The primary election system was first intro duced in those Southern States in which one political party has control and a nomination is equivalent to an election. Here the real contest is within the ranks of the dominant party at the primary. The members there vote directly for the various candidates, the votes are canvassed and it is made a point of honor to abide by the decision so rendered. So important is the primary election that more votes are cast at it than at the legal election which follows. Some of the States — Missis sippi, for example — have passed laws for the regulation and control of the primary election. In other States, as Georgia, the dominant party holds a similar election under rules formulated by the party organization.
But the development of the primary elec tion system is by no means confined to the South; it extends to all sections of the country. Its object is to give to the unofficial members of the party greater power of control. The development of the system has coincided with the introduction of the Australian ballot legis lation. These new laws require the State to print and distribute the ballots. This had formerly been an important party duty. Be fore the State officer can print the ballots he must have official information as to the names of candidates; the laws, therefore, prescribe a formal process of nomination by petition; but the real nominations are made by the political parties, and since the laws require some sort of official recognition of the nominating proc ess, the State legislatures have been the more ready to yield to the already existing demand for legislation on the subject of primary elec tions. The result is that in many States the ordinary party machinery is becoming subject to State regulation and control. In 1901 the State of Minnesota passed a law providing for the holding of a primary election for the nomi nation of candidates to be voted for at the gen eral election. The Minnesota primary election
under State supervision is for all parties, who must all vote at the same place and on the same day. This provision makes it easier to confine the vote of each party to its own members. Under this law the candidates for State offices are not subject to nomination at the primary. The object of this exception was to preserve the State convention and render it convenient for party leaders to meet in con ference and make declarations of party prin ciples. Numerous States have since adopted a compulsory primary system. Many of them re quire State as well as local officers to be thus nominated.
State control of party nomination leads to legal definition of party membership. Only members of the party have a right to vote at the primary. In Massachusetts, participation in a primary election of a given party disquali fies. a man for voting at the primary of any other party for the ensuing 12 months without a formal legal notice of a change of party choice. Direct nomination at a primary elec tion creates a demand for preliminary nomi nation of candidates, more or less formal, within the party itself. Party caucuses and conferences are utilized for this purpose. See DEMOCRATIC PARTY; REPUBLICAN PARTY; WHIGS.
Bibliography.— Beard, C. A.,
Government and Politics (1910); Bryce, J., (The American Commonwealth) (4th ed. 1910); Ford, H. J.,
JEssa MACY.
Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Grin nell College.