• State primaries all have rules governing their slates.directional vote sign image by Pix by Marti from Fotolia.com
  
  Primary elections take place within political parties (e.g. Democrat) to determine who will appear on the party's ballot in the general election. Every party in their respective state determines the rules that govern their primaries. However, one can find certain rules that are common to many state parties. Consult the political parties in the state where you reside for specific set of rules.
  
  

Types of Primaries

• The ability to vote in a party sometimes is determined by party affiliation. In closed primaries, only registered voters of a specific political party (e.g. GOP) may vote for the candidates on the general ballot. A semi-closed primary allows registered voters as well as independents with no party affiliation. In this case, only registered Democrats would not be able to vote in a Republican primary. Open primaries allow voters of any affiliation to vote in a political party's primary. Formerly, blanket primaries allowed voters, regardless of affiliation, to choose the party primary in which they want to vote on an office-by-office basis. However, the Supreme Court struck down the blanket primary in 2001 (CA Democrat Party v. Jones).
  
  

Qualification to Appear on a Primary Ballot

• Qualifications for aspiring politicians to appear on a primary ballot depend on party, state, and the desired office. For instance, to appear on the primary ballot as a candidate for Republican senator in Iowa, you must obtain signatures of at least 1% of the total voter roll for the candidate's party in the last general election. Additionally, some states have requirements on whether the party itself may appear on the general ballot. For instance, Delaware requires political parties to register a number of voters equal to .05 of the state's population 21 days prior to the date of the primary election.
  
  

Write-in Candidates

• In some states, you may still be able to run in an election whether or not you won a primary. For instance, in Alaska, incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski lost in an upset against Joe Miller in the Republican Primary. However, she opted to stay in the general election as a write-in candidate. In this case, voters must write in the name of the candidate in a blank field on the voting card.
  
  

Presidential Primaries

• The barrier to entry in a presidential primary is higher than other offices in most states. In California, for instance, eligibility for the Democratic primary is determined at the discretion of the secretary of state by criteria such as qualifying for federal matching funds, appearing in public opinion polls, and being on the ballot in other states' primaries. Also, political parties regulate primary dates so that they appear in a certain order. As a result, early primaries in small states such as New Hampshire may become important than later ones in larger states. Some state parties have considered moving forward their primary dates but have been threatened by the national party to not recognize their votes in that event.