What is the Primary Election and how does it differ from the General Election in November?

A primary election is when the party chooses their candidate for the presidency. The general election is when the president is chosen.

As others have stated the primary election is when you chose candidates from a party to run in the general election in Nov. Other candidates may be on there other than president as well as township laws etc. In Illinois you must declare a party and vote down party lines. Same for some other states, but not for all different everywhere you go.

It is the delegates from each state that nominate the Prez candidate. Primaries are to establish how many votes each candidate will receive from the delegation. Before the Press Corps started making the new instead of just reporting it, conventions were a lot more interesting! It might take multiple votes at the convention for a candidate to be decided up. Today the Press Corps has usurped the election process........almost illegally IMHO.

Then the general election is not really who gets the most votes, but rather what candidate in your state won and to whom all your electoral votes go for. Remember this is a representative government......you elect representatives to Congress, well the elections are technically the same thing. All this is to elect your delegation and allow them to carry your vote to the convention. BTW, the state delegation is not totally bound to vote the same way after the first vote. Some of the more interesting conventions is when states start changing up their votes. It used to be very interesting. Now it is nothing more than a media circus.

The primaries are used to narrow the field of candidates within their own party. With these results the Democrats and the Republicans will each chose one candidate to run for President in the General Election.

The primary is to see which canidate from each party is going to run in the General election in Nov. In November, you have the choice between one Democrat, one Republican, and one Independant. Clinton and Obama can't both ve on the ticket in November. The primaries are to choose which one is going to represent the Democratic Party.

The Primary Election is how a political party chooses it's candidates for president.

When you go to the polls, you are asked to choose between republican, Democrat or independent ballots. Then you pick whom you think will be the best candidate for president will be in your chosen party.

The General election is where you vote for who you think the best president.

You go to the polls, declare your party affiliation and receive the appropriate ballot. If you live in a collar county and declare yourself Democrat, you won't be able to vote on the most heated local issues, because those are mostly Republicans (just be aware).

In November, there's just one ballot or your precinct (no party affiliation needed) and you can vote for anyone running.

Being Illinois, remember to vote early, and vote often. And you'll be in line with everyone's dead ancestors. They don't call it the combine for nothing.

The primary is where people vote for a candidate to run in the national election

The difference?

Dems can actually win primaries

These votes determine who will be the main candidates in November.