[snugs]

That seems wrong to me. I think of primaries like our party selection process where local members nominate or with draw their nomination from an MP or candidate to be MP.

[mathluv]

In some states, voters have to 'register' by party in order to vote in that party's primary. TX has open primaries - you never have to state what your party is. There is a lot of cross-over voting in primaries. Part of the reason may be that so much at the local level is really just one party. If you can't vote in the primary, you basically don't get a say in who is running.