	Background and Context

This report answers frequently asked questions about presidential primaries and caucuses, and the national party nominating conventions that follow them. Despite its complicated nature, the presidential nominating process is simply a race among presidential candidates to accumulate a majority of delegates, in order to claim the nomination at the national convention. Over the past 25 years, an increasing number of states and state parties scheduled events at the beginning of the primary season to attract candidate and media attention, resulting in a calendar that featured a large cluster of early primaries and caucuses. In a direct primary election, the delegates may be awarded on a proportional basis, according to the vote for presidential candidates, and elected within each presidential candidate preference according to their own individual vote totals. Front-loading came about largely because of the prominence of the New Hampshire primary and the Iowa caucuses in the nominating process. The trend was reversed to an extent in 2012 and even more so for 2016—as the result of cooperation between the two major parties regarding the calendar, as shown in Figure 1 . The effort to reduce front-loading for the 2012 election was largely successful. As a result, the front-loading problem that has characterized the primary process for many election cycles has been reduced for 2016 and, except for the exempt states, primary and caucus contests have been contained within the calendar design that the two parties have agreed to follow. Republicans

For Republicans, the national party sets certain general parameters for the nominating process in The Rules of the Republican Party and the Call of the Convention , but leaves many of the details of delegate selection to the state parties. A number of new Republican party rules changes were adopted for the 2012 presidential primary season that may also impact the 2016 election. The changes shaped the contest for the first three months and led to pronouncements that the nomination would be unresolved until the national convention in September. As the result of a revision to Rule 16 of The Rules of the Republican Party , delegate selection events cannot be held before the first Tuesday in March, with exceptions for Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, which can hold their events on or after February 1. Many state parties used winner-take-all in the past. Furthermore, national Republican Party rules state that:
Any statewide presidential preference vote that permits a choice among candidates for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in a primary, caucuses, or a state convention must be used to allocate and bind the state's delegation to the national convention in either a proportional or winner-take-all manner, except for delegates and alternate delegates who appear on a ballot in a statewide election and are elected directly by primary voters. Further instructions say that:
Delegates at large and their alternate delegates and delegates from Congressional districts and their alternate delegates to the national convention shall be elected, selected, allocated, or bound in the following manner: 
(1) In accordance with any applicable Republican Party rules of a state, insofar as the same are not inconsistent with these rules; or 
(2) To the extent not provided for in the applicable Republican Party rules of a state, in accordance with any applicable laws of a state, insofar as the same are not inconsistent with these rules; or 
(3) By a combination of the methods set forth in paragraphs (b)(1) or (b)(2) of this rule; or
(4) To the extent not provided by state law or party rules, as set forth in paragraph (e) of this rule (which outlines the national party rules for electing national convention delegates in congressional district and state conventions). The program was eliminated with the enactment of P.L. 113-94 in April 2014. Although some observers speculated that a contested convention could occur at the 2012 Republican national convention, that did not occur. In recent decades, the role of the national conventions has been to ratify, rather than select, the party nominees. The last major party convention to require more than one ballot to choose the nominee was in 1952, when Democrats needed three ballots to nominate Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson. Republicans will meet in Cleveland, OH, from July 18-21, and Democrats will meet in Philadelphia, PA from July 26-28.
This report provides answers to frequently asked questions about the presidential nominating process, including how the delegates to the national conventions are chosen, the differences between a caucus and a primary, national party rules changes for 2016, and the national conventions themselves. It is not a comprehensive report on all aspects of the presidential nominating process.
The Nominating Process
The presidential nominating process is a subject of enduring congressional and national interest. Presidential elections are the only nationwide elections held in the United States and the initial phase of primaries and caucuses is subject to change every four years. Congress has a legislative, as well as a practical and political, interest in the presidential nominating process. Presidential nominees lead the party ticket in the fall election; the elected President will set many policy and political goals in the ensuing four years; and many Members of Congress will serve as delegates to the major party conventions. No legislation has been introduced in the 114th Congress to reform the presidential nominating process; taxpayer financing of the national party conventions was eliminated with the enactment of P.L. 113-94 in April 2014.
The Rules
Republican Party rules changes for 2012 set the background for the 2016 presidential primary season. The 2012 election featured a protracted contest for Republicans that began in January and continued until the end of May, partly due to two new Republican Party rules that led to a comparatively long primary battle. In an effort to decrease the large cluster of contests at the beginning of the primary and caucus calendar—the phenomenon known as front-loading—the Republican Party adopted two important changes to national party rules for 2012:
delegate selection events could not be held before the first Tuesday in March, with exceptions for Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, which could hold their events on or after February 1 (regardless, Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina scheduled January events for 2012); and states that held contests before April 1 were required to allocate delegates on a proportional basis, according to primary or caucus results. Many state parties had used winner-take-all in the past, but the new rule required that delegates be awarded to presidential candidates in proportion to their primary vote totals, in some fashion.
The rules changes reduced front-loading, but they also prolonged the contest in comparison to past primary cycles and led to speculation that the Republican convention might need more than one ballot to choose the nominee, an unprecedented occurrence in recent decades. That possibility did not occur. Republicans made additional revisions to party rules for 2016 that might impact the contest for the nomination. The proportional allocation of delegates is required for events held between March 1 and 14, rather than for the entire month, as was done in 2012. Delegates are bound according to the results, either on a proportional or winner-take-all basis (permitted after March 14). Finally, the calendar window imposed for only the second time by Republicans (Democrats have imposed a window for many years) appears to have contained efforts by some state parties to "front-load" the calendar by scheduling events early in the year in order to attract media and candidate attention.
The National Conventions
The national party conventions have evolved over the past half century and now serve as the forum for officially ratifying the results of the primary season, rather than the place where the nominee is actually chosen. The last time more than one ballot was required to nominate a presidential candidate—a so-called "brokered" convention—occurred in 1952. Even so, the conventions remain important as media events that launch each major party's general election campaign. In 2016, the major parties' nominations will be officially conferred when Republicans meet in Cleveland from July 18-21 and Democrats meet in Philadelphia from July 26-28.