What is a closed primary, and how does it differ from an open primary?

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The main idea here is how voter eligibility is handled in party primaries. In a closed primary, participation is limited to voters who are registered members of the party holding the primary. This means only those registered with that party can vote for its nominees, keeping the process within that party’s base.

In contrast, an open primary allows any registered voter to participate in a party’s primary, regardless of their own party registration. Voters can choose one party’s ballot on election day, which means independents or members of other parties can influence which nominees advance.

Sometimes you’ll see variations, like semi-closed or semi-open systems, but the essential distinction remains: closed primaries restrict to registered party members, while open primaries let any registered voter take part in a party’s primary.

The other statements either flip the definitions, bring in irrelevant ideas (like year parity), or mention write-ins, which aren’t defining features of closed vs open primaries.