What is the meaning of the primary election?
Primary elections, often abbreviated to primaries, are a process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election.
How are primaries chosen?
In caucuses, party members meet, discuss, and vote for who they think would be the best party candidate. In primaries, party members vote in a state election for the candidate they want to represent them in the general election.
What state has no Electoral College?
Maine and Nebraska are the only states not using this method. In those states, the winner of the popular vote in each of its congressional districts is awarded one elector, and the winner of the statewide vote is then awarded the state's remaining two electors.
How are electoral votes determined?
The formula for determining the number of votes for each state is simple: each state gets two votes for its two US Senators, and then one more additional vote for each member it has in the House of Representatives.
How are delegates chosen?
Today, in 48 states, individuals participate in primaries or caucuses to elect delegates who support their presidential candidate of choice. At national party conventions, the presidential contender with the most state delegate votes wins the party nomination.
Do primaries determine presidential candidates?
A state's primary election or caucus is usually an indirect election: instead of voters directly selecting a particular person running for president, they determine the number of delegates each party's national convention will receive from their respective state.
How is the number of electors each state receives in the Electoral College decided?
Each state is assigned a number of electors equal to its two Senate seats plus the number of seats in the House of Representatives.
What is the first state to hold a primary?
New Hampshire has held a presidential primary since 1916 and started the tradition of being the first presidential primary in the United States starting in 1920.
Electoral College
In other U.S. elections, candidates are elected directly by popular vote. But the president and vice president are not elected directly by citizens...
Overview of the Presidential Election Process
An election for president of the United States happens every four years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The most recent pr...
Presidential Primaries and Caucuses
Before the general election, most candidates for president go through a series of state primaries and caucuses. Though primaries and caucuses are r...
U.S. Constitutional Requirements for Presidential Candidates
The president must:Be a natural-born citizen of the United StatesBe at least 35 years oldHave been a resident of the United States for 14 yearsAnyo...
National Conventions
After the primaries and caucuses, most political parties hold national conventions.What Happens at a National Political Convention?Conventions fina...
Overview
Primary elections, often abbreviated to primaries, are a process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the country and administrative divisions within the country, voters might consist of the general public in what is called an open primary, or solely the members of a political party in what is called a closed primary. In addition to these, there are oth…
Types
Where primary elections are organized by parties, not the administration, two types of primaries can generally be distinguished:
• Closed primary. (synonyms: internal primaries, party primaries) In the case of closed primaries, internal primaries, or party primaries, only party members can vote.
• Open primary. All voters can take part in an open primary and may cast votes on a ballot of any party. The party may require t…
In the United States
The United States is one of a handful of countries to select candidates through popular vote in a primary election system; most other countries rely on party leaders or paid up party members to select candidates, as was previously the case in the U.S. In modern politics, primary elections have been described as a vehicle for taking decision-making from political insiders to the voters, though political science research indicates that the formal party organizations retain significant i…
In Europe
In Europe, primaries are not organized by the public administration but by parties themselves. Legislation is mostly silent on primaries. The main reason to this is that the electoral system used to form governments, be it proportional representation or two-round systems, lessens the need for an open primary.
Governments are not involved in the process; however, parties may need their cooperation, nota…
In Canada
As in Europe, nomination meetings and leadership elections (somewhat similar to primary elections) in Canada are not organized by the public administration but by parties themselves. Political parties participate in federal elections to the House of Commons, in legislative elections in all ten provinces, and in Yukon. (The legislatures and elections in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are non-partisan.)
Around the world
• Argentina
• Chile
• Colombia:
• Costa Rica: the country's three main political parties, the National Liberation Party, the Social Christian Unity Party, and the Citizens' Action Party, have all run primary elections on several different occasions.
See also
• Leadership election, a similar process used to select the party's internal leadership instead of a candidate for external office
• Sore loser law, which states that the loser in a primary election cannot thereafter run as an independent in the general election
People
External links
• The Green Papers – Voter Eligibility
• How Political Primaries Work at HowStuffWorks
Background
Primary Election Systems Used in Missouri
- Congressional and state-level elections
In 22 states, at least one political party utilizes open primaries to nominate partisan candidates for congressional and state-level (e.g. state legislators, governors, etc.) offices. In 15 states, at least one party utilizes closed primaries to nominate partisan candidates for these offices. In 1…
State Legislation and Ballot Measures
- Primary systems legislation
The following is a list of recent primary election systems bills that have been introduced in or passed by the Missouri state legislature. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan. Note: Due to the nature of the sorting … - Primary systems ballot measures
1. 1.1. See also: Elections and campaigns on the ballot and List of Missouri ballot measures Since 2017, Ballotpedia has tracked no ballot measures relating to primary elections in Missouri.
See Also
External Links