History

• The history of primary elections is traced to the progressive movement in the United States. During this time, progressives focused on reforms that helped society advance and progress toward the future. One progressivist, Robert LaFolette, believed that citizens should have more control over government. Another, George Forbes, called for direct primaries to force the government to listen to the people--the idea being that you can only have true democracy when all citizens are engaged.
  
  

Function

• The purpose of primary elections is for the political parties to nominate their chosen candidate for office, who will then run in a general election. Since there may be many candidates seeking to run in the general election against politicians of other political parties, each political party holds a primary election to determine which candidate will advance to the general election. In the United States, primary elections are typically reserved for major party candidates.
  
  

Features

• Primary elections in the United States include caucuses, which is a meeting of members of a political party to decide on a party's nominee. During caucuses, primary votes are cast in the open instead of behind a curtain like most voting. Most primary elections, however, involve voters casting a vote in private. Although most states vote using ballots during the primary elections, some states like Iowa use the caucus format.
  
  

Types

• Because primary elections allow political parties to nominate their candidate for the general election, different rules garner who is allowed to vote in a primary election. Closed primaries are open only to registered members of a political party. Nonpartisan or Independent voters are not allowed to vote in closed primaries. Open primaries, on the other hand, allow registered voters of all political parties to cast their vote. In an open primary, voters simply request the ballot of the party they intend to vote for and cast their vote. On rare occasions, a run-off primary election is necessary. A run-off election is one in which the remaining candidates aren't required to be members of the same political party. A run-off is only necessary if neither candidate achieved a majority of votes during the initial primary election.
  
  

Effects

• Many have criticized primary elections, particularly for the president, because they argue that early primaries adversely affect the outcome of the subsequent primaries. Smaller states such as New Hampshire, which aren't representative of the nation as a whole, carry more weight and set the tone for the rest of the nation. The schedule is sometimes changed in an effort to even out the weight each state carries. To prove this, many point to the New Hampshire primary. In the New Hampshire primary, the Democratic and Republican candidates that win in New Hampshire generally go on to win their party's nomination. Although not true across the board, it has happened more often than not.