Book contents
- The Best Candidate
- The Best Candidate
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Presidential Selection: Historical, Institutional, and Democratic Perspectives
- 2 The Historical Development of the U.S. Presidential Nomination Process
- 3 Constitutional Law and the Presidential Nomination Process
- 4 Winnowing and Endorsing: Separating the Two Distinct Functions of Party Primaries
- 5 Simplifying Presidential Primaries
- 6 The Case for Standardizing Primary Voter Eligibility Rules
- 7 Primary Day: Why Presidential Nominees Should Be Chosen on a Single Day
- 8 A Eulogy for Caucuses
- 9 Floor Fight: Protecting the National Party Conventions from Manipulation
- 10 A Better Financing System? The Death and Possible Rebirth of the Presidential Nomination Public Financing Program
- 11 Campaign Finance Deregulation and the Hyperpolarization of Presidential Nominations in the Super PAC Era
- 12 Democratizing the Presidential Debates
- 13 The Influence of Technology on Presidential Primary Campaigns
- 14 Women and the Presidency
- 15 The Nomination of Presidential Candidates by Minor Political Parties
- 16 Reforming the Presidential Nominating Process: A Curmudgeon’s View
- Index
5 - Simplifying Presidential Primaries
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 September 2020
- The Best Candidate
- The Best Candidate
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Presidential Selection: Historical, Institutional, and Democratic Perspectives
- 2 The Historical Development of the U.S. Presidential Nomination Process
- 3 Constitutional Law and the Presidential Nomination Process
- 4 Winnowing and Endorsing: Separating the Two Distinct Functions of Party Primaries
- 5 Simplifying Presidential Primaries
- 6 The Case for Standardizing Primary Voter Eligibility Rules
- 7 Primary Day: Why Presidential Nominees Should Be Chosen on a Single Day
- 8 A Eulogy for Caucuses
- 9 Floor Fight: Protecting the National Party Conventions from Manipulation
- 10 A Better Financing System? The Death and Possible Rebirth of the Presidential Nomination Public Financing Program
- 11 Campaign Finance Deregulation and the Hyperpolarization of Presidential Nominations in the Super PAC Era
- 12 Democratizing the Presidential Debates
- 13 The Influence of Technology on Presidential Primary Campaigns
- 14 Women and the Presidency
- 15 The Nomination of Presidential Candidates by Minor Political Parties
- 16 Reforming the Presidential Nominating Process: A Curmudgeon’s View
- Index
Summary
Presidential primaries have a simple purpose: they are the elections to select a party’s presidential candidate for the general election. But they are often much more than that. In some states, they also serve as the first step in a series of steps that political parties use to handle other assorted types of business.
When voters go to the polls during a primary election, they are not voting for a presidential candidate. Instead, they may be helping to choose representatives to attend the party’s national nominating convention, a meeting where the actual presidential candidate is chosen. Or they may be choosing representatives to attend local conventions, like a county convention or a state convention, who will in turn go on to choose the representatives to attend the national convention. Or voters may be choosing representatives who will later meet to help choose presidential electors, the individuals who formally elect the next president and vice president.
Keywords
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- Information
- The Best CandidatePresidential Nomination in Polarized Times, pp. 105 - 125Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020