Primary Election

An election held by a political party under Chapter 172 of the Texas Election Code to select its nominees for public office, and, unless the context indicates otherwise, the term includes a presidential primary election. The winning candidates from each party will later go up against each other in the general election. A primary may be either “open” — allowing any registered voter in a state to vote for a candidate to represent a political party, or “closed” — allowing only registered voters who belong to a particular political party to vote for a candidate from that party. Texas has an open primary, but voters affiliate with a political party by voting in that party’s primary.