Editing Primary election (section)

=== History ===
The [[direct election|direct primary]] became important in the United States at the state level starting in the 1890s and at the local level in the 1900s.<ref>Alan Ware, ''The American direct primary: party institutionalization and transformation in the North'' (Cambridge UP, 2002).</ref> The first primary elections came in the Democratic Party in the South in the 1890s starting in Louisiana in 1892. By 1897 the Democratic party held primaries to select candidates in 11 Southern and border states. Unlike the final election run by government officials, primaries were run by party officials rather than being considered official elections, allowing them to exclude [[African Americans|African American]] voters. The US Supreme Court would later declare such [[white primary|white primaries]] unconstitutional in ''[[Smith v. Allwright]]'' in 1944.<ref> Michael J. Klarman, "The White Primary Rulings: A Case Study in the Consequences of Supreme Court Decisionmaking". ''Florida State University Law Review'' (2001).  29#1: 55–107 [https://ir.law.fsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1625&context=lr online].</ref>

The direct primary was promoted primarily by regular party leaders as a way to promote party loyalty.<ref> Ware, 2003.</ref>  Progressive reformers like [[Robert M. La Follette]] of Wisconsin also campaigned for primaries, leading Wisconsin to approve them in a 1904 referendum.<ref>Robert C. Nesbit, ''Wisconsin: A History'' (1973) 412-415.</ref><ref>Irvine L. Lenroot, ''Wisconsin Magazine of History'' 26#2 (1942), pp. 219–21. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/4631524 online]</ref>

Despite this, presidential nominations depended chiefly on party conventions until 1972. In 1968, [[Hubert Humphrey]] won the Democratic nomination [[1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries|without entering any of the 14 state primaries]], causing [[1968 Democratic National Convention protests|substantial controversy at the national convention]]. To prevent a recurrence, Democrats set up the [[McGovern–Fraser Commission]] which required all states to hold primaries, and the Republican party soon followed suit.<ref>Karen M. Kaufmann,  et al., "A Promise Fulfilled? Open Primaries and Representation," ''Journal of Politics'' 65#2 (2003): 457-476. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3449815 online] </ref>