Primary Draft is an interactive tool for simulating U.S. political party primary elections, where presidential nominees are selected through a state-by-state delegate allocation process.
How to use
- Choose a candidate or select "None". Selecting a candidate allows you to quickly allocate a majority (50.1%) of a state's popular vote with a click. "None" allows you to allocate with total freedom.
- Click on a U.S. state or territory on the map and interact with the allocation tool. Delegates are automatically calculated based on the set popular vote percentages and a state's election rules.
- Experiment further with state results. Watch the "Unallocated" row to help you keep track of yet to be distributed votes. Once 0 is reached, you won't be able to allocate any more to a candidate without taking away from another.
- Lead a candidate to victory! A candidate is the nomination winner once they've earned a majority of total delegates, marked by the delegate count flag .
Limitations
There's a balance to be made between streamlining the user experience while retaining the authenticity of simulating an election process due to the nuance of state election laws. Here are some changes we've made.
- Delegates in caucuses are allocated as if they were primaries. Learn more
- District-level and soft delegates are allocated as at-large hard delegates. Learn more
- Primary types are grouped into two categories. Learn more
- Winner-Take-All and Winner-Take-Most: State delegates are allocated to the candidate with the most votes.
- Proportional and Delegate Selection: State delegates are allocated proportionally based on the popular vote percentiles.