Types of Primaries

In a blanket primary, voters choose one candidate per office regardless of the candidate's party affiliation. The top vote-getters from each party participating in the primary then advance to the general election.

A closed primary is a type of primary election in which a voter must affiliate formally with a political party in advance of the election date in order to participate in that party's primary.

A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office, regardless of respective political party, run against each other at once, instead of being segregated by political party. It is also known as a jungle primary, qualifying primary, or top-two primary.

An open primary is a primary election that does not require voters to be affiliated with a political party in order to vote for partisan candidates. In a traditional open primary, voters may select one party's ballot and vote for that party's nomination.

However, unlike a closed primary, independents are allowed to choose to vote in any party’s primary. There are thirteen states that have semi-closed primaries: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

In a semi-open primary, a registered voter does not need to publicly declare which political party’s primary they will vote in before entering the voting booth. Voters will inform election officials. The main difference between a semi-open primary and an open primary is the use of a party-specific ballot.