I.

Introduction

Primary Election, preliminary election in which voters select a political party’s candidates for public office. Primary election winners from each political party compete in a general election to determine who will hold the public office. Because each party’s nominees are chosen by the public rather than by party leaders, primary elections are generally considered more democratic than other methods. In the United States, primary elections serve to nominate candidates for many local, state, and national offices, and they play an important role in selecting candidates for the presidency. Few other nations use primaries.

State political parties that do not use primary elections may instead select candidates through the caucus system. A caucus is a meeting of party members at which the party conducts its business, discusses policies, and chooses delegates to higher-level party conventions. Most caucus nominating systems begin with small meetings of party members in a precinct, the smallest electoral district within a county. For example, in the Iowa caucus system, more than 2,000 precincts hold caucuses on the same day. Precinct caucus participants in each party indicate their preference for a candidate. These preferences guide the selection of delegates to county, district, state, and national party conventions, where the party’s candidate is actually chosen.