Civics U: Primary Elections
Many states recently completed “primary” elections. Many of these were elections held by political parties to select their candidates to run against other parties’ candidates for a given office in the final or “general” election.
In government by the people, the citizens of the country as the ultimate sovereign are to operate the government. They do this by choosing who they want to fill and conduct certain positions in government. Such positions are many and range from justice of the peace to county sheriff to clerk of court to state superintendent of education to state legislative representative to national president.
The basic purpose of a “primary” is for the people to select from various candidates the ones that will advance to the final or general election. The idea is simple but there are a number of ways that primaries are conducted and various ways in which the winner is determined. We will review the following elements:
How people become candidates
Who can vote for candidates
What method is used for voting
How the winner is determined
How people become candidates
The usual method is to be nominated by a political party. At local levels this can mean being nominated by local precinct committee members, or gathering enough signatures of voters to be placed on the primary election ballot. The number of signatures required varies based on several factors, including the number of registered members of the person’s party and the percent of signatures then required, and whether the party or person has been on the ballot previously. Nonpartisan primaries are also sometimes used, especially for offices that are considered nonpartisan, such as judges and county registrars.
Who can vote for candidates
State and party requirements vary. Some use a closed primary where a person must be a registered member of the party to vote. Some use an open primary where a person need not be a member of the party, or of any party, in order to vote. States also vary in how soon before an election a person must register or change parties to be eligible to vote.
What method is used for voting
A common method is by standard paper ballot at a polling place. However, in Iowa, for example, people gather at arranged times and places in caucuses to vote for candidates by show of hands. The votes are thus not secret. Another distinction is between direct and indirect primaries – i.e., direct and indirect voting. A direct primary simply means that voters choose candidates by voting directly for candidates. This is the usual method in state and local elections. The one very important exception is the national presidential primary. In this case voters, when they cast their vote in favor of a specific candidate on the ballot, are actually choosing associated electors who attend a national convention to select a candidate, and who are expected to vote for the candidate chosen by the voters in the primary. One can see each states’ methods at Primary election systems by state - Ballotpedia
How the winner is determined
Again, states differ. In many states and jurisdictions the person who receives the most votes in each party’s primary becomes that party’s candidate in the general election. Most commonly the person need not receive a majority of votes – only a plurality - the highest number. In some states if a person receives over 50% of the total vote cast by all parties in the primary, they are elected to the office (without a general election). In some states, the top two vote-getters, whether they are in opposing parties or in the same party, move on as the candidates in the general election. In the past few years, ranked choice voting has been used and has gained attention. In this method voters rank their top choices in order, and if no candidate initially receives a majority of first-choice votes, the candidate(s) with the fewest first choices are eliminated in counts until one candidate has a majority of first choice votes.
Even with the variations in methods, the voting process in primary elections is generally transparent and open to all citizens. On the other hand, the process by which parties choose their primary candidates is often less visible, and does not directly involve most citizens. Thus, voters’ first direct involvement often is when they enter a voting booth and choose between candidates presented to them on a primary ballot.