Transcript Choosing Delegates - San Ramon Valley High School

Elections
I. The Nominating Process
Before a candidate can be put on the ballot for
the General Election (regularly scheduled election
where voters make final decision on officeholders) they
must first be nominated (naming those that are
seeking office). There are four ways to be
nominated
1. Direct Primary
2. Caucuses
3. Petition
4. Self-Announcement
1. Direct Primary
Political parties use
direct primaries to
narrow down the
choices in both state
and federal elections
within their own party
The parties candidate
is DIRECTLY chosen
by the people rather
than nominated by a
delegate
a. Closed Primary -Only registered party
members can vote in the primary (26 states
use this)
b. Open Primary- Any registered voter can
pick one party primary to vote in (only 16
states + DC use this)
c. Blanket Primary -Any registered voter can
participate in more than one primary
(declared unconstitutional by Supreme
Court)
d. Runoff Primary - If there is no clear
majority winner the top two vote getters
will face off in a runoff primary
e. Nonpartisan Primary- Candidates party
affiliation is not put on the ballot (usually
state elections for school, muncipal, and
judicial offices)
2. Caucus
• Some parties hold meetings before an election
to chose a candidate.
• The local private meetings are called
caucuses, a group of like minded people who
meet to select the candidate they will support in
the next election
Conventions
• The larger county, state and national meetings
with elected delegates are called conventions
(more democratic).
• Local party members meet at a caucus to
choose delegates to represent them at the state
convention
• At the state convention, delegates are chosen to
go to the national convention
• Delegates at the national convention select the
party presidential and vice presidential
candidate
3. Petition - At the local level
candidates are sometimes nominated by a
certain number of qualified voter
signatures
4. Self Announcement- Smaller
parties and independent candidates may
only need to submit their name to be
placed on the general elections ballot
II. Presidential Elections
Step #1 Delegates
The party picks delegates to represent their
candidate in the National Convention through
local Caucuses & Conventions or through
Presidential Primaries
Presidential primaries can be open or closed
Presidential Elections
Step #2 National Convention
The delegates go to the National
Convention where they nominate
their parties candidate for the
general election
Presidential Elections
Step #3 General Election
Registered voters cast a vote for a
candidate in the General Election. The
candidate with the greater number of votes
usually wins all the electors for that state
Presidential Elections
Step #4 Electoral College
• The electors vote at the Electoral College for
their candidate.
• There are 538 total electors
(100 Senators + 435 HOR +3 DC)
• The number of electors per state is based on the
total number of Congressmen in that state.
CA has 55 electors (2 Senators + 53 HOR)
• A candidate needs a majority of the electors,
270 to win the election