primary
primary Method used in the USA to select candidates for an election, in effect an election among the members of a political party. In a direct primary, the commonest type, any number of party members may stand and are voted for in a ballot of all the members. In an open primary, all the parties in an election are involved, and the voter votes for both the party and candidate of his or her choice. In a presidential election year, most US states select delegates to the national party convention in a presidential primary, the delegates having announced which presidential candidate they support.
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primary