Direct primary elections were introduced in 1901 as a reform of the progressive era.
PRIMARY, DIRECTPRIMARY, DIRECT. Suspicious of public officials and of interest groups, Progressive thinkers of the early twentieth century sought to give individual voters a more direct role in government by curing "the ills of democracy (with) more democracy." Although not a new idea at the time, the direct primary became the most lasting Progressive reform and the most common form of primary election now used for all elected offices in the United States except the presidency. In the direct primary, party members who want to run for office file petitions to have their names placed on the ballot, allowing voters to vote directly for the candidates of their choice. Two types of direct primaries exist. A closed primary, used in almost all of the states, is limited to those people who have previously registered as members of a party in whose primary they are voting. An open primary allows individuals to vote across party lines as in the regular election process. Show
Before primary elections were used on a regular basis in the twentieth century, political parties nominated candidates for office at party conventions and caucuses. From the 1790s to the 1830s, the congressional and legislative caucuses made nominations for public office. From the 1830s until the early 1900s, the preferred method of nomination was by delegate conventions. Party primaries were introduced as early as 1842, when the Democratic Party of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, first used the system. Later, party primaries were used to nominate candidates for local offices in California and New York in 1866 and soon became the standard in other states throughout the rest of the nineteenth century. Primaries became the centerpiece of the Progressive movement when the first presidential primary law was passed in Florida in 1901. In 1905, Robert M. La Follette's Progressive Movement in Wisconsin gave impetus to the principle of nominating candidates by direct voting of party members. Oregon became the first state to adopt a preferential primary in 1910, a primary where voters voted for their favorite candidates and voted for convention delegates separately. Presidential primaries rose to popularity during the election of 1912, when at least thirteen primaries were held. Primaries played a relatively minor role in presidential elections until the 1960s, when John F. Kennedy entered the West Virginia primary to test whether or not a Catholic could do well in a predominantly Protestant state. As of 2002, the presidential primary was used in about three-quarters of the states to choose delegates to the national party conventions. Several states, most notably Iowa, still use the caucus system to nominate presidential candidates. BIBLIOGRAPHYDiclerico, Robert E., and James W. Davis. Choosing Our Choices: Debating the Presidential Nominating Process. Lanham, Md.: Rowan and Littlefield Publishers, 2000. Galderisi, Peter F., Marni Ezra, and Michael Lyons, eds. Congressional Primaries and the Politics of Representation. Lanham, Md.: Rowan and Littlefield Publishers, 2001. Kendall, Kathleen E. Communication in the Presidential Primaries: Candidates and the Media, 1912–2000. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2000. James F.Adomanis See alsoElections; Caucus; Machine, Political; Political Parties. One of the key ideals that Progressives considered vital to the growth and health of the country was the concept of a perfected democracy. They felt, quite simply, that Americans needed to exert more control over their government. This shift, they believed, would ultimately lead to a system of government that was better able to address the needs of its citizens. Grassroots Progressives pushed forward their agenda of direct democracy through the passage of three state-level reforms. The first law involved the creation of the direct primary. Prior to this time, the only people who had a hand in selecting candidates for elections were delegates at conventions. Direct primaries allowed party members to vote directly for a candidate, with the nomination going to the one with the most votes. This was the beginning of the current system of holding a primary election before a general election. South Carolina adopted this system for statewide elections in 1896; in 1901, Florida became the first state to use the direct primary in nominations for the presidency. It is the method currently used in three-quarters of U.S. states. Another series of reforms pushed forward by Progressives that sought to sidestep the power of special interests in state legislatures and restore the democratic political process were three election innovations—the initiative, referendum, and recall. The first permitted voters to enact legislation by petitioning to place an idea, or initiative, on the ballot. In 1898, South Dakota became the first state to allow initiatives to appear on a ballot. By 1920, twenty states had adopted the procedure. The second innovation allowed voters to counteract legislation by holding a referendum—that is, putting an existing law on the ballot for voters to either affirm or reject. Currently twenty-four states allow some form of initiative and referendum. The third element of this direct democracy agenda was the recall. The recall permitted citizens to remove a public official from office through a process of petition and vote, similar to the initiative and referendum. While this measure was not as widely adopted as the others, Oregon, in 1910, became the first state to allow recalls. By 1920, twelve states had adopted this tool. It has only been used successfully a handful of times on the statewide level, for example, to remove the governor of North Dakota in 1921, and, more recently, the governor of California in 2003. Progressives also pushed for democratic reform that affected the federal government. In an effort to achieve a fairer representation of state constituencies in the U.S. Congress, they lobbied for approval of the Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which mandated the direct election of U.S. senators. The Seventeenth Amendment replaced the previous system of having state legislatures choose senators. William Jennings Bryan, the 1896 Democratic presidential candidate who received significant support from the Populist Party, was among the leading Progressives who championed this cause. What reforms were made during the Progressive Era?Significant changes enacted at the national levels included the imposition of an income tax with the Sixteenth Amendment, direct election of Senators with the Seventeenth Amendment, Prohibition of alcohol with the Eighteenth Amendment, election reforms to stop corruption and fraud, and women's suffrage through the ...
What is a direct primary quizlet?A direct primary is a primary in which voters choose candidates via direct vote. This is contrasted with an indirect primary, in which voters choose delegates who then choose a party's candidates at a later convention.
How did government change during the Progressive Era?Some people during the Progressive Era called for major social reforms and for an expanded role of the government to regulate business practices. Previously, the government promoted a free market and held a laissez-faire attitude that meant the government would not become involved in regulating business practices.
What was the Progressive Era quizlet?Progressive Era was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States, from the 1890s to the 1920s. The main objective of the Progressive movement was eliminating corruption in government. government at every level must be actively involved in these reforms.
What is the definition of the word direct primary?noun. : a primary in which nominations of candidates for office are made by direct vote.
What legislation was passed because of the efforts of progressive reformers?Four constitutional amendments were adopted during the Progressive era, which authorized an income tax, provided for the direct election of senators, extended the vote to women, and prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.
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