Thread by @Civics4GrownUps

RT! ⚡️What are primaries? ⚡️
(Thread!)
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Fun fact: primaries are NOT (necessarily) elections.
Most primaries in the US narrow the field of candidates, but do not elect anyone to office.
Primaries were created by the states in the early 1900s following Progressive reforms to take power from party elites /2

Primaries are created by state laws and vary a lot !!
No, really, a lot.
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Some states have partisan primaries--where some group of party voters select the party's nominee for each elected office
There are several types of these partisan primaries.
States make different rules about who can vote to select the party's nominee./4

In some states' primaries, voters are only allowed to participate if they are pre-registered as party members. (These are sometimes called closed primaries.) That is your set of rules if you live in DE, FL, KY, MD, NV, NM, NY, OR, PA.
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Some states have "partially closed primaries," in which each party can make its own decision about whether to allow unaffiliated voters, but still exclude members of opposing primaries from their primary (AK, CT, ID, NC, OK, SD, UT)
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Some allow voters to participate in a primary without any prior commitment to the party, but voters must publicly declare which party's ballot they want.
(Nerds might call these partially open primaries.)
(IL, IN, IA, OH, TN, WY)/7

In another primary variant, some states allow Democrats to vote in the Democratic party primary, Republicans to vote in the Republican party primary, and unaffiliated voters to vote in either one (AZ, CO, KS, ME, MA, NH, NJ, RI, WV)
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Some states allow voters to choose a party's ballot without publicly declaring any support or affiliation with a party at all.
(AL, AR, GA, HI, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, ND, SC, TX, VT, VA, WI)
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Some have decided not to have "party" primaries at all:
Some states have "top two" primaries--where the candidates from all parties are on one list and the top two vote getters go to the general election (CA, NE, LA, WA)
(LA has its first round on Nov 6 and the runoff Dec 8!)/9

(The state primary rules we've been talking about are NOT how the presidential candidates get nominated. That's a whole other ball of wax.)/10

Each state also chooses the date for its own primary election.
Some are as early as March (Texas, Illinois), but most are later in the year. /11

Ten states also require that the primary winner needs to receive a particular percentage of the vote, usually a majority. For a list, see: ncsl.org/research/elect… /12

REMEMBER! most states require voters to register to vote several weeks before the primary, and you MAY be required to register WITH a political party in order to vote in the primary. Make sure you understand your own state's primary eligibility and voter registration rules! /13

Here is the calendar for this year's primaries--
MARCH
Primaries March 6: TX (runoff May 22)
Primaries March 20: IL
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May primaries
Primaries May 8: IN, NC, OH, WV
Primaries May 15: ID, NE, OR, PA
Primaries May 22: KY, AR (runoff June 19), GA (runoff July 24)
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June primaries
Primaries June 5 CA, IA, MT, NJ, NM, SD, MS (runoff June 26), AL (runoff July 17)
Primaries June 12: ME, NV, ND, VA, SC (runoff June 26)
Primaries June 26: CO, MD, UT, OK (runoff Aug 28)
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August primaries
Primaries August 2: TN
August 7: KS, MI, MO, WA
August 11: HI
August 14: CT, MN, VT, WI
August 21: AK, WY
August 28: AZ, FL
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September primaries
Sept 4: MA
Sept 6: DE
Sept 11: NH, NY
Sept 12: RI
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Want more specific information for your state including voter registration and primary eligibility rules? Check out: rockthevote.org/voting-informa… OR YOUR OWN STATE'S ELECTIONS OFFICIAL /end