2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
Voters of the Republican Party elected state delegations to the 2012 Republican National Convention in presidential primaries. The national convention then selected its nominee to run for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election. There were 2,286 delegates chosen, and a candidate needed to accumulate 1,144 delegate votes at the convention to win the nomination. The caucuses allocated delegates to the respective state delegations to the national convention, but the actual election of the delegates were, many times, at a later date. Delegates were elected in different ways that vary from state to state. They could be elected at local conventions, selected from slates submitted by the candidates, selected at committee meetings, or elected directly at the caucuses and primaries.
Image: Mitt Romney by Gage Skidmore 6 cropped
Image: Rick Santorum by Gage Skidmore (crop 2)
Image: Ron Paul by Gage Skidmore 3 (crop 2)
Image: Newt Gingrich by Gage Skidmore 3 (cropped)
United States presidential primary
Each of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and territories of the United States holds either primary elections or caucuses to help nominate individual candidates for president of the United States. This process is designed to choose the candidates that will represent their political parties in the general election.
2016 presidential primary election ballots in Massachusetts
Voters checking in at a 2008 Washington State Democratic caucus held at the Nathan Eckstein Middle School in Seattle
A 2008 Washington state Democratic caucus held in the school lunchroom of Eckstein Middle School in Seattle. In some states like Washington, voters attend local meetings run by the parties instead of polling places to cast their selections.
A 2008 Democratic caucus meeting in Iowa City, Iowa. The Iowa caucuses are traditionally the first major electoral event of presidential primaries and caucuses.
