Oh, it gets even worse. Some states require party identification when registering to vote, some are optional, and others don’t ask about it at all. Relatedly, the party primaries can be “open” (anyone can vote in it) or “closed” (only party-identified voters can participate). Also, the party may choose to do a caucus instead of a primary, so instead of just casting a ballot to choose a nominee, registered party voters select party members who have declared for a nominee and then they hold votes to see if a nominee has enough votes to win.
And that’s the simplified version. It’s a total clusterfuck and if there was a national standard that was easily understandable, things would be so much better.
Oh, it gets even worse. Some states require party identification when registering to vote, some are optional, and others don’t ask about it at all. Relatedly, the party primaries can be “open” (anyone can vote in it) or “closed” (only party-identified voters can participate). Also, the party may choose to do a caucus instead of a primary, so instead of just casting a ballot to choose a nominee, registered party voters select party members who have declared for a nominee and then they hold votes to see if a nominee has enough votes to win.
And that’s the simplified version. It’s a total clusterfuck and if there was a national standard that was easily understandable, things would be so much better.