open primary
Any-voter preliminary election
An open primary is a preliminary election in which voters can participate regardless of their party registration.
Unlike closed primaries, where only registered Democrats vote in Democratic races and Republicans in Republican ones, open primaries let any voter choose which party's ballot to cast: Independent voters flocked to the open primary to weigh in on the contested Senate race.
Some states use fully open systems; others require voters to publicly declare a party preference at the polls.
- votingFormally registering a choice
- ballotVoting document
- crossoverGenre-blending work or transition
- independentFree from external control
- nonpartisanNot aligned politically
swing voter · registered · Democrat · Republican · party line · nomination · candidate · runoff · general election · party affiliation · turnout · polling place · electorate · bipartisan · moderate · swing state · ticket · midterm
- Nominationsnomination, nominee, candidate, nomination process, nomination speech
- primariescaucuses, delegates, nominee, caucus system, caucus
- electionsballot, ballots, voter registration, candidates, polls
- votingballot, vote, voters, ballots, voter
- ballotsabsentee ballot, blank ballot, early ballot, invalid ballot, mail ballot
- state governmentstate budget, state senate, state legislature, state capitol, state constitution
open primarycaucus
Party selection meeting
party convention · smoke-filled room · brokered convention · appointment · backroom deal
open, primary, opens, opened, opening, opener, openness, openly, openings