Blueprints of Democracy: March 2026
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March 20, 2026
There are a few basic concepts in American politics that just about everyone understands. One of those is the phrase “primary election.” It conjures images of two or more candidates facing off for the right to represent their particular party in a general election.
But the truth is that primary elections vary considerably from state to state, and even within states and between political parties.
Ballotpedia's comprehensive overview of the types of primary elections used in the U.S. found that 39 states require major parties to hold an open, closed, semi-closed, or top-two style primary for most congressional and state offices.
Eleven states allow political parties to choose between at least two possible primary types.
What do all of these terms mean?
The most common primary types are open primaries, where any voter can cast a ballot in a party’s primary regardless of their partisan affiliation.
Closed primaries are open only to registered members of a political party.
Semi-closed primaries allow party members and unaffiliated voters to participate.
In states that use top-two primaries or variants, all candidates appear on the same ballot and the top vote-getters advance to the general election.
Variations within states, across offices, and across political parties
These aren’t the only layers to primary elections in the U.S. Primary rules often vary within a single state. In 40 states, both the Democratic and Republican parties use the same primary system for most statewide offices.
In seven states, the parties operate different types of primaries. West Virginia exemplifies this complexity. The Republican Party will hold a closed primary this year, a change from previous elections, while the West Virginia Democratic Party will continue to allow independents to vote in its primary.
Louisiana uses a unique primary system, called the majority-vote system, where all candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of party affiliation. If a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the first round of the election, they win the election outright. If no candidate receives 50%, a second-round election is held with the top two vote-getters.
Starting in 2026, semi-closed primaries will replace the majority-vote system for Congress, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Louisiana Public Service Commission, and the Louisiana Supreme Court. In those primaries, only unaffiliated voters and voters registered with a particular party may vote in that party's primary.
Who can vote in a Nebraska primary depends on which races are on the ballot and which party’s primary a voter wants to participate in. State legislative primaries are nonpartisan, with the top two candidates advancing to the general election. Congressional primaries are partisan, but an unaffiliated voter may vote in the congressional primary of their choice. For all other statewide offices, a state party can determine whether it will allow unaffiliated voters to participate in its primary. As of 2026, the Democratic Party allows unaffiliated voters to vote in their primary, while the Republican Party does not.
Local elections, nonpartisan offices, and cancellations
We add new dimensions of complexity to the concept of primary elections when we go down the ballot to local elections.
These are, by far, the most numerous types of elections in the country. More than 500,000 officeholders are elected at the local level, serving in posts ranging from mayor and city and county council members to school boards, judges, and a host of others.
In places that hold nonpartisan primaries, such as many elections in Wisconsin, the primary is used to narrow the field of candidates who will appear on the general election ballot.
For example, imagine a city council election with three seats up for election. If eight candidates file to run, a primary may be held. Voters can typically select up to three candidates, and the six candidates who receive the most votes (twice the number of seats) advance to the general election, while the others are eliminated. A mayoral race would work much the same way — if five candidates run, the top two finishers in the primary move on.
Not every local election uses nonpartisan primaries. Some localities use runoffs instead, which function very similarly. In others, there’s no primary at all, and all the candidates run on the general election ballot. Whoever gets the most votes wins.
Another quirk of primary elections is that they are sometimes canceled entirely.
This often happens when there aren’t enough candidates to make a primary necessary. In many nonpartisan elections, a primary is only needed if more than twice as many candidates file as there are seats available.
For example, if a nonpartisan city treasurer race has just two candidates, there’s no need for a primary, and both would automatically advance to the general election. To save money and reduce ballot length, some jurisdictions simply remove these uncontested contests from the primary ballot.
Partisan primaries can also be canceled, though the threshold is usually lower, typically when the number of candidates is less than or equal to the number of nominations available.
However, cancellations aren’t universal. In some states, write-in candidates are allowed, meaning a primary may still appear on the ballot even if a write-in candidate earns enough votes to advance. But in these situations, rules vary.
Some states have particularly detailed rules for deciding whether a primary election should be held at all. In Montana, for example, municipal primaries are triggered not just by the number of candidates, but also by the number of offices on the ballot.
If only one office is being elected, a primary is required when four or more candidates file. But when multiple offices are on the ballot, the rules become more complex. For instance, if there are four offices, a primary may be required if four candidates file for three of the offices and any number run for the fourth, or if five or more candidates file for any single office.
And the winner is?
Some states also have unusual rules for determining when candidates can win outright in multi-seat races. In Arizona, for example, it’s possible for some candidates to win in the primary while others still advance to the general election.
This often happens in elections where voters are instructed to vote for more than one, such as a city council race with three seats up for election. Because multiple candidates can receive votes on each ballot, a simple 50% majority wouldn’t work. Instead, Arizona calculates a winning threshold by taking the total number of votes cast, dividing it by the number of seats up for election, and then dividing that number in half.
Any candidate who exceeds that threshold wins the seat outright in the primary. If fewer candidates reach it than there are seats available, they take the number of seats still undecided, multiply that by two, and then advance that number of the next-highest vote-getters to the general.
The evolving role of primaries
Primaries have been a key feature of American politics since they were first adopted in Wisconsin in 1904. But they are not static. State legislatures continue to modify how primaries are run, who can participate, the role of political parties, and more, to this day.
Related resources
- Primary election
- Primary election types by state
- Primary election cancellations
- State primary election types
Click on the map below to learn more about primary elections in that state.
Footnotes
