Presidential Primaries in the United States of America

Primaries are the initial steps of selecting the presidential candidate of each party in the United States. Each party announces their candidate at their national convention which is usually the summer before the presidential elections. At the national convention the ultimate candidate of the party for the election is chosen by the delegates present at the convention. The rules for the appointments of delegates to the convention vary from party to party and also from state to state. Most of the delegates are chosen using primaries and caucuses however both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party have provisions for so called Super-delegates which are chosen outside the primary and caucus system. The caucus system is very similar to closed primaries but in ways more restricted for party members and party influence.

Here is a short movie on Barack Obama and the presidential primary race:

There are two major types of primaries called Closed Primaries and Open Primaries which are explained below:

1- Open Primaries: In this kind of primary any registered voter can vote regardless of their party affiliation. Voters are not required to publicly choose one party or the other. Rather, they enter the voting booth and choose the party ballot on which they will vote in secret. Hence, one does not need to be a member of a particular party in order to vote in a party's primary. Also a member of one party can vote in the primary of another party. However, one can vote in only one primary. The advantages of open primaries are that they increase voter participation. Also it allows independent voters to participate which might help with the election of a candidate that might have a better chance to get elected in the general elections. One major disadvantage of this kind of primary is that the opponent party might organize its voters to take part in the others party primary and vote for the weakest candidate.

2- Closed Primaries: Voters may vote in a party's primary only if they are registered members of that party. Independents cannot participate. The closed primary serves to encourage party unity and prevent members of other parties from infiltrating and voting to nominate weak candidates. There are also semi-closed primaries. The advantages of these kinds of primary are that it encourages people to join a party and thus be more political. The main disadvantage is that registered party members will probably vote politically and will not be a good representation of the general public thus they might chose a candidate with a low likelihood of getting elected.

Recently the presidential race in the US was officially started with the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary with Barak Obama and Mike Huckabee winning the Iowa cuacus and Hillary Clinton and John MacCain winning the New Hampshire primary. An interesting article with regards to the democratic nomination can be read at the New York Times. Although Iowa and New Hampshire are only two states among the fifty states however since they are the first states where the party nominations take place it is monumental for candidates to win them. The reason for this is that 'early states' build momentum for the candidates and effect the elections in the next states.