How Primary Elections Work

Here at the Auditor's Office we're already getting ready for our next election, the primary election on June 3. Primaries work under different rules than other elections.

The biggest difference is that primaries are the only election where you HAVE to pick a party. The voters registered with each political party are choosing their party's candidates for the November election.

That also means primaries are the only elections in which nobody actually gets elected! Candidates just get nominated in the primary. They get elected (or not) in November.

A primary is a lot like having two elections going on at the same time, except you can only vote in one.

Here's an oversimplified example using dead politicians because that's safer. In a primary election, you have to choose one party's primary or the other. You can't vote in both, and you can't vote a split ticket of Republicans for one office and Democrats for another. Only the two full-status parties, Democrats and Republicans, have primaries, so those are the only candidates on the ballot.

In the general election in November, everyone gets the same ballot. There are more parties on the ballot, and you can split your ticket.

But getting back to the primary, we see some raised hands in the audience.


Can an independent vote in a primary?

Yes and no. You can walk IN as an independent (in Iowa the official term is "No Party"), but you can't walk OUT as an independent. You have to declare affiliation as a Democrat or Republican before you vote.

Can I change parties?

Any time, even at the polls. Ask for a party's ballot, that changes your registration.

How soon can I change back?

Whoa, slow down. When you signed that form you just swore in good faith that you want to change your party. However, we can't judge your good faith. When you change we have to send you a new voter card. Wait till you get that new card, and if you voted early wait till after the election.

Can I vote for a Republican for one office and a Democrat for another?

In a general election, yes. In a primary, no.

Can I write in a candidate of one party in the other party's primary?

Yes, but the primaries are separate contests. Let's say you vote in the Democratic primary and write in Abe Lincoln. You're saying you want Abe Lincoln to be the Democratic candidate. So that counts as a Democratic primary vote for Lincoln. It doesn't get added to Lincoln's Republican primary total.

Can a candidate be the nominee of more than one party?

That's called "fusion." Some states allow that. Iowa doesn't.

Can a candidate who loses a primary run as an independent or with another party in the general election?

Some states don't allow that. Iowa does.

I hear there might be a convention for the Senate race. What's with that?

The law says a candidate has to get 35% of the vote to be nominated. If no one gets 35%, their party has to have a convention to pick the candidate. You're hearing more about it because the Republicans have five US Senate candidates, and a couple congressional races in other parts of the state have five or six candidates. If it comes to that, the parties have better answers than we do.

What about the other parties?

Iowa's got two official third parties (the legal term is "political organization"), the Greens and Libertarians. You can register with them, but they don't have primaries. Anyone who's not running as a Democrat or Republican can file a petition to get on the ballot.. The time to do that is in August.