What are primaries in the US presidential election? - #Posters

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The « primary season » refers to a four-month series of mini-elections, held in all 50 states
During which parties narrow down a field of candidates to a single White House hopeful.
Iowa traditionally kicks off those contests – with a caucus. New Hampshire follows eight days later, with the nation’s first primary.
Primaries and caucuses can be “open” or “closed”: in the open kind, everybody can vote, even those registered with another party.
Each party has a number of delegates in a state.
Delegates later represent their parties at national party conventions, both held in july.
Candidates need to win a majority of delegates to lock in a party’s nomination.
This year, the winning Democratic candidate will need 2,246 delegates to win the nomination; for the republicans, the magic number is 1,191.
One of the most critical dates is “Super Tuesday” - March 1st.
Nearly a dozen states – including Texas, and other southern heavyweights – hold primaries on the same day.
Winning states with more delegates gives a major boost in the race.
For the first time this year, a second “Super Tuesday” follows, on March 15th.
5 states vote at once – among them Florida, Illinois, Ohio, with a combined prize of hundreds more delegates.
The back to back Super Tuesdays are likely to eliminate a number of candidates.
Not all delegates are created equal. Delegates are supposed to support the candidate who got the most votes. They called “pledged” delegates.
But some are not bound by those rules.
The democrats call them “super delegates” – nearly 800 of them -- members of Congress, governors or former presidents. They can vote however they want.
All those people will gather at the conventions to vote for their party’s nominee.