At this point, the 2016 presidential race feels more like a reality TV show than it does a major political event with intensely significant repercussions; however, it’s most certainly the latter, which is why March 1 is one of the most important dates of 2016. On Super Tuesday, voters in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and American Samoa will cast votes that will help determine which candidates have a real shot at being their party’s nominee.
Some states—including Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia—will hold primaries, while Alaska will host Republican caucuses and American Samoa will host a democratic caucus. What’s the difference, you might ask? According to FactCheck.org, “In presidential campaigns, a caucus is a system of local gatherings where voters decide which candidate to support and select delegates for nominating conventions. A primary is a statewide voting process in which voters cast secret ballots for their preferred candidates.” Caucuses were once the most widely used system of voting, but now only Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, Wyoming, Iowa and some U.S. territories eschew primaries in favor of the caucus system.
Tomorrow could be an extremely significant day in this election cycle, as there are 865 Democratic delegates and 595 Republican delegates in play. The state worthy of the most attention on Super Tuesday—due to its sheer number of delegates up for grabs—is Texas, where Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton are projected to win. According to The Washington Post , however, more than half a million Texans don’t have the proper IDs required to vote, which doesn’t bode well for the elderly and lower-income demographics who are often affected by ID laws.
The most likely result of tomorrow’s primaries is that struggling candidates like Ben Carson and John Kasich will drop out, which, according to Politico.com, will be good for Marco Rubio and Cruz in terms of upping their chances of beating Trump out of the ultimate win.
If you live in one of tomorrow’s Super Tuesday states, you can find instructions on the voting process here. For tomorrow’s results, check out the New York Times 2016 Primary Results and Calendar or, to keep up with the vote tallies in real time, simply Google the state name + primary for Google’s continuously updated results.
