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* PRILUKI. 393 PRIMARY ELECTIONS. miles northwest of Poltava (Map: Russia, D 4). It has a considerable milling industry, and trades in the agricultural and animal products of the neighborhood. Population, in 1897, 19,055. PRIM, prem, Ji an, Marquis de los C'astille- jos. Count of Reus (1814-70). A Spanish general and statesman. He was born in Reus, Catalonia, December C, 1814, entered the army at an early age, rendered Xarvaez (q.v. ) efficient assistance in securing the downfall of Espartero in 1843, and was made a count. He was active in bringing about the return of Queen Christina, but in 1844, on account of his defec- tion from Xarvaez, was sentenced to imprison- ment on a charge of conspiracy against the lat- ter's life. In 1845 he was pardoned by the Queen, who made him Governor of Purto Rico. He led the progressive party in the Cortes ( 1848-53), was in exile 1853-58, and served in the campaign in Morocco in 1859-60. For his victorj' at Los Castil- lejos, January 1, 1800, he was made a marquis. In 1862 he was commander of the Spanish troops in Mexico, despatched to act in conjunction with the French and English forces, but disapproving of the plans of the Emperor Xapoleon. he returned to Spain, where the Cortes sanctioned his course. In 1864 he was driven from Mad- rid, accused of participating in a military con- spiracy, and in 1866 he began an unsuccessful in- surrection against the Government of O'Donnell (q.v.), and was forced to flee to England. In 18G8 he joined Serrano in the revolution which dethroned Isabella. In the provisional Govern- ment (October) Prim became commander-in-chief. Minister of War, and president of the Council. He was rcsponsilde for the choice of Prince Leo- pold of Hohenzollern to fill the vacant throne, a choice which brought on the Franco-German War Iq.v. ). Afterwards, tlirough his agency, Amadeus I. (q.v.) was called to the throne. Prim was shot by an assassin December 28, 1870, and died from his wounds on the 30th, before Amadeus arrived in ^ladrid. Con- sult: Guillaumot, ■/((«« Prim et VEspagnc (Paris, 1870) ; Blairet, Le general Prim et la situation actuelle de VEspagne (Paris, 1870). PRIMARY ELECTIONS (Lat. primarius, relating to the fir~t or earlii->t. from primus, first, from pro, before: connected with Gk. Trpd, pro, Skt. pra, Goth, faiir, OHG. fora, Ger. vor, AS., Eng. for). The term used to designate the means through which candidates for elective offices are nominated. In a more restricted sense it refers to the election of delegates to nominating conven- tions (q.v.). A primary election difl'ers from a regular election in that it is participated in only by the members of a particular political party. Thus there are Democratic primaries. Republican primaries, etc., at each of which the party conven- tion is chosen or the party candidates are nomi- nated directly. Until recently the primary elec- tion was a wholly extra-legal institution, that is, it was unregulated by statute. Each party framed its own rules an<l devised its own machinery for the selection of its candidates without legal re- striction. The theory was that whatever politi- cal action antedated the election was beyond the domain of law. and hence the manner in which each party brought forward its candi- dates was to be determined by its own action. Every proposal to place the primarv" under the supervision of the State was attacked as a species of despotism repugnant both to the liberty of parties and to the private rights of politicians. For a long time the non-officially conducted pri- mary was the source of little or no abuse, but with the enormous growth of the city population and the complexity of political life in general the opportunities for fraud and corruption multiplied so that in many communities, especially in the larger cities, the primary degenerated into a con- federation of sellish partisan associations from which a large majority of the voters were ex- cluded. Thus in the city of Xew York the pri- mary organizations came to be clubs with such rigid tests for membership that the number of members did not exceed one-fourth of the party voters, and in some cases was not more than one- sixth. Moreover, the party regulations did not afford sufficient means for identifying the voters of a given organization, with the consequence that the voters of one party could and sometimes did participate in the primaries of another party for the purpose of bringing about the nomination of unpopular candidates, with.the hope of defeating them in the regular election. As a result of these conditions the demand for primary reform in- creased, and within the last decade laws have beea passed in most of the leading States, including ilinnesota, Xebraska. Ohio. Xew Jersey, Pennsyl- vania, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Car- olina. Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan. Missouri,. Maryland, Massachusetts, California, Illinois, and X'ew York, for the purpose of regulating primary elections and placing them under the supervision of the State. In general these laws provide that sufficient public notice shall be given; that the elections shall be by ballot ; that the election officers shall be sworn ; that the expense of conducting the pri- maries shall be borne by the State, or, in .some cases, as in Mississippi, by the candidates ; that frauds shall be punished according to prescribed penalties; and that these requirements shall be compulsory in the large cities and optional else- where. A few of the most recently enacted statutes go even further and provide methods for securing, prior to the primary election, a fair and full enrollment of the voters of each party; for a proper test by which to determine who shall be considered a member of a particular party; for fixing a imiform primary election day; for using the "blanket' form of ballot ; for direct nomina- tion of candidates, or. if through a convention, by delegates chosen by a pledging ballot at the primary; and for various regulations with regard to the organization and action of the convention. So far the most comprehensive and thorough- going measure of the kind is the primary election of ilinnesota. Its distinguishing features are that it is compulsory; that it is general, applying to the nomination of county, municipal, and judi- cial officers and Representatives in Congress; that .the elections for all parties are held on the same day as in the case of general elections: and that primary election day is also the first day for the registration of voters for the general election. The Xew York primary election law is equally thorough-going in several particulars. In Jlissis- sippi all nominations for State, district, county, and local officers are now made by primary elec- tion in accordance with the law governing the general election, but vmder the supervision of party committees. The general result of this legislation is to elevate the so-called primarj' to