Open primary

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.
This article has been tagged since January 2007.

An Open Primary is a type of direct primary open to voters regardless of their party affiliation. In some open primaries, such as in Indiana voters need to publicly declare their party affiliation but in others such as in Wisconsin, they do not. Voters must vote for candidates of only one party. The opposite is a closed primary, in which only registered members of a party may vote.

In Oregon in 2006, supporters of a ballot measure titled One Ballot refer to it as an "open primary." It is, more accurately, a run-off primary election: all candidates appear in the same race, regardless of party affiliation. The top two candidates advance to the general election.

[edit] States with open primaries

In some of the open primaries, the voter must reveal publicly which party's primary ballot he or she is choosing. But in certain other open primary states, the voters chooses the party in the privacy of the voting box (but still, the voter must choose only one party's primary).

[edit] Other types of "open primaries"

Alaska has a hybrid system. In Louisiana, the parties do not nominate candidates; however, Act 560 of 2006 provides for closed primaries for congressional races. See run-off primary election for more information on Louisiana's system.