Primary Election Campaigns and Political Candidates
There are basically two kinds of elections, the primary election campaign and the general election campaign, and usually the candidate files petitions to get on the ballot in the primary election. 
The primary ballot contains the names of all the candidates who want to run for that office. Whoever wins the primary election campaign will be on the ballot as the party’s candidate in the general election. The general election decides who will hold that office.
In some elections, there is no primary, but nominating petitions are still used. The candidate circulates and files petitions. If he has the minimum number of signatures, his name is put on the ballot in the general election along with all the other candidates who file valid petitions.
In another variation, the party candidates file petitions and run in the primary, but a nonparty candidate may file petitions for that office as an independent. The two winners of the primaries, plus the independent candidate, will be on the ballot in the general election, in a so-called three way race.
In still other elections, called bedsheet ballot elections, all candidates file petitions for one seat out of several and the top vote getters win. For example, there may be three seats open on the Board of Commissioners and eight candidates who file petitions for commissioner. All eight names are on the ballot, and the voters can vote for any three names. The top three vote getters win.
On the other hand, the three commissioner seats may be elected separately too. Each commissioner seat is distinguished, usually by the date term begins, e.g., commissioner, term beginning January 1; commissioner, term beginning January 2; and so on. In that case, the nominating petition in the primary election campaign has to state specifically which term the candidate is running for.
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