With two presidential nominating events complete (Iowa’s caucuses and New Hampshire’s primary), people are checking calendars to learn what’s next. The best place is NCSL’s new 2012 Presidential Primary Calendar, and its companion, a state-ordered table, 2012 State and Presidential Primary and Caucus Dates. We like to think these are the most accurate lists anywhere--and the easiest to understand.
My colleague, Jennie Bowser, created the lists and checked them against a multitude of official sources. She says, “this year, it was more complicated than ever to assemble this data.” Here are a few of the complications:
- State legislatures decide the dates of primaries (except in the states where parties do);
- Political parties decide the dates of caucuses (except in the states where the legislature does);
- The two major parties don’t always use the same dates in a given state;
- More states changed their dates this year than in any of the last three presidential cycles (and Texas’ date could still change); and,
- Some primaries are “beauty contests” only, designed to bring attention to a state but not to choose delegates to the national conventions where presidential nominees are officially selected.
To understand all the vagaries in presidential nominating events, the National Association of Secretaries of State has just released a comprehensive report, NASS 2012 Presidential Primaries Guide. It can be downloaded from the NASS homepage. In it, you’ll learn the state-by-state details on how the date is chosen, how the primary is funded, who can vote in the primary, and where to find official results.