By Kelly O'Connell Reporter
News 3 On Your Side
It's the word that's been heard most when talking about Super Tuesday but it also is one that many don't understand....delegate.News 3 On Your Side
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Stumble It!What does it mean to be a delegate and how does that affect the primary?
Super Tuesday is the big day for presidential candidates.
Voters from 24 states will cast their vote in primary elections but it's not the voters who are getting all the attention, it's the delegates.
“In a year like this, it's really more a race for delegates than it is the popular vote, especially when you don't have a clear winner at this point, every delegate counts,” says CSU professor John Van Doorn.
So who are these delegates and why do they matter so much?
John Van Doorn is a political science professor at Columbus State University; he says this process doesn't work like you think it would.
“Whoever had the most primary voters would win, but it’s not that easy,” says Van Doorn.
In fact it's very difficult and it depends on what party you are voting for.
For republicans, it's a winner take all method.
“Doesn't matter how many delegates you have, whoever wins the plurality or the most votes wins the whole district and therefore wins the seat,” says Van Doorn.
That's why you'll see republican candidates win entire states, they win in blocks.
For the democrats, it's much different.
They have a proportional system.
“So you get the number of delegates in proportion to how many you won in the district and that state,” says Van Doorn.
These different methods decide how many delegates each candidate wins.
It's not just the largest states who get the most delegates; it also depends on their voting history.
If states typically vote heavily for one party, that party puts more delegates in that state.
The more the better.
The delegates are the ones who represent the states at the national conventions.
Their votes are the ones that really matter, so do ours even matter?
Van Doorn says they do.
“These delegates are pledged by their party rule to vote for the candidate who their states voters have selected,” says Van Doorn.
So depending on how we vote the delegates vote for that candidate.
And each party needs a certain amount of votes to win.
“Its really like a horse race, you've got this certain line you have to cross,” says Van Doorn.
The democrats have to get 2,025 votes to get the nomination.
The republicans have to get 1,191 votes.
After Super Tuesday, it's supposed to be clear who will get that nomination.
But Van Doorn isn't so sure that will happen this year.
“Super Tuesday is suppose to be a knock out blow, in reality what it is, is just continuing this muddled picture,” says Van Doorn.
There are also people who are called super delegates.
Those are political leaders, such as governors, whose votes are weighted more.
Super delegates are not associated with a particular state.
They are counted in the overall group.