A Glossary of Election Terms
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Abstención, abstencionismo electoral : abstention (abstention is registered voters minus number of ballots/votes cast)
Alcalde : mayor, head of town council
Alcalde auxiliar : assistant to municipal authorities usually charged with administering a rural “cantón” or “aldea” ( Guatemala)
Alcaldesa : female mayor
Aldea : hamlet, located within municipal jurisdiction
Alianzas electorales : party alliances in elections
Arrastre : literally “hauling” or pull, where congressional and municipal candidates in general elections are largely elected as a result of the votes for the party of the presidential candidate, even though there are separate ballots for each race ( Dominican Republic)
Asamblea constituyente: constituent assembly
Asamblea electoral : all citizens with right to vote ( Dominican Republic)
Asamblea nacional : congress; house of representatives and senate combined ( Dominican Republic)
Asamblea primaria : citizens convened to elect representatives to an electoral college ( Dominican Republic)
Auto-golpe : coup against one’s own government ( Guatemala, Peru)
Ayuntamiento : municipal government, governing body for a “municipio,” usually includes the “alcalde,” “síndicos,” “regidores,” and other public officials
Barrera electoral : guidelines that determine which candidates or parties can participate in specific elections
Barrio : neighborhood in a municipality
Bipartidismo : two-party system
Blancos : blank ballots
Bolataje : election where no candidate receives the minimum number of votes needed to win the election ( Dominican Republic)
Boleta anulada : voided ballot ( Dominican Republic)
Boleta de arrastre : traditional straight ticket ballot ( Dominican Republic)
Boleta de voto : ballot (Dominican Republic)
Boleta de votación : ballot
Boleta electoral : ballot (Dominican Republic)
Boleta nula : null ballot ( Dominican Republic)
Boleta protestada : contested ballot ( Dominican Republic)
Boleta rechazada : ballot which will not be counted for whatever reason ( Dominican Republic)
Boleta sobrante : unused ballot ( Nicaragua)
Boleta única : separate ballot for each type of election (presidential, congressional, mayoral): even though held the same day, they are deposited in different boxes
Boletín de voto : ballot (Paraguay)
Cabecera municipal : largest municipality in each parish (El Salvador); town center of a “municipio” (Guatemala)
Cabildo : city council, usually associated with indigenous communities (Guatemala)
Cabildo abierto : open municipal council (Venezuela); town meeting (El Salvador)
Cabina : voting booth
Cabina de voto : voting booth
Cámara alta : senate (Dominican Republic)
Cámara baja : house of representatives (Dominican Republic)
Cámara de diputados : house of representatives (Dominican Republic)
Cámara secreta : voting booth
Campaña electoral : electoral campaign
Candidato : candidate
Cantón : basic unit of local government ( Costa Rica); rural neighborhood within a municipal jurisdiction ( Guatemala); electoral precinct ( Nicaragua)
Carnet electoral : identification card required for voting ( El Salvador, Peru)
Carro completo : clean sweep of an election ( Mexico)
Caserio : hamlet, part of a municipality smaller than an “aldea” ( Guatemala)
Casillas electorales : voting booths
Casillas electorales especiales : voting locations for voters in transit, also voting places set up at the border between the United States and Mexico so Mexicans living in the United States can vote
Catálogos electorales : lists of registered voters prepared for specific elections as opposed to a permanent list ( Nicaragua)
Caucos : caucus
Caudillismo : leadership by a single strong figure
Cédula : national citizen identification document required to vote ( Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua)
Cédula de identidad : national citizen identification document required to vote (Nicaragua)
Cédula de identidad y electoral : document required to vote (Dominican Republic)
Cedulación : citizen identification program
Censo de votantes : electoral register
Censo electoral : list of registered voters ( Dominican Republic)
Centro electoral : poll, voting location
Centro nacional de cómputos : electoral body that prepares the final vote count ( Nicaragua)
Circunscripción electoral : precinct, electoral district
Ciudad : city; a formal status bestowed upon certain urban areas within Guatemala’s national political system
Coalición partidista : coalition of parties
Cociente de unidad : quotient; result of dividing the total national vote among the available congressional seats
Cociente electoral : number of votes necessary to win a seat under proportional representation
Colegio cerrado : closed polling station, voters must register within a certain time at the polling station, and are later called in to vote ( Dominican Republic)
Colegio de votantes : electoral college
Colegio electoral : polling station, precinct; electoral college; electoral district
Comicios : elections, polls
Comites cívicos : local grassroots parties; civic committees that are allowed to run slates ( Guatemala)
Comportamiento electoral : electoral process
Cómputo : summary of election results
Comuna : municipality ( Chile)
Con licencia : leave of absence for elected officials ( Mexico)
Concejal, concejales : municipal councillors
Concejal suplente : elected backup to elected official
Consejo deliberante : municipal council ( Argentina)
Consejo electoral departamental : departmental electoral council ( Nicaragua)
Consejo electoral municipal : local board governing municipal elections ( Nicaragua)
Consejo electoral regional : board governing elections in each of the Regiones Autónomas ( Nicaragua)
Consejo municipal : municipal council, city council
Consejo provincial metropolitano : city council ( Peru)
Consejo supremo electoral : national board governing elections ( Nicaragua)
Constancia : voting document given the day before the election to citizens who had applied to register to vote but had not received either the “cédula” or the “documento supletorio” (Nicaragua)
Consulta directa a las bases : primary election (Mexico)
Contencioso electoral : procedure for protesting electoral irregularities (Dominican Republic)
Contéo rápido : exit poll
Continuismo : practice of continuing power through candidacies of relatives of a sitting president
Control vecinal : personal knowledge of local voters by neighborhood electoral officers that limits fraudulent voting on election day (Nicaragua)
Corporación municipal : municipal council (Guatemala, Honduras)
Corregidor : political administrator of colonial or conservative republican “corregimiento,” as contrasted with liberal “jefe político” (Guatemala)
Corregimiento : administrative unit under colonial and conservative republican regimes, roughly equivalent to a department (Guatemala)
Cotejo : election verification process ( Dominican Republic)
Credencial electoral : voter identification for specific election
Cubículo : voting booth
Cuota de etnia : quota for candidates from ethnic minorities, usually Indian (Bolivia, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia)
Cuota de género : quota for candidates by gender
Curules : seats in congress
Dedazo : “fingering” of candidate by president or party leaders ( Mexico)
Delegado : delegate
Delegado político : representative of a party at a precinct or voting location ( Dominican Republic)
Departamento : equivalent to a U.S. state ( Ecuador, El Salvador)
Desconocimiento : expulsion from elected office ( Mexico)
Diputado : deputy, lower chamber representative
Diputado de mayoría relativa : representative elected by majority vote
Diputado de representación proporcional : representative elected by proportional representation
Diputado federal : representative to congress ( Mexico)
Diputado local : representative to state legislature ( Mexico)
Directorio : electoral tribunal selected by municipal authorities ( El Salvador)
Distrito electoral : precinct, electoral district
Distrito único : single district: all senators are elected at the national level ( Paraguay)
Doble voto simultaneo : double simultaneous vote; allows factions of the same party to run rival lists of candidates in the same election ( Uruguay)
Documentos supletorios de votación : supplemental document distributed to citizens who applied for the “cédula” but did not receive it before the election; temporary voters’ cards ( Nicaragua)
Dupla : president and vice-president are on one ticket and are not elected separately ( Paraguay)
Elecciones generales : elections held throughout the country for a variety of offices; elections held every five years to elect deputies to the National Assembly ( Cuba)
Elecciones obligatorias : elections where eligible voters are required by law to vote
Elecciones ordinarias : elections determined and scheduled by a country’s constitution
Elecciones parciales : held every two and one-half years to elect deputies to the municipal assemblies ( Cuba); elections held between general elections to fill vacant offices ( Dominican Republic)
Elector : person eligible to vote based on that country’s requirements, or person elected to an electoral college or to a group responsible for secondary elections
Electorado : the electorate
Empadronados : registered voters
Empadronar : to register voters
Empadronarse : to register oneself to vote
Emparentamiento : candidates from more than one party running on the same list ( Dominican Republic)
Empate : tie
Encuesta de salida de casilla : exit poll
Escaño : seat in congress
Escrutar : to review and count ballots
Escrutinio de votos : review and counting of ballots
Evasión electoral : abstention
Fiscales : poll watchers (Dominican Republic, Nicaragua)
Gobernador : governor of a state or department; indigenous political official nominated by “corregidor” (Guatemala)
Impugnados : contested ballots
Impugnar : to challenge (an election result)
Inhibiciones : the critera for disqualifying candidates or the disqualification of candidacies (Nicaragua)
Inscritos : registered voters
Intendente : mayor (Argentina, Paraguay); provincial governor (Chile); departmental administrative officer (Uruguay)
Jefe de gobierno : chief of government (Argentina)
Jefe político/jefatura política : departmental administrator/office associated with liberal administrations, in contrast with the “corregidor” associated with colonial or conservative administrations (Guatemala)
Jornada electoral : period during which the polls are open during an election
Juez de paz : justice of the peace, elected town official ( El Salvador)
Junta central electoral : board that oversees elections at the national level ( Dominican Republic)
Junta cívica : board that organizes and supervises elections ( Paraguay)
Junta de notables : a meeting of the leading members of a political network to select the next president ( El Salvador)
Junta departamental : departmental legislature ( Uruguay)
Junta electoral departamental : temporary autonomous body responsible for supervising the electoral process in each department ( Guatemala)
Junta electoral municipal : temporary body responsible for conduct of the election in a municipality ( Guatemala)
Junta municipal : municipal council (Paraguay)
Junta municipal electoral : board that oversees elections at the municipal level ( Dominican Republic)
Junta provincial electoral : board that oversees elections at the provincial level ( Dominican Republic)
Junta receptora de votos : board composed of representatives from each party who run a polling station ( Guatemala, Nicaragua)
Lema : political party ( Uruguay)
Libreta cívica : a temporary voter document given at voter registration authorizing the individual to vote in a specific election (Nicaragua)
Lista : ballot (Peru)
Lista bloqueada : closed list ( Dominican Republic)
Lista cerrada : closed list, votes are cast for a list of candidates instead of individuals
Lista nominal : list of registered voters who have also received a credential; the list is present in the precinct and used by local officials on the day of the election
Local : location where a voting table is to be set up
Lugares de votación : precincts, each location can have several voting tables
Mayoría simple : simple majority
Mesa de sufragio : polling station, precinct (Bolivia, Peru)
Mesa de votación : polling station, precinct (Colombia, Panama, Venezuela)
Mesa electoral : polling station, precinct
Mesa directiva de casillas : group that monitors elections at a specific location
Mesa receptora de sufragios : polling station, precinct ( Chile)
Mesa receptora del voto : group that monitors elections at a specific location
Municipio : municipality, town and surrounding rural area; in Mexico equivalent to a U.S. county; in El Salvador a township; in Guatemala a territorial and political division
Municipalidad : municipal council ( Guatemala)
Nulidades : reasons for declaring a ballot null, including moving voting location, voting without being registered, not following correct procedure
Padrón electoral : national voter registry
Padrón nacional electoral : group of all registered voters ( Costa Rica)
Padrón registro : list of registered voters (Costa Rica)
Papeleta : ballot (El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama)
Paquete electoral : packet from each polling station containing all materials used and gathered in the election (Nicaragua)
Parlamento : house of representatives (Paraguay)
Parroquia : parish
Partido político : political party
Período electoral : period of time between the announcement of candidates for an election and the publication of final results of the election ( Dominican Republic)
Plancha : slate
Planilla : slate
Plebiscito : plebiscite, direct vote by the people on an issue
Pliego : record of oral votes cast ( El Salvador)
Plurinominal : proportional representation, candidates selected on the basis of their party’s total national or district vote
Población electoral : population eligible to vote (Dominican Republic)
Presidente municipal : mayor (Mexico)
Principal : indigenous political leader (Guatemala)
Provincia : roughly equivalent to a U.S. county (Peru)
Pucherazo : election fraud ( Dominican Republic)
Pueblo : town
Puesto : poll, can house several “mesas” or “juntas”
Recinto : voting booth ( Nicaragua)
Referéndum : referendum, direct vote by the people on an issue
Regidores : aldermen; city or municipal council members; elected council members who supervise administrative affairs and stand in for the “alcalde” in his/her absence ( El Salvador)
Registro electoral : list of all registered voters
Representación proporcional : proportional representation
Restos : number of votes left for each party after seats are assigned through proportional representation
Restos mayores : number of votes left for a particular party after seats are assigned through proportional representation whereby they win an additional seat over other parties
Resultados electorales : election results
Sección electoral : section of list of voters corresponding to each voting location
Segunda vuelta : second round of voting
Senado : senate
Senador : holder of a seat in the senate or “cámara alta”
Síndico : mayor (Dominican Republic); trustee (Mexico); elected member of municipal council who oversees financial affairs (El Salvador)
Síndico suplente : elected backup to the “síndico”
Sistema binominal : closed list with one vote ( Chile)
Sistemas electorales : electoral systems, ways in which election results are interpreted and applied
Sistema mayoritario : results decided by majority vote
Sistema proporcional : results decided by proportional representation
Sub-lemas : factions within a political party ( Uruguay)
Sufragio : suffrage, right to vote
Sufragio restringido : suffrage limited by selected criteria
Sufragio universal : universal suffrage
Sufragios : votes
Sufragistas : voters
Suplente : alternate delegate or second elected at same time as delegate, substitutes in their absence
Tarjeta, tarjetón : ballot (Colombia)
Tiquete de votación : ballot
Trenza : “the braid,” an arrangement whereby males and females alternate on the electoral list to guarantee that women are not all grouped together at the bottom of the ballot (El Salvador)
Trenzado : braiding, alternating of male and female candidates on electoral lists (Nicaragua)
Tribunal supremo electoral : national board governing elections (Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras)
Unidades electorales : constituencies
Urnas electorales : ballot boxes
Voto : vote
Voto electoral : electoral vote
Voto en el extranjero : voting that takes place outside the country
Voto obligatorio : mandatory vote
Votos emitidos : total votes (valid votes plus null and blank ballots)
Votos en blancos : blank ballots
Votos impugnados : contested ballots
Votos nulos : null, invalid, void ballots
Votos observados : voters not on registration list but allowed to vote ( Dominican Republic)
Zapato : when every ballot in a ballot box is for one party ( Mexico)
A useful source for terminology is Diccionario electoral (2000. San José: Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos, CAPEL. Two volumes)
