In the U.S., elections happen at federal, state, and local levels. Primaries select party candidates for the general election.
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Primary Elections: Choose party candidates (e.g., Democratic National Convention [DNC] or Republican National Convention [RNC] or Green/Independant). Can be closed (party members only), open (any voter), or top-two (the top two candidates, regardless of party, advance).
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General Elections: After primaries, candidates from each party compete for the final vote. Many states have a winner-takes-all system, though some (like California) have proportional systems.
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The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Republican National Committee (RNC) have their own internal rules for selecting delegates, determining how states hold primaries or caucuses, and how the delegates vote at the national convention to nominate a candidate.
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These processes are not legally required; they’re party-specific and can evolve over time. So they can vote in Kamala without running primaries, they’re private companies.
Presidential Elections
The presidential election occurs every four years. It’s preceded by primary elections (or caucuses in some states) that decide which candidates will represent each party in the general election.
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Primaries and Caucuses:
- Primary elections: These are held by individual states and allow members of each party (Democratic or Republican) to vote for their preferred nominee. States hold open primaries (anyone can vote) or closed primaries (only party members can vote).
- Caucuses: Instead of a vote, parties in some states hold meetings to discuss and select their preferred candidate.
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Delegates and National Conventions:
- Candidates gain delegates based on the outcomes of these primaries and caucuses. The number of delegates a candidate receives is proportional in Democratic primaries (e.g., Bernie Sanders winning multiple states but not the overall nomination in 2016), while Republican primaries often use a winner-takes-all system. They can run in any state, as the primaries happen at different times. The % delegates gained in each state, increases their vote weight, which they usually vote for themselves at the convention. Also, I believe minimum delegates required to go to the convention are at least 15% so tons of people don’t just show up compared to republics 1 (winner -takes all) per state - for DNC. For RNC its 1 per state (winner takes all) Delegates in DNC are usually appointed based on state population.
- At the National Convention, delegates cast their votes to officially nominate a candidate, with superdelegates (unpledged delegates). Superdelegates are appointed different vote % or weights based on their seniority at the party (ex president, governor, etc). having a say, especially in the Democratic Party.
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General Election:
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Held every four years, the general election determines who becomes the President and Vice President. It involves Electoral College voting (270 out of 538 needed for victory). Each state gets a certain number of electoral votes based on its population, which is determined by census data (every 10 years).
Winner-takes-all most of the time. So if a state wins democratic (majority vote), all the electors for the state must vote in congress for the winning side - democratic in this case.
Ex, California has 52 house of representatives electors + 2 senate (default for each state), they would account for 54 electoral votes towards the party. Districts can be increased or reduced based on population but they will always add up to 435.
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