This article is part of A Kid’s Guide to the Election, a collection of stories about the 2024 presidential election for readers ages 8 to 14, written and produced by The New York Times for Kids. This section is published in The Times’s print edition on the last Sunday of every month.
After months and months and months of hearing about it, the election is finally here! Every four years, millions of Americans cast their ballots for president. Then, they wait and watch for the results on election night. It’s exciting! But also kind of … a lot.
The news is a jumble of numbers, some very intense maps and a bunch of politics wonks talking a mile a minute about “exit polls” and “returns.” Not the most kid-friendly introduction to participatory democracy. But like most things, the more kids understand what’s going on, the more interesting it can be.
That’s where this game comes in. Think of it as a mash-up of bingo and a language scavenger hunt. LINGO!
Instructions
Print out the bingo board and the definitions of the terms on it. Skim the terms to familiarize yourself.
Set a timer for 30 minutes and settle in for an evening of election excitement.
Anytime you read or hear one of phrases from the board, check it off. Check your printout (or scroll below) to read the explanation, too!
If you’ve marked four words in a row before the timer goes off, you win. LINGO BINGO! Want more? Keep watching the action and see how many squares you can check off before calling it a night.
The Lingo
Absentee or Mail-in Voting Not everyone votes in person on Election Day. Some people have ballots mailed to them, which they fill out and return. States count these ballots differently, and it can take a long time.
Arizona This swing state (see definition, below) has voted mostly Republican, but its 11 Electoral College votes went to the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, in 2020. This came as a shock to Donald Trump and his supporters, who thought the results had been messed with. (They weren’t.) This year, people will be paying close attention to the state — especially Maricopa County, where over two million people vote.
Battleground or Swing State Most states usually give their Electoral College votes to the same party in every election. But a handful, known as swing or battleground states, have roughly the same number of Republican and Democratic voters, so they could swing to one party’s candidate or the other. It’s hard to predict who will win in these states, so people watch them really carefully on election night.
Call or Projection If a media outlet calls a state’s race for one candidate or another, that means that based on the unofficial vote count so far, it thinks that candidate is certain to win there. This is also known as making a projection.
Down-ballot The presidential candidates’ names are always at the top of the ballot. But they’re not the only names that matter. There are usually other races happening, too, like ones for governor, senator or another position that’s up for grabs in a particular state or district. Those are listed farther down on the ballot, so they’re referred to as down-ballot races.
Early voting Some, but not all, states let people vote before Election Day, either in person or through the mail. It’s a way for people to plan ahead if they won’t be able to vote that day — or if they want to beat the lines. The vote-counting process is different in each state, so some early votes may not get counted until after polls close on Election Day.
Electoral College The nutshell version: In our strange system, the person who wins the presidential election isn’t the one with the most votes overall — it’s the one with the most Electoral College votes.
Exit polls Waiting for results is hard! So pollsters ask people on their way out of the voting station who they voted for. These “exit polls” let news organizations estimate who is in the lead before all ballots are cast and counted. (Sometimes people are asked whom they’re voting for on the way in. That’s called an “entrance poll.”)
Flip When a state that voted for one party in the last election votes for the other party, it is called “flipping.”
Georgia Swing state! A lot of drama went down here in the last presidential election. Joe Biden won by about only a quarter of a percent, so the state reviewed its count. Twice. After counting all five million ballots three times, Biden still came out ahead, but the results weren’t final until early December. This year, delays are possible again.
Margin of error Exit polls can tell us how some people voted. Experts use that data to make assumptions about everyone else. The margin of error is a measure of how confident the experts are in their assumptions. (Lower is better.)
Michigan Swing state! Voters here have overwhelmingly chosen Democratic senators over the past 50 years. But when it comes to the president, it’s anybody’s race. Donald Trump won here in 2016, but Joe Biden won in 2020.
Nevada Swing state! Most Nevada counties usually vote Republican. But two mainly Democratic counties (Clark and Washoe) are home to nearly 90 percent of the population. That’s sometimes enough to swing the state’s six Electoral College votes to the Democrats.
North Carolina Swing state! North Carolina is pretty evenly split between Republican and Democratic voters. Still, the state’s 16 Electoral College votes usually go to Republican candidates. An exception: In 2008, Barack Obama won the state by fewer than 14,000 votes.
Path to 270 In order to win the election, a candidate must win at least 270 Electoral College votes. There are many combinations — or “paths” — to achieve that total. If a candidate loses one state’s electoral votes, talking heads on TV will be quick to suggest which other states they will now need to get to 270.
Pennsylvania Swing state! Out of the seven battleground states, Pennsylvania, with its 19 Electoral College votes, is the one candidates really need, says Zac Peskowitz, a political-science expert at Emory University. Whoever wins there will probably win the election.
Popular vote The popular vote is all the votes cast by U.S. citizens. Because of the way elections work here, it’s possible for a candidate to win the popular vote and lose the election. (See “electoral college.”)
Precinct States are divided into precincts or voting districts. The votes from each precinct are added together to make the state’s total.
Recount If all of a state’s votes have been counted and it’s really close — like less than half a percent difference between one candidate and another — then every vote may be counted again to rule out any mistakes.
Returns The not-yet-official vote counts coming out of polling stations, districts, counties and states on election night.
Tabulate Basically a fancy word that means to count votes.
Too early to call Sometimes it may look as if one candidate is cleaning up in a state, but news outlets still say the race is “too early too call.” That typically means that there are a lot of votes that still need to be counted — enough that they could change the outcome.
Turnout The total number of people who voted in an election. More people turn out for the presidential elections every four years than for the congressional or “midterm” elections in between. In the last presidential election, about 66 percent of eligible voters turned out.
Wisconsin Swing state! Democrats and Republicans are evenly matched in this battleground state, so races here tend to be really, really close. In four of the last five elections, a Democrat won. Donald Trump, a Republican, took the state in 2016.
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