“Delegates”, “primaries”: know the common terms of American elections

“Delegates”, “superdelegates”, “winner takes all”. 2024 is a presidential election year in the United States and a lot of jargon is used.

A CNN has summarized some of the common political terms most used during the election period to help you understand what is happening in the international news.

W

Caucus

A type of meeting used by political parties to discuss various issues.

A presidential caucus is a political gathering in which participants nominate their preferred candidate for president and begin the process of selecting delegates for their party's national convention.

Some state party offices have “caucuses” without a formal meeting, where voters have more freedom to simply stop and vote without attending a meeting.

Caucuses like this are called “unassembled” or “firehouse”. The caucus is usually the first in a multi-step process and is one of two methods used to designate party delegates (the other method is holding primaries).

D

Delegates

Delegates are responsible for choosing presidential and vice-presidential candidates at national party conventions.

“Sworn” or “committed” delegate

A delegate who has taken an oath (“pledged delegate”), on the side of the Democratic Party, or is bound (“bound delegate”), on the side of the Republican Party, is someone who has officially committed to supporting a particular presidential candidate at the national convention .

The amount of freedom these delegates have to support other candidates varies by state, party, and circumstances.

“Unsworn” or “uncommitted” delegate

A delegate who is free to vote for any candidate at the convention.

On the Democratic side, the only non-sworn delegates are the so-called superdelegates. In English, they are “unpledged delegates” or “unbound delegates”.

RNC Member Delegates

RNC is the English abbreviation for Republican National Committee. RNC member delegates automatically become delegates to the Republican National Convention.

The term refers to both a state party chairman and the state representative of the national committee. There are 168 RNC member delegates (three each from states, territories and the District of Columbia).

AND

Entrance poll

In some states that hold caucuses, the “entrance poll” is the same as the “exit poll,” except here caucusgoers are interviewed when they enter the caucus. caucus location rather than being questioned on the way out.

Exit Poll

The exit poll is conducted on Election Day in states that have primaries.

In English, it is called “exit poll” because voters are interviewed when they leave a polling place.

Voters are asked about their vote and also provide certain personal characteristics, such as age, race and sex.

In states where there are a high number of absentee or early voters, surveys conducted before Election Day are also used to collect data on voting intentions and personal characteristics.

Depending on the state, polls are conducted using a combination of in-person, telephone or online interviews, and the results are then mixed with interviews conducted on Election Day.

G

Kitten

A trigger is a level of support that a candidate running in a proportional contest must achieve to win all the delegates in that state (or congressional district).

Triggers are typically set at a 50% margin and are only used in Republican races.

P

PLEO

Acronym that expresses the selection process of Democratic representatives for “party leaders and elected officials”, that is, the initials PLEO).

It is a type of delegate status reserved for those who hold a party leadership position, or who hold an elected position.

The term typically refers to locally elected officials who have to compete with each other for seats reserved for delegates.

Primary

The primary (“primary”) is an electoral process in which voters vote between the candidates competing for a party’s candidacy.

It typically happens at the state level, although some state party offices manage their own primaries.

It is one of two methods used to assign participants (the other is a “caucus”).

R

Threshold Rule

In English, “threshold rule”. It is a rule that requires candidates to receive a certain minimum percentage of support before they can win delegates or advance to the next phase of the delegate selection process.

The threshold is the percentage of the vote that a presidential candidate must receive to be included in calculations for allocating delegates to presidential candidates.

Any candidate in a Democratic race who receives 15% of the vote will have representation.

The Republican Party does not have a mandatory threshold rule.

Proportional representation

A rule that requires candidates to be awarded delegates in proportion to the percentage of the popular vote they receive.

The Democratic Party requires the use of proportional representation for all primaries and caucuses; the Republican Party does not.

s

Superdelegates

These are the delegates to the Democratic National Convention who have guaranteed a delegation space based on their position in the party, or an elected position they hold.

All congressmen, Democratic governors and other party leaders are automatically superdelegates.

Also known as “unsworn” or “automatic” delegates. Superdelegates (“superdelegates”) cannot vote in the first stage of choosing a candidate for president if their votes mathematically affect the result.

V

Winner takes all

In English, “winner-take-all”. A method of allocating delegates used by Republicans in which the statewide winner of a contest wins all of the delegates at stake in that election.