Don't know how much you already know, so apologies if I cover old territory.

We have elections at least every two years, more often if there are special elections. Every four years, the office of the President is up for election on the national level. The rest of the time, it's only Senators and Representatives. Local elections, like state offices, and mayors, and things like that are on the same ballots.

Most national office candidates are identified by party on the ballot.

A primary election is one where two or more people from the same party run against each other to see which one will be the candidate for the big election against an opposing party. Local primaries can be quite important. Some states only allow people from the same party to vote in that party's primary. Others allow anyone to vote in any party's primary.

The primaries for the Presidential election make a lot of news. Unfortunately, a number of states hold their primaries early, and by the time other states get to vote on who they want their candidate to be the decision is pretty much made.

It's a frigging zoo, to say the least. I still wonder if our government wouldn't be better off if our politicians were drafted at random from the general population.