Elections Overview

Every year we have two elections - the primary election and the general election. The primary election happens in the spring and determines which candidates will run for each political party in each seat that will be up for election in November. The general election occurs each November and is the final election to determine who our legislators will be for the next two or four years (depending on the term for that office).  

The Primary Election

The primary election (or primaries) can be difficult to remember, but incredibly important to participate in. For example, some offices like school boards are typically cross-filed because they are seen as non-political, therefore if you don’t come out to vote, a Republican or Democrat candidate can be knocked off completely just by the primary election. In addition, this is your opportunity to have a choice of who is representing you in your party for each candidate race. So if there is a Republican governor candidate you strongly support, you will want to get out to vote in the primary to make sure he/she is the person selected to face off with the democrat candidate in the general election come November.Many Republicans, especially in recent days have switched to the libertarian party. This presents a challenge in the primaries though because registered libertarians can ONLY vote for libertarian candidates, registered republicans can ONLY vote for republican candidates, and registered democrats can only vote for democrat candidates.  This is why it is so very important to be registered for the party you want to vote in.