What is an open primary election?

An open primary election is an election where any eligible voter can choose which party’s ballot they want to cast. In Virginia, voters don’t have to declare a party affiliation in order to participate in an open primary election. The election works as follows: each of the political parties offers up one ballot, which offers the names of the party’s candidates that voters may choose from to represent their party in the general election. The ballots are secret and do not show which party the voter chose. Whichever candidate gets the highest number of votes from that party will be their nominee for the general election. This type of election allows voters to choose their preferred candidates, regardless of their political party affiliation. It also allows more competition and potentially more options for voters, since they do not have to limit themselves to just the candidates from their own political party. Open primary elections also can reduce the number of voters who are disenfranchised, since they don’t have to worry about their political party not having candidates in the upcoming election. In Virginia, open primary elections have been held in various forms since the 1940s. The current system for open primaries was created by the Virginia General Assembly in the 1980s and has been regularly used in elections ever since.

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What is an open primary election?

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