What are the
Primaries?
In Pennsylvania, primary elections are held on the third Tuesday in May, except during presidential election years, when they take place on the fourth Tuesday in April. During the primary election, registered Democrats and Republicans choose the candidates they want to represent their parties in the November general election. The candidates who receive the most votes move on to the general election to represent the party they are registered as.
The next primary election in Pennsylvania will be May 18th, 2027!
What does that mean?
PA has a closed primary – meaning that voters can only vote for their respective party, and the only parties recognized for the primary are the Democratic and Republican parties. Third parties – meaning any recognized political party
outside of Democrat or Republican
(think Independent, Green, Libertarian, etc.)
cannot vote during the primary.
PA also allows what is called “cross filing” for certain positions.
Cross filing can happen in school board elections and some judicial elections because these roles were intended to be nonpartisan. Cross filing is when a candidate runs in a primary under the party for which they are not registered in addition to the party they are registered under. Meaning, a registered Democrat runs as a Republican or a registered Republican runs as a Democrat. If the candidate runs as both primaries and wins for both parties, they will be listed on the
general election ballot as both Democrat and Republican.
This occurs during municipal elections as school board candidates
(“school director” on the ballot) are elected in municipal elections.
The 2027 election cycle is a “municipal” election.
This means that most of the positions up for election are local or county based.
These elections occur on odd years – the next one after this year being 2029.
Check back closer to the election for more information.