A

Advocacy - Public support for a specific cause, policy, and/or issue. 

Affirmative action - A policy procedure that protects individuals who are being discriminated against.  

Amendment  - A change to legislation. 

Assessor - A person who is knowledgeable in a specific field and offers advice when called upon. 

B

Bipartisan - Policies or issues that are approved/supported by two political parties  

C

City Hall - The administration building of a municipality. 

Clerk  - An official bookkeeper that keeps track of records and accounts and other administrative duties.  

Community  - A group of people that live in the same place and/or have common attitudes or goals. 

Council Member/ Trustee/  Board Member - An individual that is a member of an elected body who makes decisions for their local government.  

County government  - A government unit that serves a large geographical area that contains cities, towns, villages, etc. It is used to formally administrate the area.  


F

Financial Director And Director of Administration - Oversees the financial department that handles cash and/or financial information for the city.  

L

Lake County Board of Representatives - The Lake County Board has 21 elected members that represent a specific geographic district. The Board approves the budget and all financial matters, as well as ordinances, affecting all county government departments.  

Law - A rule that must be practiced in order to be a lawful individual in this country.  

Local government - The administration of a particular town, county, or district, with representative elected by those who live there.  

M

Municipality (City, Town, and Village) - All three are forms of municipalities that obtain power from the state. Depending on the location, regional traditions, population, type of governmental structure, and the number of services that are offered to its residents is what determines the difference between a city, village, or town 

Mayor  - The mayors’ duty is to exercise policy-making functions and serve as the superior chief executive of the municipality.  

N

Non-partisan - Not biased towards any political group.  

P

Partisan  - A leaning support towards one political party 

Partnership - Associating with two or more partners in order to pursue a greater outcome in a goal.  

Policy  - An action adopted or proposed by a gov’t, party, organization, or individual.  

R

Representative  - An action adopted or proposed by a gov’t, party, organization, or individual.  

Reapportionment - The redistricting process consists of redrawing district boundary lines based on the census' decennial census.

Representative - A person that is elected into this position by majority vote­­- representing the values of those who elected them. They are a part of the House of representatives that contains 435 representatives in total and introduce bills that can soon turn into laws. (two-year term) 

S

Senator  - An elected official a part of the Senate (upper house) who is also elected on majority vote. They are a part of the system that introduces bills and votes to make them laws.  

State government  - A unit of government that enforces and makes laws for the specific state. 

T

Township - A division of a county with some corporate powers. They aid individuals who are in poverty, assess property for taxation purposes, and provide maintenance to roads and bridges, outside of the federal, state, and other local jurisdictions.


U

Unincorporated community  - A geographic area that has a common social identity without holding an official political designation.  

W

Ward - A division of a city or town for representative purpose