Can somebody explain Primary elections to me ?

[alice]

Hi there ! American scrapers !
Can anybody explain to me how does the primary elections work ? I've never understood this part of american elections. I studied american civilization at college, but when it came to presidential election there always have been a big blur on the primary elections !!!
What i want to know is who can vote ? And do you have to chose a democrate candidate and a republican ? Or is it amongst your own party that you vote ?
... if someone can explain ! it would be nice !
Thanks a lot !
Alice

[Vania16]

It kind of depends from state to state, but generally speaking you can only vote for the party you belong to, so you would just vote for a Republican or a Democrat, not both. In some states independents are allowed to vote too, but they would have to choose to vote either Republican or Democrat. Then you add to that the weirdness that is a caucus (like they have in Iowa) and things can get really crazy! For example, in the Iowa Democratic caucus, everyone stands in groups in a room by who they're going to vote for and then if a candidate doesn't have enough people (there's a fixed percentage) those people have to choose which other candidate to go for. But, even in Iowa, the Republicans don't do it that way - see, very weird. Other caucus states have a straight vote, just in person. On top of all that, the primary/caucus elections are not the only factor in deciding who the candidate will be. To become the candidate, you have to get a set number of delegates at the party convention. Some of those delegates are awarded on the basis of the primary/caucus results, but others are "super-delegates" who are basically party leadership people and they can pick who they like. So, it's possible that someone could win all the primaries and still not be the nominee because of the super-delegates (at least that's how it is on the Democratic side, I'm not totally sure about the Republicans). All in all, I guess I have to say you're totally justified in being confused - we are too have the time LOL! But, big picture basics - you vote for the candidate for your party :)

[alice]

Thanks Lisa for your answer ! That was quick !!!
I think i understand it better with your explanations. But still does everyone has to be in a party, or chose a party at the age they can vote (21?) ? Are you obliged to stay in that party all your life ? I hope not !!! Do you have to register to a party before a certain date, before the elections ?
In France, when you are 18, you have to go to your city hall and register on the elections lists, which are not marked by a party. Then you vote for the candidate of your choice. For almost every elections there are 2 rounds. First round with every candidate (or a list for the municipals) and next one with the 2 with the best scores. This year it's the municipal elections and my father is one of the candidate in our little town ! This is really exciting! I like elections because of all the debates and the hope you can have for your country / city, to make it a better place. But I don't like when the results are not like you want !!!!!!!
I hope, this year, that my father will be the mayor, cause i have hope that he'll do great things for our town !!!
Thanks again for all these informations ! It's great to know a little more about the way of life of our countries !

[Vania16]

First of all, good luck to your dad! How fun to be involved in the political process so personally :) As for your other questions, I'll take them one at a time . . .

Does everyone has to be in a party, or chose a party at the age they can vote (21?) ?
No, when you register to vote at 18 you can choose to register with a party (Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green, whatever), or you can be an independent and not choose a party. The problem is that, like I said, in a lot of places you can't vote in a primary if you're not a member of a party. You can still vote in the final elections of course, you just won't have a say in who the party nominees are.

Are you obliged to stay in that party all your life ?
No, you can change as often and whenever you like (at least in Arizona you can just do it online)

Do you have to register to a party before a certain date, before the elections ?
I think in most states you probably do if you want to be able to vote in a primary. For the general/final elections it doesn't matter because you can vote for anyone you want, even candidates not of your party, but for primaries you usually have to be registered as a member of the party in which you want to vote by a certain date. At least it was that way in Arizona - I actually changed from Independent to Democrat for about two weeks so I could vote in the primaries here :)

[nennikers]

No, fortunately you DON'T have to stay with the same party for life! You don't even have to choose a party when you register to vote (here you can vote at 18, and you can participate in a primary or caucus if you will be 18 by the day of the general election in November).

And I know in our Iowa caucus (yes, Lisa, they ARE pretty weird, aren't they!?!?!?!?), Democrats could register on the day of the caucus; the caucus chairpeople were passing out registration cards at the door. Republicans, though? You already had to be registered before showing up to caucus. In the Iowa caucus (assuming this is similar around the country when it comes to caucuses), Republicans write down their candidate of choice on a little slip of paper provided at the caucus site (the very color of the paper is kept secret until the caucus starts, a fraud prevention measure!). The caucus chairperson collects all of the slips of paper and counts them with a helper. How quaint!

Democrats have a MUCH more fun time! :)

For the past few decades, the nominees get decided upon by March or April. This year may not work out that way. My Mom fondly recalls the excitement in watching the conventions back in the 1960's. Each major party holds a conventions in the summer, and that's when the nominees are officially chosen. It was most often a mystery as to who the nominees would be, until my lifetime! With the delegate race so crazy on both sides this year, we may very well have to wait until August to find out who the nominees will be!

And I REALLY appreciate you taking an interest, Alice! :clap::clap::clap:

You would be amazed at how many Americans don't pay attention to our election process. My husband conducted an informal poll at the office a few years ago, and the vast majority of people didn't know who was running for governor at the time or even the names of our Senators and Congressmen (we've had the same Senators for about 20 years now!).

YIKES!

Good luck to your father, by the way! When is the mayoral election in your town?

[nanay2angels]

Thanks for the info Lisa & Jen! And thanks Alice for putting up the thread! :biggrin:

I had just become a US citizen 2 yrs ago... and I admit, the whole process is still so confusing! Even the elections - why can't it just be plain majority wins? :confused24:

I did vote yesterday. I'm an independent but here in California, some parties can choose to let independents vote in their primaries. The Democrat and another party(I forget which) did.

Goodluck Alice with your father's candidacy. Several years ago, in the Philippines, my uncle ran for public office and it was fun to be in the campaign trail with him. He won! He's retired now though.

[alice]

Wow ! This is so cool girls ! Thanks for your quick answers ! I think it' amazing to be able to ask "live" people from the other side of the planet !!! Well ... technology !
Thanks so much , because now i have a better idea of what's gioing on in US !
I think it's a pity that people don't pay attention to elections ! People tends to forget easily that the right to vote is something we had to fight for and that in some places people can't do that, or their right is not taken seriously (i.e. Russia !). In France you probably remember that in 2002, on the second turn of presidential elections we had to chose between Chirac (right party) and Lepen (extremist right). This was a real choc in our democracy ! Now people are counscious that elections have to be taken seriously. During the last presidential elections we registered a high level of participation !!!
My father is running as a socialist (left), and the mayoral (i didn't know the apropriate word for that !!! sorry) elections are in march the 8th and the 16th. In the mayoral elections you have to present a list of persons, the number varies in function of the size of the town. And my father is the head of the list ! And it's really exciting to be in the middle of this ! I love that !! It's really interesting !!!
Thanks again girls, have fun !

[Vania16]

I have to say Jennifer, Iowa politics have to be about the most fascinating in the country LOL! For those of you who don't know, I used to live there too :) I mean any state that could have Fred Grandy (formerly Gopher on the show The Loveboat) as a congressman for so long has to be interesting, right?!

This has been a great thread so far - it's so fun to hear about other political systems!

[AmyPunky]

I mean any state that could have Fred Grandy (formerly Gopher on the show The Loveboat) as a congressman for so long has to be interesting, right?!

ROTFL!!! Seriously, he's a congressman?!!! :lmao:

Thanks for the question, Alice! And thanks for the answers, girls!! It's clear in my mind now, I was a bit confused by the whole process too. :thumbup1:

[Vania16]

He used to be, he isn't anymore - a while back he ran for governor against the very popular then-governor and lost in the primary. Pretty fun though, huh? :)

[suejones]

Goodness, it's been great reading this. It all seems so complicated but interesting at the same time.
We are getting a lot of the US election coverage in our news here and so it's interesting to have an idea what is going on.

In Australia, we register to vote at 18 and that puts you on the electoral roll. That means that you can then vote in all elections - Federal, State and Local. Voting is compulsory in Australia and you can be fined for not voting. Although some people who don't want to vote, will put in a 'donkey vote'. Where they just scribble on the papers or post a blank ballot paper just to get their name marked off on the rolls.
You don't choose a party although a lot of people tend to stay with the the same party throughout their lives. That's not always a good thing because sometimes you get pollies (our nickname for politicians) that seem to not really stick with their party policies. Some people are born politicians and some have no grip on reality and everyday life iykwim?
Our country has not long has Federal elections for a new Prime Minister and it was a change of government from Liberal/Coalition to Labour. So far, the new PM seems to be doing okay. :whistling:
We have local government elections coming up soon. And that there is a whole other ball game. It's interesting in our local area because prior to the elections, you've had a chance to get to know the prospective councillors within the community and form your opinions.

So all in all, it's a great system to not have to vote for the same party each time iykwim.

[alice]

Thanks Sue for the explanation on the Australian system ! It's fun to know the differences and resemblances between countries !
Something i find weird is that your vote is compulsory ! It can be good, but it can be bad too i guess !
About the fact that people stick to their political parties. In France i guess it's the same, people are from left or from right. But the thing is that we have so many parties within this two big groups !!! You can have something like 16 candidates at the first round of elections !! It's crazy !!!
Well this thread has been really fun and interesting so thank everybody for your explanations !!!
Take care !!!

[dst212 (Daniela)]

I've been eyeing this thread for a couple days now, interested but confused, LOL...

I'm still confused, but happy to say I learned a few things about elections in the US (and France, and Australia!). I lived in NY for 3 years and nobody could explain that to me! :lol:

In Brazil we can vote at 16, but it's only mandatory once you turn 18. In presidential elections, everybody votes and if one candidate has 50% plus one vote, he (it's been always a he) wins. Otherwise the two top candidates have another round a month later. We do have primary elections, inside the parties (and OMG, there are so many...), but only members of the party have the right to vote. It's not a lot of people, though, compared to the total number of voters. I don't think I know anyone who's affiliate with a party. I think my mother was once a member, but not anymore.

Now, Congress elections are a whole different ballgame. Too complicated to explain here, and I don't even think a lot of people in Brazil know how it works...

Thanks for starting this thread, Alice! Very interesting and instructive!

[LaurieAnn]

congrats to you Joy for becoming a United States Citizen! that is such a huge accomplishment... :cheer2:

[mels]

In Australia we don't vote for Prime Minister we vote for a member of parliament to represent our area. The winner is the party with the most members and they pick one of themselves to be the party leader and the Prime Minister, so our Prime Minister can change at any time really.

[suejones]

In Australia we don't vote for Prime Minister we vote for a member of parliament to represent our area. The winner is the party with the most members and they pick one of themselves to be the party leader and the Prime Minister, so our Prime Minister can change at any time really.

Yeh, I didn't really explain that quite well did I? And then you have things happen like with Bob Hawke and Paul Keating way back years ago (and they were the same party).