Closed Primary? Open Primary? Open Partisan Primary? What are they? And more importantly who comes up with this stuff?
Closed Primary First Contact
Did you know that depending on your state, you may not be able to vote in a primary under a certain condition? I found this out the hard way when I went to vote in a primary years ago. After receiving my polling information I went to the location. I presented my ID, back then, we showed proof of identity. The pollster tried to locate me in the book of registered voters. But could not find me. But why?
Enter The Closed Primary Rule
This is why. I am a registered, Independent. And in New York Independents cannot vote in a primary because New York has closed primaries. So what is a closed primary?
Allow me to introduce you to Open Primaries.org This site shows which states have closed or open primaries, as well as the little, know partisan primary. Click on the link to see which type of primary your state has.
Closed Primary: The Definition
Source: Open Primaries.org
CLOSED PRIMARY:
Only voters registered with a particular party may vote in that party’s primary election. So if you are registered as a Democrat, you can only vote for Democratic candidates. If you’re a registered Republican you can only vote for Republican candidates. If you are registered with a minor party, you can only vote in that party’s primary-if they hold one. The top vote-getter for each party moves on to the general election. Unaffiliated/independent voters cannot vote in closed primary elections.
States with closed primaries include: Alaska*, Arizona, California*, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho*, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Nebraska*, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, *North Dakota (no voter registration)*, Oklahoma*, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota*, Utah*, Washington*
*In these states the Democratic party has amended its rules to allow Independents to participate.
Side note, former mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to change New York primaries from closed to open. He failed. Of all the things to fail at this had to be the one.
So there you have it, the only time you cannot vote. In my opinion, any party that denies people to vote is leaving votes on the table. In these times, political parties need all the votes they can get from anywhere they can legally get them. Just saying.
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