PRIMARY MATTERS: How the major parties choose their candidates.

After more than a year of polls and speculation about the 2020 presidential election, the actual voting begins next month with the Iowa caucuses on February 3 and the New Hampshire primary on February 11. With so many contenders still in the race for the Democratic nomination--18 people at press time--it's unclear at this point whether a winner will emerge quickly, or if the battle will continue into the spring or even until the Democratic convention in July.

How did this system come about?

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, elected officials and party leaders chose presidential candidates at the conventions. Reformers began promoting primaries--elections to pick party nominees--in the late 1800s, saying party bosses were cutting backroom deals to select nominees. The first primaries occurred in the early 1900s, but it wasn't until after World War II that they began to play a significant role in choosing candidates.

What are primaries?

A primary works very much like a general election. On dates selected by each state, the District of Columbia, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam, voters head to polling places to cast secret ballots. Based on the results, the state parties allocate delegates for each candidate to the national convention, where the presidential nominee is formally chosen. At the Republican convention, the nominee will need a majority of the approximately 2,500 delegates; the Democratic nominee will need a majority of the approximately 4,700 delegates.

How are caucuses different?

Some states, like Iowa, have caucuses rather than primaries (see map). In caucuses, party members meet at the district or precinct level--gathering at schools, churches, and even private homes--to discuss the candidates and the issues. Then they publicly declare who they're supporting (usually by moving to a designated corner of the room). Iowa has about 1,700 precincts, each hosting its own caucus.

What's the role of the conventions?

In most recent elections, a candidate from each party has collected enough delegates in the primaries to all but guarantee the nomination. This has turned the conventions into little more than three-day-long TV ads for the candidates, since the actual tallying of votes is just a formality. But a tight race among Democrats in 2020 could lead to a convention fight, which last happened in 1976, when President Gerald Ford narrowly beat Ronald Reagan to win the Republican nomination.

Why are Iowa and New Hampshire...

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