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1 results

  • 5 - Simplifying Presidential Primaries

  • Edited by Eugene D. Mazo, Rutgers University, New Jersey, Michael R. Dimino
  • Book:
    The Best Candidate
    Published online:
    10 September 2020
    Print publication:
    17 September 2020, pp 105-125

  • Summary

    Presidential primaries have a simple purpose: they are the elections to select a party’s presidential candidate for the general election. But they are often much more than that. In some states, they also serve as the first step in a series of steps that political parties use to handle other assorted types of business.

    When voters go to the polls during a primary election, they are not voting for a presidential candidate. Instead, they may be helping to choose representatives to attend the party’s national nominating convention, a meeting where the actual presidential candidate is chosen. Or they may be choosing representatives to attend local conventions, like a county convention or a state convention, who will in turn go on to choose the representatives to attend the national convention. Or voters may be choosing representatives who will later meet to help choose presidential electors, the individuals who formally elect the next president and vice president.