Super Tuesday 2016: List of States Voting This Week
Attention, nation: Super Tuesday is almost upon us, which — depending on its outcome and the reader's political leanings — could be emphatically unsuper. Why? Because many states will vote on March 1. With hundreds of delegates at stake, this primary-caucus cluster can give candidates tremendous advantages relatively early on.
Super Tuesday dates back to 1988, when 16 mostly Southern states scheduled their presidential primaries for the same day at the start of March, which in turn prompted Iowa and New Hampshire to push up their respective caucus and primary election. The South's high representation in this event explains why it's alternately referred to as the SEC — Southeastern Conference — Primary.
Super Tuesday was conceived as "a device to keep out insurgents," as presidential historian Michael Beschloss told NBC in 2008. "The idea was, you have all those primaries on one day, hard for somebody to win unless they've got a lot of money, name ID [and] organization."
Read more: Rubio Beats Cruz in South Carolina GOP Primary, Setting up Showdown With Trump
These are the 14 states and one territory involved on March 1, i.e., Super Tuesday 2016:
Alabama — Democratic and Republican primaries
Alaska — Republican caucus
American Samoa — Democratic caucus
Arkansas — Democratic and Republican primaries
Colorado — Democratic and Republican caucuses
Georgia — Democratic and Republican primaries
Massachusetts — Democratic and Republican primaries
Minnesota — Democratic and Republican primaries
North Dakota — Republican caucus (see FrontloadingHQ for a breakdown of what's wonky about North Dakota's delegate allocation process)
Oklahoma — Democratic and Republican primaries
Tennessee — Democratic and Republican primaries
Texas — Democratic and Republican primaries
Vermont — Democratic and Republican primaries
Virginia — Democratic and Republican primaries
Wyoming — Republican caucus (precinct caucus, i.e., first stage of the state's process)
Plus all those Democrats living abroad.
