sumner Street in Lincoln is where you can find the home (and maybe a monogramed welcome mat showing the initials “WJB”) of what politician who ran against William McKinley twice and Theodore Roosevelt once as the Democratic nominee in three U.S. presidential elections?
Answer: William Jennings Bryan
- What Democratic president won the 1964 election by a massive 486-52 electoral vote margin in the last election where the western states of Idaho, North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma voted Democrat?
Answer: Lyndon B. Johnson
- The 1948 United States presidential election ended with the winner holding a newspaper with what erroneous three-word headline? The headline implied the then Governor of New York had in fact won against a former vice president who assumed office when his predecessor died.
Answer: Dewey Defeats Truman
- What losing candidate received the first presidential electoral votes cast from the state of Alaska, after it was admitted to the United States?
Answer: Richard Nixon
- According to Nielsen ratings, the most-watched vice presidential debate in history was a face-off between Joe Biden and which running mate of John McCain?
Answer: Sarah Palin
- What Eastern European country has been under the repressive leadership of Alexander Lukashenko since its departure from the Soviet Union in 1994? They made headlines for hijacking the plane of a dissident journalist, Roman Protasevich, in mid-air.
Answer: Belarus
- In the 2020 general election, what state governed by Doug Ducey voted to legalize recreational marijuana in a ballot proposition known as the Smart and Safe Act?
Answer: Arizona
- Celebrated two days after Election Day, Return Day unites party leaders to ceremonially bury what kind of tool?
Answer: Hatchet
- What governor of Connecticut, elected in 2018, lost a 2006 U.S. Senate election to Joe Lieberman in 2006, despite beating Lieberman in the primary?
Answer: Ned Lamont
- Led by Adam Price, Plaid Cymru is a political party committed to gaining independence for which UK member country?
Answer: Wales
- Democratic candidates in the state of Minnesota compete in elections not on the "Democratic" party ticket but that of the DFL. The "D" in "DFL" stands for "Democrat," and the "F" and "L" stand for what two professional words?
Answer: Farmer, Labor
- Selina Meyer's team forces a Nevada recount that causes her to lose the presidential election in the fifth season of what 2012-2019 HBO comedy with a second-string name?
Answer: Veep
- In the 1984 U.S. Democratic Primary, Walter Mondale criticized the depth of Gary Hart’s “New Ideas” platform by citing what Wendy’s slogan? Famously stated by Clara Peller in many commercials, it was a reference to how other burger chains don’t use enough meat.
Answer: Where's the beef?
- The third and final of the "Reconstruction Amendments" in the U.S. prohibited government from denying citizens the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." What number amendment is this overall in the U.S.?
Answer: 15
- What portmanteau is the better-known nickname of the States' Rights Democratic Party, who won 39 electoral votes in the 1948 election behind presidential candidate Strom Thurmond?
Answer: Dixiecrats
- December 15, 1788, marked the first of what kind of election to be held in the United States? (Hint: January 7th, 1789, was the deadline for states to choose, but it wasn’t until February 4th that that winner was elected)
Answer: Presidential
- Requiring 60 votes to proceed, what "C" word means a Senate procedure that limits further consideration of a pending proposal to 30 hours to avoid filibuster?
Answer: Cloture
- What was the unsurprising surname of the 1915-born politician who became the first mayor of DC in more than a century after winning the District's 1974 mayoral election?
Answer: Walter Washington
- Instant-runoff voting and single transferable vote are the two specific types of a more general voting system that is used in various jurisdictions in the United States. As of November 1, 2020, Maine is the only U.S. state which uses this voting system in all state primary, congressional, and presidential elections. What is the name of this system?
Answer: Ranked-choice voting
- In 1984, Republican President Ronald Reagan defeated Democrat Walter Mondale by taking 49 states in the electoral college. In 1972, Richard Nixon also took 49 states, losing only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, against this Democratic opponent.
Answer: George McGovern
- What is the four-letter name for a fragment sometimes created when holes are made in a paper or card? The "hanging" variety of this common noun became a hot topic during the 2000 U.S. Presidential election in the state of Florida.
Answer: Chad
- In 1997, David Wolf became the first American to vote from where? A Texas state law enabled him to do so.
Answer: Space
- Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth became a double amputee after the helicopter she was piloting was attacked during the Iraq War. Prior to her election to the Senate, she served as an assistant secretary at what U.S cabinet-level department focused on providing lifelong healthcare services to former members of the military?
Answer: United States Department of Veterans Affairs
- "Psephology," a word that means the study of elections and balloting, gets its name from a Greek word for what small, naturally occurring objects, which ancient Greeks used to vote?
Answer: Pebbles
- This running mate of John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election hailed from what state, which John Kerry failed to carry in the electoral college?
Answer: North Carolina
- Adventurer Phileas Fogg is shocked by the kerfuffle over a San Francisco election for a justice of the peace that he encounters on his global travels in what Jules Verne novel?
Answer: Around the World in Eighty Days
- On November 1, Israeli voters went to the polls for the fifth time in four years to elect members of what legislative body?
Answer: Knesset
- What candidate, running on the American Independent Party ticket in 1968, was the last candidate in a U.S. presidential election to carry a state's electoral votes?
Answer: George Wallace
- As a result of the U.S. census in 2020, some of the electoral college vote allocations for each state have changed for the 2024 presidential election. How many electoral votes will Alaska be worth in 2024?
Answer: Three
- Accusations of irregularities by the Organization of American States forced the resignation of Evo Morales after a 2019 election in what country, despite a ten percentage-point victory over his closest opponent?
Answer: Bolivia
- During Iraq's first democratic elections in 2005, voters would dye what with ink to show that they'd voted? Photos of such voters were spread by newspapers around the world.
Answer: Fingers
- The 1932 election of FDR over Herbert Hoover serves as the backdrop to what 1977 Broadway musical that sees the orphaned protagonist actually meeting Roosevelt during Act II?
Answer: Annie
- In 2016, General Mills's Monster Cereals held a mock election, with what cocoa-flavored cereal beating out Boo Berry and Franken Berry to win the most votes?
Answer: Count Chocula
- Eric Adams, who won the Democratic primary election for the NYC mayoral race, is currently the president of what most-populous NYC borough?
Answer: Brooklyn
- The film Election brought voter fraud to the big screen when it depicted a teacher, played by Matthew Broderick, disposing of votes for what character, played by Reese Witherspoon?
Answer: Tracy Flick
- Many observers were shocked by the success of the PVV (Party for Freedom), overseen by long-time leader Geert Wilders, in the 2023 parliamentary elections of what country?
Answer: The Netherlands
- Sarah Palin was mayor of which city, the fourth largest by population, before her election as the first female Governor of Alaska?
Answer: Wasilla
- In January 2022, 80-year-old Sergio Mattarella was elected to serve a second seven-year term as president of what EU nation?
Answer: Italy
- Claudia Sheinbaum remains the frontrunner in the 2024 presidential election in what country, whose current office holder is prohibited for running again because presidents are limited to a single six-year term called a "sexenio?"
Answer: Mexico
- Though it was officially named the "American Party," what's the better known name of the anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic party that won eight electoral votes for former president Millard Fillmore in 1856?
Answer: Know Nothing
- The sleepy small town of Mayberry is caught up in election fever when Deputy Barney Fife finds himself running for sheriff against what popular incumbent after his job in the big city fell through?
Answer: Andy Griffith
- Who was the first (and as of 2023, only) U.S. Presidential candidate who lost an election even though they originally garnered the most popular AND electoral votes in 1824?
Answer: Andrew Jackson
- All the way back in 1800, the results of the U.S. presidential election was decided by a contingent election in the outgoing House of Representatives. What man ultimately won this election?
Answer: Thomas Jefferson
- The American Anti-Corruption Act, or AACA, is legislation proposed in 2011 to curb the influence of money in politics by what former head of U.S. Federal Election Commission and counsel to John McCain? His last name is the same as the harsh banker in “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
Answer: Trevor Potter
- Raimonds Vejonis of Latvia (elected in 2015) and Alexander Van der Bellen of Austria (elected in 2016) are Europe's first heads of states representing parties with what colorful name?
Answer: Green Party
- Since 1931, every United Kingdom General Election has taken place on what day of the week?
Answer: Thursday
- In 1997, astronaut David Wolf became the first person to vote outside of the planet Earth when he was aboard what Russian space station?
Answer: Mir
- The first African American female major-party gubernatorial nominee in the United States occurred during the 2018 election. What is this woman's name? Note, we are looking for the woman's name, not the name of the state where she (unsuccessfully) ran.
Answer: Stacey Abrams
- What Irish republican and democratic socialist political party, led by Mary Lou McDonald, is the second-largest party in Northern Ireland while refusing to serve in seats it wins and won the largest share of votes in the 2020 Irish general election for the Dáil Eireann?
Answer: Sinn Fein
- The 24th Amendment prohibited them. Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections ruled them unconstitutional. What two-word type of payment are we talking about?
Answer: Poll tax
- What senator, first elected in the 1974 senatorial elections, is the only Democrat to ever be a Senator from Vermont?
Answer: Patrick Leahy
- The close results of the 1948 election created the unusual scenario in which Harry Truman won the election, but the Chicago Tribune speculated that what Republican governor of New York was victorious? A celebratory Truman held up this headline while celebrating his win.
Answer: Thomas Dewey
- The first Section of what Article of the U.S. Constitution determines the number of electors each state is allotted in the Electoral College?
Answer: Article II
- What was the name of the 1874 armed conflict in Little Rock, Arkansas between factions of the Republican Party over the disputed 1872 state gubernatorial election?
Answer: Brooks-Baxter War
- Following the country's famous 1940s coup d'état, Costa Rica wrote and passed a new Constitution, leading to the nation's first democratic elections under the new Constitution in what year?
Answer: 1953
- The 1880 U.S. presidential election had the smallest popular vote margin in the nation's history with only 0.11% of voters separating James Garfield and Winfield Hancock. How many votes did this razor-thin margin represent?
Answer: 1898
- In the 2020 election cycle, the Super PAC that raised the most money that also had the name of a former president in its name featured which president?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln
- In 1848, Abraham Lincoln realized that his preferred candidate Henry Clay was unlikely to win the presidency so he instead supported what military general for the Whig nomination? This man eventually won the presidential election.
Answer: Zachary Taylor
- Originally published anonymously, what 1996 novel by Joe Klein is a fictionalized version of Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign to win the presidential election?
Answer: Primary Colors
- In January 2021, what state held runoff elections to fill both of its U.S. Senate seats, with Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock winning?
Answer: Georgia
- What New Mexico county voted for the winner of every U.S. presidential election from 1952 through 2016, the longest active of any county for years, but had its streak broken in 2020?
Answer: Valencia
- The expression "hanging chad" gained notoriety during the 2000 U.S. presidential election. "Hanging chads" were the focus in a recount in which state?
Answer: Florida
- Who is the only U.S. president to have been elected unanimously, receiving every electoral vote available to him?
Answer: George Washington (twice!)
- A major factor in making the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election so close, especially in Florida, was the Green Party campaign of what man, who rose to fame in the 1960s as a consumer advocate, author of “Unsafe At Any Speed?”
Answer: Ralph Nader
- Who was the American industrialist that made his millions in the 1800s from financing gas works before attempting four(!) times to essentially purchase a United States Senate seat in the state of Delaware? His battle with Henry du Pont for control of Delaware politics led in part to the Seventeenth Amendment in the US which enabled direct election of Senators.
Answer: J. Edward Addicks
- The 2003 California gubernatorial recall election resulted in the replacement of Gray Davis with what star of "The Terminator" and "Total Recall?"
Answer: Arnold Schwarzenegger
- What soldier and statesman, who served as vice president under James Madison, had previously finished 3rd in the 1792 US Presidential Election, losing to George Washington? His first and last name are the same as the lead singer of Parliament Funkadelic.
Answer: George Clinton
- President Joe Biden called what U.S. state's Election Integrity Act, which was signed into law in March 2021, "Jim Crow in the 21st century?"
Answer: Georgia
- What “S” Irish political scientist worked for Dublin’s Economic and Social Research Institute, and regularly appeared on Irish television to analyze elections?
Answer: Richard Sinnott
- "I Like Ike" was a popular campaign slogan in 1952 for what ultimately successful candidate for the U.S. Presidency?
Answer: Eisenhower
- In the 1888 U.S. presidential election, Benjamin Harrison beat Grover Cleveland despite losing the popular vote, in large part thanks to winning two swing states, New York and what Hoosier state?
Answer: Indiana
- If you can’t go to your local polling place on election day, which type of mail-in ballot can you request to make sure you can still cast your vote? (Hint: You can sometimes use them to vote early, too)
Answer: Absentee
- On June 6, 2022, what UK Prime Minister survived a vote of no confidence by his fellow Conservative party lawmakers, although his position was weakened by the vote?
Answer: Boris Johnson
- During local elections, citizens of a community can vote on which issue that starts with B and concerns the money to be used to fund improvement projects like fixing roads?
Answer: Bonds
- Which “-ology” that starts with P refers to the study of election statistics mostly with the goal of predicting future outcomes?
Answer: Psephology
- A contingent election, in which no candidate reaches a majority of election and the president is decided by a special vote in the House, hasn't occurred in the U.S. since 1837. But it did occur in what HBO show in 2016, resulting in a reelection loss for Selina Meyer?
Answer: Veep
- The release of white smoke, or fumata blanca, indicates that a new person has been elected by ballot to what position?
Answer: Pope
- Statewide elections in Maine and Alaska use RCV, an alternative voting system in effect in over fifty jurisdictions nationwide. What does RCV stand for?
Answer: Ranked-Choice Voting
- What powerful Maine senator and governor went on to become Hubert Humphrey's running mate in the 1968 presidential election?
Answer: Edmund Muskie
- Name either of the two manufacturers of voting machines that filed defamation suits against Trump representatives Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani in the wake of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Answer: Dominion, Smartmatic
- Which term describes a political system in which a country is trying to transition from an authoritarian government to a democracy, but is not making progress due to ongoing issues like election fraud and corruption?
Answer: Hybrid Regime
- On January 8, 2023, supporters of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, upset at his defeat in the 2022 election, rioted and forced their way into the presidential palace of what South American nation?
Answer: Brazil
- What party won an overwhelming 252 out of 400 seats in South Africa's 1994 elections, the first to be held since a ban on the party was lifted?
Answer: African National Congress
- Which political theory suggests that a unified and usually wealthy minority holds the power in society and, therefore, in elections?
Answer: Elite theory
- Chip Hipkins ran unopposed to win 2023's election to lead New Zealand's Labour Party, setting him up to replace what outgoing Prime Minister?
Answer: Jacinda Ardern
- New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon famously called a snap general election when drunk that he ended up losing. In which year did he do this?
Answer: 1984
- The "Box 13" scandal involved the finding of additional ballots after polls were closed in the 1948 Senate primary election, which gave Lyndon B. Johnson the Democratic nomination in what state?
Answer: Texas
- What controversial U.S. representative was reelected from the state of Colorado in 2022 over challenger Adam Frisch by a margin of only around 500 votes?
Answer: Lauren Boebert
- In California (as well as some other states), what "i" term refers to measures to enact legislation placed on the ballot directly by voters?
Answer: Initiative
- Before losing the 2004 election, Joe Kernan was the last Democratic Governor of Indiana. Kernan took over after what two-term Governor died while in office?
Answer: Frank O'Bannon
- A center in Atlanta, Georgia has a "Democracy Program," which among other things monitors elections around the world. What former president and his wife founded the center in 1982?
Answer: Jimmy Carter
- Bola Tinubu, former governor of the state of Lagos, won a 2023 election to become president of what country?
Answer: Nigeria
- Days after settling a defamation case with Dominion Voting Systems, Fox News abruptly dismissed what popular host, saying that his April 21, 2023 show would be his last?
Answer: Tucker Carlson
- The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is a bipartisan, independent commission that, among other important duties, develops guidance for compliance with election laws, and acts as a national clearinghouse for information about election administration. What act of Congress created the EAC?
Answer: Help America Vote Act
- Named after an Australian psephologist, what is the name of the ‘pendulum’ where all seats or districts are listed in order of margin at the last election, thus giving and indicative number of changing seats with particular change in the vote?
Answer: Mackerras pendulum
- Voting in an election is which type of “duty” that you have in America, along with paying your taxes to the IRS and sitting on a jury if you’re called to?
Answer: Civic
- Despite winning 60% of the vote in a 1990 election, Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party was not recognized as the victor by the ruling junta of what country, who had Suu Kyi herself placed under house arrest?
Answer: Myanmar
- What democratic practice, a meeting of supporters or party members, often for the purpose of an election, may come from an Algonquin word meaning "counsel?"
Answer: Caucus
- Many organizations have GOTV efforts. What does GOTV stand for?
Answer: Get Out the Vote
- Only two U.S. Presidents have won elections which were considered uncontested. One was George Washington. Who was the other? The year of this president’s uncontested election ends in the number “0”
Answer: James Monroe
- What popular television series imagined a tense U.S. presidential election between candidate played by Justin Kirk and Elliot Villar in a 2023 episode titled "America Decides?"
Answer: Succession
- Which American state does not automatically give all its electoral votes to the winning candidate statewide at a presidential election, and is the only one to have a unicameral state legislature?
Answer: Nebraska
- How many years elapse between elections for member countries to elect representatives to the European Parliament, the last being held in 2019?
Answer: 5
- In 2016 a hacker named Andres Sepulveda claimed to have been paid to hack files and create thousands of enthusiasm-feigning bots to help Enrique Pena Nieto win a presidential election in what country?
Answer: Mexico
- On September 2, 2023, Tharman Shanmugaratnam was elected as the first person not of Chinese descent to win a presidential election in what Southeast Asian nation?
Answer: Singapore
- Australia has around a 92% turnout rate for which civic duty, in part because the country makes it compulsory to register to do so?
Answer: Vote
- In 2023, what European country became the first to pull off a national election where voting was almost entirely done online?
Answer: Estonia
- What process, during which sharp changes occur in party ideology or base demographics, is marked by a single "critical election" according to V. O. Key's 1955 thesis?
Answer: Realignment
- The selection of jurors is the most common modern example of what "S" term, in which members of a democracy are chosen by lottery to serve as public officials?
Answer: Sortition
- After a recent election, Christopher Luxon looks set to become the new Prime Minister of which English-speaking country?
Answer: New Zealand
- Although Jesse Ventura's election as governor of Minnesota is probably its greatest achievement, what third party is most closely associated with two-time presidential also-ran Ross Perot?
Answer: Reform Party
- In 1985, influential politician and activist Wilma Mankiller became the first woman to be elected Principal Chief of what tribal nation, one of the largest in the U.S., headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma?
Answer: Cherokee Nation
- Earlier in 2023, Nicola Sturgeon, whose nine-year term makes her the longest serving "First Minister" in her country's history, announced she would step down from the government of which UK constituent country?
Answer: Scotland
- What African nation, formerly known as the Republic of Upper Volta, had its first free and fair elections in 2015, making it by many measures the youngest democracy in the world?
Answer: Burkina Faso
- What party, formerly banned and represented by Nelson Mandela, dominated the first post-apartheid elections in South Africa, held in 1994?
Answer: African National Congress
- What is the name of the far-right party of Marine Le Pen, who lost the French presidential runoff election to Emmanuel Macron in April 2022?
Answer: National Rally
- Al Gore sought the Democratic nomination for U.S. President in 1988 as the junior senator from which state?
Answer: Tennessee
- The Nineteenth Amendment, which granted women the right to vote in the U.S., was passed more than 40 shameful years after the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled explicitly against early women suffragettes. Who was president when the Nineteenth Amendment passed?
Answer: Woodrow Wilson
- What is the word commonly found during election time which evolved from Latin words for "upon" and "lean on" or "lie down"? In electoral matters, the word is often simply abbreviated with the lower case letter "i".
Answer: Incumbent
- The contested 1876 election of which president marked the end of Reconstruction due to the backroom Compromise of 1877, which ensured which president's election and averted a constitutional crisis?
Answer: Rutherford B Hayes
- What is the name of Justin Trudeau's progressive political party, which lost its absolute majority in the Canadian Parliament in the 2019 federal election?
Answer: Liberal Party
- What year was the last U.S. presidential election to be held on the 8th of November, which is the latest date the election can be held?
Answer: 2016
- The title of what 2012 novel by J.K. Rowling, her first after the Harry Potter series, refers to a suddenly empty seat in a small British town's government that needs to be filled with an election?
Answer: The Casual Vacancy
- What was the most recent election year in which the state of Kentucky's electoral college votes were awarded to the Democratic candidate?
Answer: 1996
- The Independence Party has won the largest number of seats in the Althingi every election but one since the party's creation in 1929. The Althingi is the oldest parliamentary body in the world, having been founded in 930 CE in what European country?
Answer: Iceland
- Sseveral candidates for legislative council were disqualified because of their stance on the independence during a controversial 2018 election in what world city?
Answer: Hong Kong
- In the 1872 U.S. presidential election, what Democratic opponent to Ulysses S. Grant, known for the historic phrase "Go West, young man,” died prior to the Electoral College officially meeting to cast their votes?
Answer: Horace Greeley
- What Pittsburgh radio station, which broadcasts on 100.1 FM, is considered the first commercial radio station, and got its start by broadcasting the results of Harding's election to the presidency in 1920?
Answer: KDKA
- After losing 49 states in the 1984 presidential election and then a last-minute Minnesota Senate race in 2002, what man became the first and, so far, only person to lose a statewide election in every U.S. state?
Answer: Walter Mondale
- What does the "H" stand for in H. Ross Perot, who ran unsuccessfully for President in 1992 and again in 1996 under third-party lines?
Answer: Henry
- A landmark moment in the history of electronic voting in U.S. elections was when the Reform Party used "I-Voting" (internet voting) to select their presidential candidate in 1996. Unsurprisingly, they selected what man who had founded the party one year prior?
Answer: Ross Perot
- Kelly Loeffler lost her run-off election and her U.S. Senate seat in Georgia after a vote in 2021. Emblematic of her momentum, members of what Atlanta WNBA franchise, which she co-owned at the time, spoke out against her campaign? The moment felt very unreal.
Answer: Atlanta Dream
- Scott Morrison won the 2019 Australian federal election with just over 50% of the vote. What was the official turnout in the election? We're looking for the % of the eligible population that cast a vote.
Answer: 92%
- The first successful recall election in the United States was the 1911 recall of Hiram Gill from his position as the mayor of what western city?
Answer: Seattle, Washington
- From the 13th century to its abolition in 1806, a group of prestigious "prince-electors" elected the ruler of what longstanding European political entity?
Answer: Holy Roman Empire
- Winning the 1984 federal election in a landslide, Brian Mulroney served as the 18th prime minister of what country? Technically, Brian was his middle name as he was born Martin Brian Mulroney.
Answer: Canada
- Then-Prime Minister and Social Democratic Party leader Victor Ponta was accused of rigging a 2014 election in his favor in what southeastern European country?
Answer: Romania
- Andrew Jackson won the first U.S. presidential election in which more than one million votes were cast. Who won the first election in which more than one HUNDRED million votes were cast?
Answer: Bill Clinton
- While his mom is campaigning for a second term as President, America's First Son falls in love with a Prince of England in what 2019 novel by Casey McQuiston?
Answer: Red, White, & Royal Blue
- Charged with obstruction of Congress in 2019, Donald Trump became the first U.S. president since Bill Clinton to be impeached following a whistleblower’s accusation of President Trump contacting what Ukrainian president to indirectly interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election?
Answer: Volodymyr Zelensky
- In 2020, what North Carolina incumbent senator defeated challenger Cal Cunningham in the most expensive senate election in history up to that point?
Answer: Thom Tillis
- Tiny Dixville Notch is known for being the first town in the United States to announce the winner of U.S. presidential elections. In what state is Dixville Notch located?
Answer: New Hampshire
- Who was the first U.S. president to win an election after the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the same rights to vote as men in all 48 states?
Answer: Warren G. Harding
- In the 1912 election, which presidential incumbent became the only major party (Democrat or Republican) candidate in U.S. in the 20th century to finish third in both the electoral vote and popular vote?
Answer: Taft
- In what decade did the 23rd amendment to the U.S. Constitution grant residents of Washington DC electoral college representation in presidential elections?
Answer: 1960s
- The 1976 Republican National Convention saw the party’s presidential and vice presidential nomination of Gerald Ford and what Kansas senator for the year’s U.S. Presidential election?
Answer: Bob Dole
- In 1988, George H.W. Bush became the first sitting Vice President to be elected President, winning 426 electoral votes, since which Vice President in 1836?
Answer: Martin Van Buren
- "Dewey Defeats Truman" was a headline that should not have been printed, as incumbent U.S. President Harry Truman defeated Governor Thomas Dewey of New York in the 1948 Presidential election. Which major-city newspaper ran this headline on November 3, 1948 and almost immediately regretted it?
Answer: Chicago Tribune
- Although George Washington was unanimously elected President in the first ever election of 1788-89, what state was not part of the electoral college for that election, since it did not establish how to choose its electors for the Electoral College by the deadline of January 7, 1789?
Answer: New York
- The U.S. has its elections on Tuesdays and the UK has its on Thursdays, but in most of Europe, South America, and Central America, elections are almost always held on what day of the week?
Answer: Sunday
- In presidential elections, Washington DC receives three electoral votes due to what numbered constitutional amendment, ratified in 1961?
Answer: 23rd
- What "T" 19th century governor of New York narrowly lost to Rutherford B. Hayes in the contested 1876 presidential election? A Democrat, it is believed his loss was negotiated in exchange for the end of Southern Reconstruction.
Answer: Samuel Tilden
- What is the surname of the 1972 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics whose impossibility theorem states that community-wide ranked preferences cannot be determined by converting individuals’ preferences from a fair ranked-voting electoral system?
Answer: Arrow
- What name does Canada give to its 338 electoral districts, each one of which elects a member of parliament to the country's House of Commons?
Answer: Riding
- Which later-assassinated president was the only sitting member of the House of Representatives to be elected to the presidency?
Answer: James Garfield
- On December 22, 2021, what African nation announced it would be unable to meet its December 24 target for national elections, causing the UN to express concern on behalf of its 2.8 million registered voters?
Answer: Libya
- What was the last name of the Ontarian woman with the first name Agnes who became the first woman elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1921 election?
Answer: Macphail
- What Harvard Law Class of 1983 graduate and Virginia senator did Hillary Clinton select as her running mate in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election?
Answer: Tim Kaine
- What year was the first presidential election under the U.S. Constitution? This election marked the beginning of George Washington's first term as president.
Answer: 1789
- Which U.S. state was the first which granted women the right to vote? When women were enfranchised, it was not yet a state but a territory. Suffrage came in 1869 and statehood in 1890.
Answer: Wyoming
- Since Alaska obtained statehood in 1959, how many times have they given their electoral votes to a Democrat candidate in a U.S. presidential election?
Answer: Once
- Which president one the only election in United States history in which the candidate with the most electoral votes actually lost?
Answer: John Quincy Adams
- In the 2016 Presidential election, the state of Minnesota had the highest share of voter turnout (from the eligible voting population) of any of the 50 states. What was the % turnout in Minnesota?
Answer: 75%
- Led by Doug Logan, what Floridan firm used “kinematic markers” to audit ballots in Arizona’s Maricopa County from the 2020 U.S. presidential election starring in April 2021?
Answer: Cyber Ninjas
- The 1892 Presidential election saw incumbent Republican President Benjamin Harrison face off against Democrat Grover Cleveland, and James P. Weaver, who was a member of what political party?
Answer: Populist
- What Colorado Democrat-turned-Republican was, until the 2022 election of Markwayne Mullin, the last Native American to serve as a U.S. Senator?
Answer: Ben Nighthorse Campbell
- Fannie Lou Hamer was a voting rights activist who was a key local organizer what two-word event in Mississippi during 1964? The event had the goal of increasing the share of African Americans in Mississippi that were registered to vote.
Answer: Freedom Summer
- What office in New York City is first in line to succeed the mayor? The post is currently held by Jumaane Williams and current-mayor Bill de Blasio held the post before his 2013 mayoral election.
Answer: Public Advocate
- In what year did a Constitutional Amendment give residents of the District of Columbia electoral votes in presidential elections?
Answer: 1961
- In the 1988 Vice Presidential debate, what VP candidate of Michael Dukakis infamously said "Senator, I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy"?
Answer: Lloyd Bentsen
- After a redistribution after the 2020 census, how many electoral college votes will California be worth in the 2024 US presidential election?
Answer: 54
- One of the largest non-partisan Super PACs in the country during the 2020 election cycle, what is the name of the group led by military veterans that focuses on electing military veterans to office to create a more effective government?
Answer: With Honor Fund
- During one of the most controversial elections in U.S. history, who was chosen by the House of Representatives (per the Constitution) as the 19th POTUS?
Answer: Rutherford B. Hayes
- What "C" theory with a geological name attempts to explain election divides by proposing that political systems are split by socioeconomic factors like class, race/ethnicity, and religion?
Answer: Cleavage
- Which American president had such distinct blue eyes and such a cold, stone-faced demeanor that he was popularly known as the "human iceberg?" This man served one term as a U.S. Senator from Indiana and one term as US President.
Answer: Benjamin Harrison
- In parliamentary systems, what is a politician said to cross if they formally change their affiliation to a second party after being elected as a member of a first party?
Answer: The floor
- The Costa Rican Civil War, which lasted 44 days, was instigated in part due to the allegedly fraudulent election of what man to the presidency?
Answer: Otilio Ulate
- The controversial outcome of the 2007 presidential election between Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga in which African country prompted violence and civil unrest?
Answer: Kenya
- What was the most recent U.S. Presidential election in which the city of Richmond voted primarily for the Republican candidate?
Answer: 1972
- What right-wing populist party, often represented in blue on electoral maps, took 83 seats in the Bundestag in the 2021 elections, making it Germany's largest opposition party?
Answer: AfD
- Who campaigned as the Republican nominee (and went on to win) against Democratic nominee Winfield Scott Hancock during the 1880 presidential election?
Answer: James A. Garfield
- In 1856, which two-word-named southern state became the last to do away with the rule that you had to own property to vote?
Answer: North Carolina
- On April 11, 2021, incumbent Patrice Talon was re-elected as the president of what French-speaking West African nation?
Answer: Benin
- In 2017, Emmanuel Macron was elected President of France as a candidate from what newly-created party, whose name means "Forward?"
Answer: En Marche
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