To become the presidential nominee of one of the two major political parties in the United States, a candidate must win a majority of the votes cast by delegates at the party's national convention, held in the summer of a presidential election year. Delegates are divided among the states by the national parties, which apportion them based on the number of party voters in each state. The presidential primaries and caucuses, held in the months preceding the national conventions, are the contests in which candidates of both strive to win all or a majority of each state's delegates. The Democratic and Republican parties control the process for choosing presidential nominees.
How Delegates are Chosen
Specific rules for selecting delegates vary by party and state. The Democratic and Republican parties in each state have their own rules for selecting delegates. In general, someone who is interested in becoming a delegate should register at the local headquarters for the political party of their choice. If you register to be a delegate, you may also have to state a candidate preference, as many delegates are pledged to vote for a particular candidate. Delegates are then chosen at various tiers of political party conventions, starting at the precinct or district level, then proceeding, in many cases, to the county level and finally the state level, in which national convention delegates are chosen.
Types of Delegates
In addition to pledged delegates who get involved with their local political party organizations, both parties have persons who are automatically delegates by virtue of their elected office or position in the parties. Governors and members of Congress from each party, for example, serve as delegates for their parties and states at the national conventions. News reports on the 2008 campaign referred to these delegates as "superdelegates." The parties have superdelegates so that party activists and elected officials have some influence in choosing their parties' presidential nominees.
