the difference✪ What’s
between a primary
and a caucus?

• dUrINg THE
NEw HAmpSHIrE
prImAry,
rEpUBlICAN
prESIdENTIAl
CANdIdATEmIT T romNEy
vISITS BEdford
HIgH SCHool ,JANUAry 8,
2008.

Primary elections and caucuses
differ in how they are organized
and who participates. And rates
of participation differ widely.
primaries: State governments fund and conduct
primary elections much as they would any election:
voters go to a polling place, vote and leave. voting
is anonymous and quickly accomplished. Some states
hold “closed” primaries in which only declared party
members can participate. for example, only registereddemocrats can vote in a closed democratic primary.
In an open primary, all voters can participate, regardless of their party affiliation or lack of affiliation.
Caucuses: State political par ties organize
caucuses, in which faithful par ty members speak
openly on behalf of the candidates they support for theparty nomination. They are communal events in which
participants vote publicly. Caucuses tend to favor candidates who have dedicated and organized supporters who
can use the caucus to elect convention delegates pledged
to their favored presidential candidate. Caucus participantsalso identify and prioritize issues they want to include
in the state or national party platform. participation ina caucus requires a high level of political engagement
and time. Consequently, caucuses tend to attract
fewer participants than primaries.

23• p r I m A r y + C A UC US•many states✪ How
hold a primaryor caucus and when
are they held?

Historically, only a few states heldpresidential primaries or caucuses.
But the trend has been toward greater
voter participation in the presidential
nomination process. The number of states
holding primaries or caucuses started increasing in the1970s. Today all 50 states and the District of Columbia
have either presidential primaries or caucuses.
States parties choose whether they want to hold aprimary or a caucus, and some states have switched fromone format to the other over time.
Some states have both primaries and caucuses.
For example, in Alaska and Nebraska, Republicans holdprimaries while Democrats convene caucuses. In Kentucky,
Democrats hold a primary and Republicans a caucus.

• T HE STATE oF
NEW HAMpSHIREHolDS THE
FIRST pRIMARy
IN jANUARyoR FEbRUARy
oF THEpRESIDENTIAl
ElECTIoN yEAR.

24• TodAy All
50 STATES
ANd THEdISTrICT ofColUmBIA
HAvE EITHEr
prESIdENTIAl
prImArIES
or CAUCUSES.

Because these and other early contests frequently
establish which candidates lack enough support tocontend seriously for the presidency, candidates expend
great effort in these early states, addressing their needs
and interests and organizing campaigns within evensmaller states, spending money on staff, media andhotels. As a result, more and more states schedule theirprimaries and caucuses in the winter months. manystates hold their events on the same day.
The major parties frequently tweak the rules
in ways they hope will produce the strongest possible
candidate. for example, in 2016, the republicans willallow states that hold their primaries after march 15
to award their delegates “winner-take-all,” so thatthe candidate who earns the most votes—even if it’s
only, say, 25 percent of the votes in an eight-candidate
field—will capture all that state’s delegates.
A major outcome of the proliferation and acceleration of primaries and caucuses is that the nominees ofthe major parties are known before the national party
conventions are held in late summer. This has diminishedthe importance of the national nominating conventions,which have become largely ceremonial events.

• p r I m A r y + C A UC US

for many years, Iowa has held the first
caucuses, generally in January or early februaryof the presidential election year, and NewHampshire the first primary, a short time later.

Washington

MontanaNorth
DakotaMinne

OregonIdaho

South Dakota
Wyoming
Nebraska

NevadaUtah
Colorado

California

Arizona

New Mexico

KansasOklahoma

TexasskaAla

AlaskaHawaiicaucuses

sota

Wisconsin

New Hampshire
Vermont
Massachusetts

New YorkM

ic
hi

ga

In

diIllinois

Pennsylvania

aky
KentucMissouriee
Tenness
Arkansas

ianVirgi

North
Carolina
South
Carolina
Georgiai

Delaware

In caucuses, onlyregistered party
members can vote,
but anyone can join
the party at thecaucus. In closedprimaries, onlyregistered party
members can vote,
but any registeredvoter can vote inan open primary.

✏aridFloLouisiana

Connecticut

New Jersey

Washington, D.C.

ppisssiisM

Alabama

Rhode Island

MarylandOhioanW
Vi esrg tinia

Iowa

nMainePRIMARY, CAUCUS or BOTH

CAUCUS =PRIMARY =BOTH =27• P RI MARY + C AUC US

by state✪ Stateprimaries +