PRIMARY ELECTIONS (Lat. primarius, relating to the first or earliest, front prim first, from pro, before: connected with Ok, lrp(5, pro, Skt. pra, Goth. Mar, OHO. fora. Ger. ror, AS., Eng. for) - The term used to designate the means through which candidates for elective offices are nominated. In a more restricted sense it refers to the election of delegates to nominating conven tions (q.v.). A primary election differs from a regular election in that it is participated in only by the members of a particular political party. Thus there are Democratic primaries. Republican primaries. etc.. at each of which the party conven tion is chosen or the party candidates are nomi nated directly. Until recently the primary elec tion was a wholly extra-legal institution. that is, it was unregulated by statute. Each party framed its own rules and devised its own machinery for the selection of its candidates without legal re .striction. The theory was that whatever politi cal action antedated the election was beyond the domain of law. and hence the manner in which each party brought forward its candi dates was to lie determined by its own action. Every proposal to place the primary under the supervision of the State was attacked as a species of despotism repugnant both to the liberty of parties and to the private rights of politicians_ For a long time the non-officially conducted pri mary was the source of little ur no abuse, but with the enormous growth of the city population and the complexity of political life in general the opportunities for fraud and corruption multiplied so that in many communities, especially in the larger cities, the primary degenerated into a con federation of selfish partisan association. from which a large majority of the voters were ex cluded. Thus in the city of New York the pri mary organizations came to be clubs with such rigid tests for membership tbat the number of members (lid not exceed one-fourth of the party voters, and in some cases was not more than one sixth. Moreover, the party regulations did not atTord sufficient means for identifying the voters of a given organization, with the consequence that the voters of one party could and sometimes did participate in the primaries of another party for the purpose of bringing about the nomination of unpopular candidates, with.the hope of defeating them in the regular election. As a result of these conditions the demand for primary reform in creased, and within the last decade laws have been passed in most of the leading States, including Minnesota. Nebraska. Ohio. New Jersey, Pennsyl
vania, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Car olina. Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan. Missouri, Maryland, Massachusetts, California. Illinois, and New York, for the purpose of regulating primary elections and placing them under the supervision of the State.
In general these laws- provide that sufficient public notice shall be given; that the elections shall he by ballot ; that the election officers shall be sworn; that the expense of conducting the pri maries shall be borne by the State. or, in some cases, as in Mississippi. by the candidates; that frauds shall be punished according to prescribed penalties; and that these requirements shall be compulsory in the large cities and optional else where. A few of the most recently enacted statutes go even further and provide methods for securing, prior to the primary election, a fair and full enrollment of the voters of each party: for a proper test by which to determine who shall be considered a member of a particular party; for fixing a uniform primary election day: for using the 'blanket' form of ballot ; for direct nomina tion of candidates, or. if through a convention. by delegates chosen by a pledging ballot at the primary; and for various regulations with regard to the organization and action of the convention. So far the most comprehensive and thorough going measure of the kind is the primary election of Minnesota. Its di:timmi.hing features are that it is compulsory; that it is general, applying to the nomination of county. municipal. and judi cial officers and Representatives in Congress: that the elections for all parties are held on the same day as in the case of general elections: and that primary election day is also the first day for the registration of voters for the general election. The New York primary election law is equally thoroughgoing in several particulars. In Missis sippi all nominations for State. district, county, and local officers are now made by primary elec tion in accordance with the law governing the general election, but under the supervision of party committees. The general result of this legislation is to elevate the so-called primary to the dignity of a preliminary election and surround it with the safeguards of law. It is undoubtedly a great step in the direction of purity of elections. See CAucus; CONVENTION; ELECTIONS.