How Primaries Are Run In Texas

Who pays for Primary Elections?

• Counties pay all of the expenses for Early Voting in a primary election

  • Except for the cost of printing early voting ballots and costs related to running the Early Voting Ballot Board which the parties are responsible for

•  Parties are responsible for Election Day expenses including paying poll workers

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Joint Primaries vs. Separate Primaries

• Joint Primaries: both parties share polling locations on Election Day

• Separate Primaries: each party has their own separate polling locations on Election Day

 

Open Primaries

• Texas has open primaries meaning that all eligible voters can take part. You do not sign up with a political party when you register to vote. When you participate in the primaries, you choose one party’s primary election to vote in (Democratic or Republican), OR one party’s convention to participate in (Green or Libertarian). 

  • In a county where both parties are sharing polling places, poll workers will need to ask you which party’s primary you are voting in to make sure you get the correct ballot, but they CANNOT make any comments supporting or opposing your choice.

    • If you do not feel comfortable stating which party’s ballot you want out loud, you have the right to indicate your choice by pointing to the ballot of the party whose primary you want to vote in.

 

Misc.

• You DO NOT have to vote in a primary in order to vote in a primary runoff election, BUT once you vote in one party’s primary, you CAN ONLY vote in that same party’s runoffs for that calendar year.

• You DO NOT have to vote in a primary or participate in a party’s convention in order to vote in the November General Election.

• If you sign a petition for a candidate of one party to appear on that party’s primary ballot, then you CANNOT vote in the other party’s primary in that same year.

• While the specific candidates you vote for is confidential, the fact that you voted in a particular party’s primary is public information and your name will be listed in that party’s early voting rosters.

• If you are requesting a mail-in ballot for a primary election, you have to indicate on your application which party’s ballot you want.

 

Please call our non-partisan Election Protection Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) for help with any problems you face when voting.