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 (I copyed many articles from many websites)

April Xuan Chen

ESL Program

March 26 2008

                     The U.S. primary election

   The primaries are vital and important part of America’s democratic process. Unfortunately, many people skip the primary election and only vote in the general election. However, did they really understand what the primary election is and why it exists?

   The primary election is to see who will receive the nomination from his or her political party during the convention and also to vote for delegates to the national conventions during the primary election. The candidate and delegates are selected at the state level, according to rules and formulas determined by each political party's state committee. While these rules and formulas are various and can change from state-to-state and from year-to-year. There remain two methods by which the states choose their delegates to the national conventions: the primary and the caucus.

      The primaries are open to all registered voters. Just like in general elections, voting is done through a secret ballot. There are two types of primaries, closed and open. In a closed primary, voters may vote only in the primary of the political party in which they registered. For example, a voter who registered as a Republican can only vote in the Republican primary. In an open primary, registered voters can vote in the primary of either party, but are allowed to vote in only one primary. Most states hold closed primaries.

     Caucuses are simply meetings, open to all registered voters of the party, at which delegates to the party's national convention are selected. According to my research, 15 states have caucuses. They are Iowa, Wyoming, Nevada, Maine, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, West Virginia, Nebraska and Hawaii. When the caucus begins, the voters in attendance divide themselves into groups according to the candidate they support. The undecided voters congregate into their own group and prepare to be "courted" by supporters of other candidates. At the end of the caucus, party organizers count the voters in each candidate's group and calculate how many delegates to the county convention each candidate has won. As in the primaries, the caucus process can produce both pledged and unpledged convention delegates, depending on the party rules of the various states.

     The Democratic and Republican parties use different methods for determining how many delegates are awarded to, or "pledged" to vote for the various candidates at their national conventions. Democrats use a proportional method. Each candidate is awarded a number of delegates in proportion to their support in the state caucuses or the number of primary votes they won. For instance, there are 50 delegates at a democratic convention voting for two candidates, Obama and Hillary. If Obama received 40% of all caucus and primary votes, Hillary got 60%. Then Obama would get 20 delegates, Hillary would get 30 delegates. On the other hand, in the Republican Party, each state chooses either the proportional method or a "winner-take-all" method of awarding delegates. Under the winner-take-all method, the candidate getting the most votes from a state's caucus or primary gets all of that state's delegates at the national convention.

     However, many voters don’t seem to realize that the primary election is the most important phase. Why can't we just go to the polls once in November and be done with it? What's so important about the primaries? In my personal point of view, the primary is the election which each vote counts the most. First of all, primary election campaigns are the main way voters get to know about all the candidates. As media coverage focuses on the voters of each state during primary season, all the candidates are more likely to get some coverage. The primaries provide a nationwide stage for the free and open exchange of all ideas and opinions -- the foundation of the American form of participatory democracy. It gives people the ability to decide who the best candidate is. Secondly, the primaries play a key role in shaping the final platforms of the major candidates in the November election. If that candidate succeeded in wining a substantial number of votes during the primaries, there is a very good chance that some aspects of his or her platform will be adopted by the party's chosen presidential candidate. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the primary elections provide yet another avenue though which Americans can to take part in the process of choosing our own leaders. The interest generated by the presidential primaries moves many first-time voters to register and go to the polls. Overall, it is at these primary elections that voters are given their first chance to participate in the election of the next president.

       People who take their vote seriously need to find out when the primary election is held in their state so they have a voice in selecting the candidate. As far as I know, in 2008, Iowa  held the primary election on Thursday, January 3; New Hampshire held on Tuesday, January 8; Michigan is on Tuesday, January 15; while Nevada is on Saturday, January 19 and South Carolina is on Saturday, January 26. As 22 states will hold their primary elections in Super Tuesday, it could prove decisive in the battle for the presidential nomination.

       Though the primary is a vital and important part of America's democratic process, there’re still some leaks in the process. Take the time for example, we can find that states have the different time to hold the elections. As the matter of fact, the nomination is probably confirmed, just after the result of Iowa, New Hampshire, and some of the large states. In some sense, the candidate has already selected before many of the states begin to vote. That means many electorates can’t vote effectively. However, the states, like Iowa, New Hampshire, whose economies are based on agriculture, are not typical states. They can’t stand for the U.S. very well, yet they have most influence on the election. What’s more, Several states sought to move up the dates of their 2008 primaries in order to have more influence and dilute the power of the New Hampshire primary. For example, Iowa is prior to   New Hampshire this year. Nevertheless, the New Hampshire Legislature tightened the law once more by providing the primary would be held "on the Tuesday at least seven days immediately preceding the date on which any other state shall hold a similar election, whichever is earlier.” As a result, the start of primaries will be earlier and earlier, while the period of the whole election lasts longer and longer. It forces candidates to raise more and more capital to win and this may cause many problems; furthermore it may cause profit conflicts between states and states. So I advocate all the states vote on the same day.

      In addition, some states allow open primary, like California. I can’t agree with that, because under the open primary structure, some voters will gather others from their own party to go and participate in a rival party’s primary election in order to vote for the candidate who is least likely to win. Then, they are still able to vote for the strongest candidate in their own party’s primary election. This is a “raiding”, a form of political sabotage. Limiting the vote to a single primary election can prevent this sabotage effectively.

     Though, some states have dropped their presidential primary elections due to cost or other factors, and though there’re some leaks in the system still, I believe the primaries will continue to be a vital and important part of America's democratic process.