Elections are a part and parcel for choosing a government that leads a nation. The leaders that come into the fore to represent a public office play an important role in shaping up this government. These representatives are usually chosen by the parties or the alliances that are contesting the elections. However, this trend has started changing since the early part of the 20^th century. The parties contesting are going to the citizens for their opinion when deciding on the nominees who will represent them in the big race. Elections are held to decide the nominations too. These elections are known as primary elections. Primary elections, or the primaries, are of two types:

• Open Primary
• Closed Primary

Given below are the differences of an open primary vs. a closed primary. In an open primary, all the voters can cast their votes in the nomination process, irrespective of their affiliation to any political party. This has enabled voters with their affiliation to other political parties to cast their votes too. Politics is the last place to follow niceties and play fair by staying within the rules of the game. This gives rise to the problem of 'raiding' in an open primary. When the members of the competing parties play a role in selecting the nominees for each other, they are bound to make sure to engineer circumstances that are best suited for them. They are provided with an opportunity to choose the weakest link from their opposition as their competition. This effort by a political party is known as 'raiding'. The advantage of a semi-open primary is that, it can avoid the problem of raiding. In this case, voters have to declare their political affiliation to election officials. They are then provided with the ballot that is specific to that particular party. In a closed primary, only the voters that are affiliated to the party can decide the nominee of that party. In this case, voters who have an affiliation to other political parties are not allowed to cast their votes, so are the one who have no affiliation, or are independent. One of the major requirements for this is that, voters need to declare in public the political party with whom their affiliation lies. Voters who want to vote in the elections need to be a member of that party a day before the elections, to say the least. In some places, this declaration has to be made as early as a year ahead of the elections. This form of election is a slight variation from the closed primary. Here, only voters from the rival parties are not allowed to vote. Those who are not affiliated to any party, or are independent, can be a part of this process along with the voters of the concerned party. The process of primary elections gives a larger say to the people in choosing the leader who can better represent them, and provides them with an excellent opportunity to play a more important part in the functioning of the system.