What term refers to a party primary in a southern state open to white voters only?

• A. White Primary
• B. Grandfather Clause
• C. Literacy
• D. Riot

Answer: (A)

In the Jim Crow era, voting rights were often narrowed through specific tactics, and in the South, a party primary could effectively decide elections. A white primary is a term for a party primary that only white voters could participate in, so Black citizens were excluded from influencing who would win the primary and, by extension, the election. That makes it the best choice because it directly describes a primary restricted to white voters.

The other options refer to different voting-denial strategies or events: a grandfather clause allowed whites to bypass certain requirements by tracing ancestry to voters before a cutoff date; literacy tests tested reading or writing to vote; and a riot is a violent disturbance, not a method of restricting participation in a primary.