I am from Illinois, and because of this fact I know a lot about Primary elections, because that is all I have ever known.  Another friend/blogger who is working on the Ron Paul campaign reminded me that there is more than one way to become the candidate on the Presidential ticket. BTW just to give his blog a shout out cause I like to support my friends http://grobeluge.blogspot.com/ .

Anyhow back to my original, if you remember what is was, point.  What is the difference between a primary election and a primary caucus and how does this effect the voter?  In a primary election registered voters get to vote for the person they want to see as their presidential nominee, sort of.  In reality you are voting for a group of delegates to vote for your person of choice at the national convention, if your state has pledged delegates.  If your state has unpledged delegates in the end they could vote for whoever they want.  Now there are open and closed primary elections.  Open primary elections mean that anyone can vote, doesn’t have to be a registered member of any party, for whoever they want.  In a closed primary only the people register for a specific political party can vote for a particular group of candidates.  Most states have a date one must register for a party before the election, or change your party affiliation before the elections.

Grey states have closed primary or caucus

Green States have open primary or caucus

Blue States have semi-open primary or caucus (independents can vote in the GOP primary)

Now Cacus states are different.  In short a caucus is when, in each country of the state a group of people go to a specific place to choose their candidate.  The supporters for each candidate group themselves together and the undecideds group together in another area.  The people from the other groups then make speeches to get the undecideds to come over to their group.  Kind of reminds me of a popularity contest in high school.  The GOP runs their causes in a winner-take-all sort of fashion, so the winner of the county caucus goes to the state casus then from their the delegates from the state caucus go on to the national convention to choose their candidate.

Now I don’t know enough about Ron Paul to say that I am a Ron Paul supporter, but this video done by bluerepublican.org clearly shows how the primary and caucus system work.  You can replace Paul’s name with your favorite candidate.

I hope this clears up the difference between a caucus and a primary.  Check your state’s voting website for specific questions about your state.

Related articles

• Public Policy: Presidential Primaries and Caucuses (ajbulava.wordpress.com)
• How You Can STOP Republican Militarism: Vote for Ron Paul (dandelionsalad.wordpress.com)
• Elect None Of The Above – Angry California Voters Now Have This Option to Vote According to Senatorial Candidate Connor Vlakancic (prweb.com)
• Missouri Presidential Caucus (capecountyteaparty.wordpress.com)
• CNBC Cans Debate Poll Because Ron Paul Was Leading (gunnyg.wordpress.com)
• Rick Hasen: Should Democrats Eliminate Superdelegates and Caucuses in 2012? (huffingtonpost.com)
• Republican Candidate Wants Knockout Punch In Early State (huffingtonpost.com)
• US Election 2012: Herman Cain tops Iowa poll two months before primary (telegraph.co.uk)
• Ron Paul: U.S. Foreign Policy Breeds ‘Automatic War’ (prweb.com)
• Poor Rick Perry. No silver foot but he seems to keep putting something in his mouth. (mschuettblahblahblah.wordpress.com)

 

This post was written by: PurplePolitico