Primary Elections

Primary Elections

In even-numbered years in Texas, primary elections are held on the first Tuesday in March to pick a single candidate from the Republican or Democratic ticket for each office up for election that year to face off against each other in the General Election.

Presidential election years, which happen every four years, draw the most attention and usually have the highest voter turnout.

The mid-term elections happen in an even-numbered year without a presidential election.

See the information on Federal, State, and Local elections to see which offices will be on the ballot in presidential and mid-term elections.

Texas has open primaries, which mean all Texas voters can participate.  Voters do not register as members of a party. But once you vote in a particular primary, for the purposes of any runoff you can only vote in the runoff of the same party in whose primary you voted.

•  The Republican and Democratic Parties each choose their candidates in a primary election. Typically, they work with the county's election administrator to conduct the primary election. Each county can choose to either conduct a joint primary election or two separate elections, one for each major party.

•  The Libertarian and Green Parties each choose their candidates in a party convention.

Since many districts in Texas heavily favor one party over the other, the primaries often determine the winner of the General Election!
Even if you do not strongly identify with any political party, you can and should carefully consider the candidate choices and participate in one of the primaries or conventions.

No matter which party primary you choose to vote in or party convention you attend, during the general election you can vote for candidates of any party on the ballot.

Note: Once you have voted in one party primary or convention, you cannot vote in another party’s primary or convention, and you can only vote in that same party’s runoff election. 

 

Delegate Selection Process

Both main parties hold a series of conventions to choose delegates for the next level convention, from the smallest voting area (the precinct) up through a county or senatorial district convention,  and the state convention (and in presidential election years, to the national convention).

An overview of the process for selecting delegates of the Republican Party of Texas, from the Precinct Caucus on up is here.

The Democratic Party of Texas follows a process similar to that of the RPT, with one notable difference. Every level of the process is designed to elect a set of delegates that reflect the population in each area and to provide representation to a diverse population.

Please note: Applications for Ballot by Mail are only available from the Elections Administrator by specific request. Political parties may legally send them out without a request.