DemDaily: The Election Calendar & Delegate Math

A candidate becomes the nominee when he or she secures a majority (50%) of their party's potential delegates. For the Democrats the magic # is 2,383 of 4,762. For the Republicans it is 1,237 of 2472 convention delegates.

Each party allocates a number of "pledged"(Democrats) or "bound" (Republicans) delegate slots to each state, usually in proportion to the state's population.

In most cases, for Democrats, the candidates win delegates based on the % of the vote they secure in a primary or caucus, but factors vary in some states.

Republicans, however, have a hybrid state/congressional district allocation that generally awards delegates on a winner-take-all basis on the statewide and district levels.

In addition, Democrats have "Superdelegates," who are party leaders and elected officials who are free to support any candidate, regardless of the popular vote.

Superdelegates are a serious factor in the democratic primary, accounting for 712 of the total convention delegates.

Republicans "unbound" version of Superdelegates account for approximately 7%, so do not hold the same sway and are usually not separated out in reported delegate counts.

At the Republican convention delegates are bound for the first ballot but are then released after the second or third ballot (depending on the state) and then may vote for whichever candidate they prefer.

At the Democratic convention, delegates are bound to the candidate throughout the convention but superdelegates are allowed to change their vote at any point.