Topic summary
Closed primary
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Primary election.
Closed primary
In a "closed primary", people may vote in a party's primary only if they are registered members of that party prior to election day. Independents cannot participate. Because some political parties name themselves independent, the terms "non-partisan" or "unaffiliated" often replace "independent" when referring to those who are not affiliated with a political party. As of 2026, thirteen states require elections to have closed primaries while in 4 states both parties voluntary use closed primaries, and in 6 states only the Republican party uses closed primaries.