How North Dakota’s Primary Election System Works

North Dakota uses an open primary system, meaning voters do not register with a political party when registering to vote. Because the state does not maintain party registration, voters may choose which party’s primary ballot they wish to vote in on election day.

Voters may only participate in one party’s primary election during each election cycle. North Dakota’s primaries are used to select each party’s nominees for offices such as U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, statewide offices, and state and local positions.

North Dakota does not use statewide primary runoff elections. Instead, the candidate receiving the most votes in each primary wins the party’s nomination for the general election.