SkipCaptcha
3,995
edits
Changes
→Advantages: addition
==Advantages==
==Advantages==
The primary allows voters to choose between different candidates of the some political parties, perhaps representing different wings of the party. For example, a Republican primary may choose between a range of candidates from moderate to conservative. Gallup's 2008 polling data indicated a trend in primary elections towards more conservative candidates, despite the more liberal result in the general election.
The primary allows voters to choose between different candidates of the some political parties, perhaps representing different wings of the party. For example, a Republican primary may choose between a range of candidates from moderate to conservative. Gallup's 2008 polling data indicated a trend in primary elections towards more conservative candidates, despite the more liberal result in the general election.
In many states, the cost of conducting a primary election is funding by the taxpayers, while the cost of a caucus is funded by the political party. Political parties in turn recover those costs through filing fees imposed on the candidates. Voting in a primary is more convenient because the election laws of the state apply, including a local polling place for each precinct; all-day voting hours; and absentee voting. A caucus is usually held in central locations and in many states, all voters must be present at the same time in the same location.
==Control and impact of the primary==
Each political party sets its own internal rules (sometimes called a "Party Plan of Organization"). Each state enacts its own election laws that governs both primaries as well as general elections. Tensions result between the party leaders that have political reasons for wanting rules which may favor certain candidates or factions and the state legislators that have their own priorities and agendas. For example, the legislature and party leaders of New Hampshire want to be the first primary in the nation and do not want other primaries to follow it quickly. Other states want to also have early primaries so as to have a greater voice in selecting a Presidential candidate. As a result, party rules were written to sanction states other than New Hampshire if they schedule their primaries "too early" with the loss of convention delegates.
Both political parties and state laws have attempted to control or limit the discretion of convention delegates. Historically, party conventions imposed "the unit rule" which cast all of a state's votes for the candidate that received a majority of convention delegate's votes instead of allowing each individual delegate's vote to count separately. The post-1968 reforms that promoted primaries to select convention delegates abolished the unit rule. Yet, some states provide for "winner take all" primaries which allow delegates that are pledged to a candidate to take all of the state's convention delegate seats rather than awarding the seats in proportion to the votes of the candidates. Some states impose a legal obligation upon the convention delegates to vote for the candidate to which they are pledged, while in other states, "pledged" delegates can change their minds about how they will vote without penalty.
Some states conduct "open primaries" where any registered voter may vote. Other states have "closed primaries", where voters must register first by party, and on election day voting is limited to people who registered in advance as members of that party.
States set the rules for a candidate appearing on a primary ballot. Typically, the candidate must gather signatures on petitions to show support. The Democratic party adopted a rule specifying that a candidate needs only 10,000 voter signatures to appear on the primary ballot, and that if a state law requires more signatures, then the state will be penalized in sending delegates to the convention.
In sum, the control of the conduct of primaries is a shared responsibility of both the state and the political parties.
==Too early?==
==Too early?==
[[File:Primary-date.jpg|thumb|350px|states move up primaries earlier and earlier; in 2008 4 states held primaries in January and 21 in February]]
[[File:Primary-date.jpg|thumb|350px|states move up primaries earlier and earlier; in 2008 4 states held primaries in January and 21 in February]]