The election of 2002, in which voters will cast ballots for the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate, will not be held until November. But, as reported elsewhere in the newsletter, the general election is preceded, in many states, by primary elections in which voters, not party officials or activists, choose the nominees of the major political parties.

Primary elections, "a unique U.S. institution born in the era of political reform at the beginning of the 20th century," according to Encyclopedia Americana, are becoming increasingly important in American politics. The result, experts say, is that voters are gaining more influence while the power of party bosses and organizations is declining.

A primary election is held to allow voters to choose the candidate who will represent a political party to run in a general election -- either local, state or federal. A primary may be either open -- allowing any registered voter in a state to vote for a candidate to represent a political party -- or closed, allowing only registered voters who belong to a particular political party to vote for a candidate from that party who will run in a general election.

According to Peter Renstrom and Chester Rogers, authors of "Electoral Politics Dictionary," the growth of primaries in U.S. politics during this century is rooted "in concerns that conventions were wholly controlled by the urban political machines." In many states, "the people decided they would rather choose" which candidates should represent their preferred political party rather than leave it up to the political bosses or party activists, they add.

The data indicates that, although there has been an enormous increase in the number of states holding primary elections for local, state and federal office in recent years, they are by no means universal. In some states, especially smaller populated states, candidates are selected at caucuses and conventions by party activists and officials.

But most states now hold primary elections to choose party nominees, according to Congressional Quarterly's "National Party Conventions." Minnesota authorized the first statewide primary in 1899, while Florida introduced the first presidential primary in 1901, the source indicates. In 1912, 13 states held primaries. Primaries surged in importance in the later decades of the 20th century and by the 1990s, more than 40 of the 50 states held primaries.

The importance of the increasing pre-eminence of primary elections is that candidates for office can increasingly secure their party's nomination for U.S. Representative or Senator, or for state and local office, without the approval of the party bosses and machinery, sources indicate. The result has been a major shift of power toward the voter and away from party officials, thus weakening the power of political parties. Primaries have given the American voter "the right to express his opinion without party bosses speaking for him," says Neil Peirce, author of The People’s President.

However, not all political scientists applaud the increasing importance of primary elections in selecting candidates to represent political parties. Critics complain they deplete the candidates' energies in irrelevant hand-shaking tours, that they lead to an emphasis on media image over substantive debate and that they cost inordinate amounts of money.

In addition, party pros say that voters are not always knowledgeable enough to choose competent candidates to represent the political parties they favor and that the quality of leadership has deteriorated since the power of political party organizations has declined.

Whether the primary election process is reformed, or stays much the same, however, political scientists say its importance in American politics cannot be underestimated. Although the primary is clearly an imperfect tool to select candidates to represent political parties, they say it gives American voters a prerogative exercised in no other democracy -- the right not only to vote for one political party over another, but the right to decide who should be each party's nominees.