PRIMARIES, a term applied to preliminary elections in which delegates to conventions or candidates for office are nom inated directly by the voters, instead of being chosen by political conventions as was formerly the universal custom in the United States. The primary election is by ballot, is accompanied by the same election machinery, regulations and safeguards, and is fully as "official" as the final election. The first use of the direct primary in the United States so far as known, was in Crawford county, Pa., in 1868, from whence it spread to other counties of that State and of States in the Middle West, South and West. It was not until the opening of the 20th century, when a wide-spread distrust of political conventions had grown up, that the method was adopted by an entire State. In 1903, Wisconsin, under the leadership of Governor Robert M. La Follette, passed a mandatory primary law. Oregon passed a similar law the following year. By 1915 the direct primary for some purposes had been adopted by nearly every State in the Union, although its scope and adminis trative details varied widely from State to State. In 1928 it was mandatory in all but five States. Utah permitted primaries if desired by a political party but did not require them. Connecticut, Delaware, New Mexico and Rhode Island had no primary law.
In several States the primary law applies to all political parties, but in most States minor parties which do not poll a fixed mini mum vote, or a certain percentage of votes cast at the previous election, are allowed to nominate their candidate by convention if they prefer. Likewise, primaries may be held to nominate candidates for all or for only certain offices. In most of the Western States the law applies to almost all elective officers from the governor down to and including local officials. In New York, however, a State convention is held for the nomination of State officials and the application of the direct primary is for local officers only. In six States in 1928 presidential electors were nominated through primaries.
Methods by which aspirants for nomination have their names placed upon the primary ballot vary widely. The most commonly used is that by petition, wherein a fixed number of signatures, or signatures totalling a certain percentage of the voters must be secured by the candidate. A second method is to allow any one to have his name entered upon the payment of a certain fee, which varies in amount according to the importance of the office. A
third method is to allow party committees to designate "official" aspirants for nomination—with the reservation that others may place their names on the ballot by petition. In Colorado conven tions are held previous to the primary and all names placed in nomination before the convention and receiving io% or more of that body's vote are placed on the ballot. A similar system exists in South Dakota with the provision there that other names may be added by petition.
Primaries may be either open or closed. In the first case the voter has a choice of the ballot of any party regardless of his regular party affiliations. The open primary was used in only three States, Colorado, Montana and Wisconsin in 1928. The voter was given the ballots of all parties as he entered the booth, and upon his exit he placed the one he had marked in one box and the others in a discard box. The advantage of this procedure is that the voter is able to keep his party affiliation a secret. The most commonly used closed primary procedure is that of enrol ment in a political party at the time of registration previous to election. In a few States the voter does not declare his party until he steps up to receive his ballot. In neither of these pro cedures, however, as in the open primary, is there any guarantee that the voter will vote for the nominees of the same party in the final election as in the primary. In this respect the primary so far as party government is concerned is defective, in that it allows the voter to interfere with the selection of candidates in a party to which he does not belong. Where the final race is likely to be close he may vote for a candidate of the opposing party whom his own candidate can more easily defeat, or, if his own party has little chance, he may vote for his favourite among the candidates of the other party, in which case the minority party sinks to an ineffective position. In Wisconsin, for example, the Democratic candidates often receive too few votes in the primary to give them a place on the final ballot, in which case they are forced to run as independents or discontinue the race. Some States require a voter, if challenged, to swear that he has supported for a certain time the party in which he enrols. Others require a promise to vote for the same party's nominees in the final election, while a few States require a promise of support for a longer period, in Illinois, for example, for two years.