Primaries and caucuses are both ways political parties choose their nominees. A primary election is a normal election organized by the state, a caucus is private meeting of party members. Primary voting goes on all day, caucuses take place at a particular time and you can either attend the caucus or not. Caucuses are Minnesota’s alternative to presidential primaries.
Once caucuses begin, participants will be able to vote for their party’s presidential nominee in a secret ballot. Unlike a normal primary, voting can be accompanied by speeches from fans of different candidates—attempts to persuade any undecided caucus-goers. By state law, presidential voting has to finish by 8PM. Once everyone has voted, results are counted, announced and sent to the state party. Participants who care only about voting for president can vote and leave. If people are interested, they can stay for the caucus. Local caucuses will debate and pass resolutions. More significant, the caucus will also elect delegates for upcoming local conventions who will endorse candidates for the Legislature and Congress. Serving on them is also the only way to get to the state and congressional district conventions, where individuals are chosen as delegates to the parties’ national conventions. The caucus will determine how many of Minnesota’s delegates go to each candidate. Those delegates formally vote at each party’s national convention in the summer to nominate a candidate for president.
