Primary elections in Texas
 in Texas |
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Primary elections allow voters to determine which candidates compete in the general election and can be nonpartisan or partisan. In partisan primaries, voters choose the candidates they prefer for a political party to nominate in the general election.
The laws governing primary elections vary from state to state and can even vary within states by locality and political party. For example, only registered party members are allowed to vote in closed primaries, while registered party members and unaffiliated voters are allowed to vote in semi-closed primaries, and all voters are allowed to vote in open primaries.
Primary elections also vary by the way their outcomes are determined. Majority systems require the winning candidate to receive at least fifty percent of the votes cast, while plurality systems do not. In top-two primaries, top-four primaries, and blanket primaries, all candidates are listed on the same ballot, regardless of partisan affiliation.
See the sections below for general information on the use of primary elections in the United States and specific information on the types of primaries held in Texas:
- Background: This section outlines the different types of primary election participation models used in the United States, including open primaries, closed primaries, semi-closed primaries, and top-two primaries. This section also details the various methods employed to determine the outcomes of primary elections.
- Primary election systems used in Texas: This section details the primary election systems employed in Texas, including presidential primaries and primaries for congressional and state-level offices (e.g., state legislative seats, state executive offices, etc).
- State legislation: This sections lists state legislation relevant to primary election policy in Texas.
Background
In general, there are two broad criteria by which primary elections can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction:
1. Rules of participation: In jurisdictions that conduct partisan primaries, who can vote in a party's primary? Is participation limited to registered party members, or can other eligible voters (such as unaffiliated voters or voters belonging to other parties) participate? In general, there are three basic types of primary election participation models: open primaries, closed primaries, and semi-closed primaries. Several states also use a top-two primary or a variant of that system.
- In closed primaries only registered party members are allowed to vote.
- In semi-closed primaries, registered party members and unaffiliated voters are allowed to vote.
- In open primaries, all voters are allowed to vote.
- In top-two primaries, top-four primaries, and blanket primaries, all candidates are listed on the same ballot, regardless of partisan affiliation and voters may vote for candidates from more than one party.
2. Vote requirements: What share of the total votes cast does a candidate have to receive in order to advance to the general election? Methods for determining primary election outcomes include plurality voting systems ans majority voting systems. Two states, California and Washington, use top-two primaries, while one, Alaska, uses a top-four primary. Both are plurality systems. Maine use ranked-choice voting for some primaries, which is a majority system.
Primary election systems used in Texas
Presidential elections
Presidential candidates in the United States are not directly nominated via primary elections; instead, presidential nominees are formally nominated at political party conventions. Presidential preference primary elections and caucuses are held in each state to determine how that state's delegation will vote during the nominating convention. The guidelines governing presidential nominating processes are set by the national committees of political parties, which in turn authorize individual state-level parties to conduct their own primaries and caucuses in accordance with their own participation standards. The terms under which presidential primaries are conducted therefore vary from state to state and from election cycle to election cycle. In 2016, a total of 35 U.S. jurisdictions (including both states and territories) held presidential preference primaries to allocate convention delegates to both the Democratic and Republican parties' presidential candidates. In 13 jurisdictions, both parties held caucuses instead to allocate delegates. Eight jurisdictions utilized a bifurcated process in which one party held a primary and the other conducted a caucus or convention.[1][2][3][4][5]
In 2016, Texas' political parties conducted open presidential preference primaries. Voters were not required to be a member of a party to participate in its primary.
Congressional and state-level elections
In 23 states, at least one political party utilizes closed primaries to nominate partisan candidates for congressional and state-level (e.g. state legislators, governors, etc.) offices. In 18 states, at least one party utilizes open primaries to nominate partisan candidates for these offices. In 12 states, at least one party utilizes semi-closed primaries. In 5 states, top-two primaries or a variation are used.[6] These state primaries are a separate entity and are not included in the totals for open, closed, or semi-closed primaries.
Texas law requires parties to conduct open primary elections for state and county offices, as well as for congressional offices. Winners in primary contests are determined by majority vote. In the case that no candidate receives a majority vote, the top two candidates proceed to a runoff election.[7][8][9]
The table below lists Texas offices for which parties must conduct primary elections to nominate their candidates.
| Elective offices for which parties must conduct primaries to nominate general election candidates | |
|---|---|
| Office | Number of seats |
| Governor of Texas | 1 |
| Lieutenant Governor of Texas | 1 |
| Attorney General of Texas | 1 |
| Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts | 1 |
| Texas Land Commissioner | 1 |
| Texas Agriculture Commissioner | 1 |
| Texas Railroad Commission | 3 |
| State legislators | 181 |
| United States Senators | 2 |
| United States Representatives | 36 |
| Local officials | Varies by municipality |
State legislation and ballot measures
Primary systems legislation
The following is a list of recent primary election systems bills that have been introduced in or passed by the Texas state legislature. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.
Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.
Primary systems ballot measures
Since 2017, Ballotpedia has tracked no ballot measures relating to primary elections in Texas.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Bartels, L. (1988). Presidential Primaries and the Dynamics of Public Choice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (page 22)
- ↑ Democratic National Committee, "2016 Democratic National Convention Delegate/Alternate Allocation," updated February 19, 2016
- ↑ CNN.com, "Democratic National Convention Roll Call," July 26, 2016
- ↑ Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process," accessed October 11, 2015
- ↑ CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016
- ↑ Top-two primary systems, such as those utilized in California, Nebraska, and Washington, and variations of those systems, such as the top-four system used in Alaska and the majority-vote system used in Louisiana, are sometimes classified as open primary systems because voter participation in such primaries is not tied to partisan affiliation. For the purposes of this article, these primaries are considered to be a separate entity. For more information about top-two primaries and their variations, see this article.
- ↑ FairVote, "Who Can Vote in Congressional Primaries," accessed August 17, 2017
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "State Primary Election Types," July 21, 2016
- ↑ Texas Legislature, "Chapter 172. Primary Elections," accessed September 2, 2017
