Abstract
Abstract In the decades following the adoption in most states of the direct primary, many states repeatedly changed their primary laws. Such changes included adjusting ballot access rules, changing voter eligibility requirements, moving the primary date, adopting or prohibiting runoff elections, and permitting or prohibiting cross-filing. This chapter categorizes primary law changes in terms of whether they benefited or harmed party control of elections. It then explores the relationship between these primary election changes and changes in party strength in these states’ electorates or legislatures. It concludes that there is clear evidence of a quest for partisan advantage in the enactment of primary laws, but the particular types of laws enacted vary according to the heterogeneity of the majority party’s coalition and whether the changes were enacted by a majority party threatened with the loss of power or a newly empowered party.
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