How Utah’s Primary Election System Works

Utah uses a partially closed primary system. Registered Republicans generally must be registered with the Republican Party to vote in Republican primaries, while the Democratic Party and some other parties may allow unaffiliated voters to participate in their primary elections.

Voters may only participate in the primary election of a party for which they are eligible under that party's rules. Utah’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.

Utah 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.