The purpose of today’s presidential primary elections is to help the major political parties, Democratic and Republican, choose their respective presidential candidates through a preliminary vote.
The votes are sorted by delegates representing congressional and senatorial districts within the state, and then tallied to decide a winner. The presidential hopeful with the most delegates at the end of the party’s national convention will receive the nomination during that party’s convention.
"We’ve never actually had a caucus before where it mattered, because there’s always been just one candidate left," political science adjunct professor Christina Hughes said.
This year’s Democratic National Convention will be Aug. 25-28 in Denver, Colo. and the Republican National Convention will be Sept. 1-4 in Minneapolis – Saint Paul, Minn.
Voting in this year’s primaries will be an important factor in who receives the party’s presidential nominations.
"Normally, by the time Texas votes, the candidates are already kind of predetermined and decided and you don’t have much of a competition going on anymore," Hughes said.
In the Democratic primaries, however, the race is still ongoing between Senators. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Voting in the Texas primaries is open to all legally registered voters. In Texas, a voter becomes affiliated with a party after voting in that party’s primary and remains affiliated with that party until the end of the year. This rule allows all voters to participate in either primary.
A primary system, where voters simply choose a name on a ballot, is used for both political parties; but Texas Democrats also hold precinct conventions, more commonly known as caucuses.
"When you go to the caucuses, you sign in your name and list the candidate that you prefer," Hughes said. "Then, each candidate has a minimum threshold in order to actually get to choose delegates.
"The threshold is based on how many caucus delegates each precinct is allotted and how many people that are there to support (each candidate). So, if you had six delegates, then you would need at least three people there to support before you could actually get any delegates."
According to the Texas House of Representatives’ Web site, Texas Democrats have 193 pledged and 35 unpledged delegates. Of the 193, 126 are allocated to the candidates in the primary. These are separated by senatorial and congressional voter districts, which are currently based on each district’s vote in the 2004 Democratic presidential vote and the 2006 Democratic gubernatorial vote. The remaining 67 delegates are awarded during the party’s state convention June 6-7 in Austin.
Texas Congressional District 14, which stretches from Chambers County down to Aransas County and wraps around to the southwest side of Houston, has more delegates than any other in the state with eight. UH is in the 18th Congressional District, which carries four delegates and is represented by Dem. Sheila Jackson Lee.
A candidate must receive at least 15 percent of the primary vote in a senatorial district to receive delegates. If no candidate earns 15 percent of the vote, the limit to win the delegates is the highest percentage earned by a candidate, minus 10 percentage points. For example, if a candidate earns 14 percent of the vote, the new limit becomes four percent and the candidate who has more than four percent can earn delegates.
After the primary polls close at 7 p.m. and after the last person has voted, the Democratic caucuses will take place at each precinct fifteen minutes later. During the conventions, those who voted in the Democratic primary gather to elect delegates to the senate district convention.
The voter does not have to vote for the same candidate in the convention as they voted for in the primary election.
The Republican primary will determine which candidates will receive Texas’ 140 pledged delegates and 137 alternate delegates in the Republican National Convention. Each district has three pledged delegates, plus 41 at-large bids.
There will also be one alternate per pledged delegate, who will also count as a delegate, and are decided at the national convention.
The other three come from the two Texas Republican National Committee members and the state’s party chair, which are automatically unpledged due to party positions.
Delegates are awarded to the Republican state convention strictly by the primary’s results. If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of a district’s vote, they will receive all three of its delegates. If the winning candidate gets less than 50 percent but more than 20 percent, they will receive two delegates while the runner-up gets one. If the runner-up gets less than 20 percent, the leading candidate receives all three. If all candidates receive less than 20 percent, the top three will each receive one delegate.
