Important dates in the 2016 presidential race

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This page tracks important dates throughout the 2016 presidential election cycle, including primaries, caucuses and conventions, filing deadlines and campaign finance reporting deadlines.

Candidate registration and financial disclosure

Federal candidacy registration

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) requires those running for the U.S. House, Senate or presidency to file a Statement of Candidacy form within 15 days raising the first $5,000 in campaign funding. The Statement of Candidacy form allows a candidate's campaign committee to engage in fundraising and spending of the campaign funds. Within 10 days of the Statement of Candidacy submission, the Statement of Organization form must be submitted to the FEC.[1]

Campaign finance disclosures

Presidential candidates, like Congressional candidates, must file regular campaign finance disclosure reports, depending on the extent of the committee's fundraising. If the committee has raised or anticipates raising or spending a total of $100,000 by the end of a calendar year, the committee will file monthly campaign finance reports in the following year. If the committee does not raise, spend or anticipate raising or spending that much, they must only file quarterly reports to the FEC.[2]

Important campaign dates

Democratic National Convention

See also: Democratic National Convention, 2016

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), announced on February 12, 2015, that Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will host the Convention during the week of July 25, 2016.[3]

According to the National Journal, the initial list of possible host cities for the DNC were Birmingham, Alabama, Brooklyn, New York, Columbus, Ohio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Phoenix, Arizona.[4]

Republican National Convention

See also: Republican National Convention, 2016

The Republican National Committee (RNC) will hold the 2016 convention on July 18-21, 2016. "The convention will be held significantly earlier than previous election cycles, allowing access to crucial general election funds earlier than ever before to give our nominee a strong advantage heading into Election Day," Priebus said.[5]

State primary and filing deadline dates

See also: Ballot access for presidential candidates

The maps below detail the election dates and candidate filing deadlines for the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries and caucuses in 2016. The states that have earlier deadlines are shaded in darker colors. A table listing the same information can be found below the maps.


Presidential primary and caucus dates, by state
State Date Filing deadline Primary/caucus Primary type
Alabama March 1, 2016 November 6, 2015 Primary Closed (D)/Open (R)
Alaska March 1, 2016 January 28, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed
Alaska March 26, 2016 January 29, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed
American Samoa March 1, 2016 Democratic Caucus Open
American Samoa March 8, 2016 Republican Caucus Open
Arkansas March 1, 2016 November 9, 2015 Primary Open
Arizona March 22, 2016 December 14, 2015 Primary Closed
California June 7, 2016 March 26, 2016 Primary Closed (R)/Mixed (D)
Colorado March 1, 2016 January 25, 2016 Caucus Closed
Connecticut April 26, 2016 March 4, 2016 Primary Closed
Delaware April 26, 2016 February 26, 2016 Primary Closed
District of Columbia March 12, 2016 January 4, 2016 Caucus Closed
District of Columbia June 14, 2016 March 16, 2016 Primary Closed
Florida March 15, 2016 November 30, 2015 Primary Closed
Georgia March 1, 2016 December 1, 2015 Primary Open
Guam March 12, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed
Guam May 7, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed
Hawaii March 26, 2016 January 8, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed
Hawaii March 8, 2016 February 16, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed
Idaho March 8, 2016 December 9, 2015 Republican Primary Closed
Idaho March 22, 2016 February 5, 2016 Democratic Caucus Open (D)/Closed (R)
Illinois March 15, 2016 January 6, 2016 Primary Open
Indiana May 3, 2016 February 5, 2016 Primary Open
Iowa February 1, 2016 Caucus Closed
Kentucky May 17, 2016 January 26, 2016 Democratic Primary Closed
Kentucky March 5, 2016 January 7, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed
Kansas March 5, 2016 January 20, 2016 Caucus Closed
Kansas March 5, 2016 March 1, 2016 Caucus Closed
Louisiana March 5, 2016 December 4, 2015 Primary Closed
Maine March 6, 2016 December 15, 2015 Democratic Caucus Closed
Maine March 5, 2016 December 15, 2015 Republican Caucus Closed
Maryland April 26, 2016 February 3, 2016 Primary Closed
Massachusetts March 1, 2016 January 4, 2016 Primary Mixed
Michigan March 8, 2016 December 11, 2015 Primary Open
Minnesota March 1, 2016 January 4, 2016 Caucus Open
Mississippi March 8, 2016 January 15, 2016 Primary Open
Missouri March 15, 2016 December 29, 2015 Primary Open
Montana June 7, 2016 March 14, 2016 Primary Open
Nebraska March 5, 2016 March 11, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed
Nebraska May 10, 2016 February 25, 2016 Republican Primary Closed
Nevada February 20, 2016 January 1, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed
Nevada February 23, 2016 January 9, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed
New Hampshire February 9, 2016 November 20, 2015 Primary Closed
New Jersey June 7, 2016 April 4, 2016 Primary Closed
New Mexico June 7, 2016 March 16, 2016 Primary Closed
New York April 19, 2016 February 4, 2016 Primary Closed
North Carolina March 15, 2016 December 21, 2015 Primary Mixed
North Dakota Open
North Dakota June 7, 2016 May 2, 2016 Democratic Caucus Open
Northern Marianas March 12, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed
Northern Marianas March 15, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed
Ohio March 15, 2016 December 16, 2015 Primary Open
Oklahoma March 1, 2016 December 9, 2015 Primary Mixed (D)/Closed (R)
Oregon May 17, 2016 March 8, 2016 Primary Closed
Pennsylvania April 26, 2016 February 16, 2016 Primary Closed
Puerto Rico March 13, 2016 Primary Open
Puerto Rico June 5, 2016 Democratic Caucus Open
Rhode Island April 26, 2016 January 23, 2016 Primary Mixed
South Carolina February 20, 2016 September 30, 2015 Republican Primary Open
South Carolina February 27, 2016 November 16, 2015 Democratic Primary Open
South Dakota June 7, 2016 March 29, 2016 Primary Mixed (D)/Closed (R)
Tennessee March 1, 2016 December 1, 2015 Primary Open
Texas March 1, 2016 December 14, 2015 Primary Open
Utah March 22, 2016 Caucus Open (D)/Closed (R)
Vermont March 1, 2016 January 11, 2016 Primary Open
Virgin Islands March 10, 2016 Republican Caucus Open
Virgin Islands June 5, 2016 Democratic Caucus Open
Virginia March 1, 2016 December 10, 2015 Primary Open
Washington May 24, 2016 March 10, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed
Washington March 26, 2016 February 26, 2016 Democratic Caucus Open
West Virginia May 10, 2016 January 30, 2016 Primary Mixed
Wisconsin April 5, 2016 January 26, 2016 Primary Open
Wyoming March 25, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed
Wyoming April 9, 2016 March 10, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed
Presidential primary dates are still being determined. The dates listed are subject to change.


Nomination calendar and delegate counts

The tables below provide details about the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating contests in the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. territories in 2016. The overview table lists the following information for all Democratic and Republican nominating contests in 2016: election date, filing deadline, election type (primary or caucus), voter eligibility (open to any voter or closed to party members), and the total number of delegates at stake. Further information can be accessed on the Democratic and Republican tables. For a full summary of a state's allocation process, click on the state's name. All the information below is sorted by election date, with earlier contests appearing at the top of the table. Delegate counts reflect pre-convention allocations; convention roll call vote participation was subject to minor adjustments based on political developments.

Media outlets and websites are free to replicate or use information from the tables above and below, provided they cite Ballotpedia as the source. To view all data in spreadsheet form, click here.


Delegates by state

See also: Republican delegates by state, 2016

Members of Congress, governors, lieutenant governors, attorneys general, secretaries of state, state legislators, city councilors, school board members, party activists, business owners, current and past candidates for public office, donors, nonprofit executives, and political new-comers, the delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention represented a cross-section of the Republican Party with representatives from the federal, state, and local levels.

To paint a more vivid picture of the delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention, Ballotpedia set out to build profiles for all 2,472 of them. They can be accessed by clicking the links below.

How was this list compiled?

To compile our lists and profiles of the delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention, Ballotpedia primarily relied upon official lists provided by state and territorial Republican parties. In cases where we could not obtain official lists, we used unofficial lists provided by local media outlets. If you think we have made an error in identifying delegates or if you are aware of changes to a certain list or to a specific delegate's status, please send an email to Federal@ballotpedia.org.

Republican delegates by state

Washington, D.C., and the territories

Deadlines for parties to certify their candidates for the general election

If a nominee dropped out of the race and was replaced by his or her party, what kind of ballot access obstacles might they face?

States require political parties to submit names of presidential candidates in order to certify them for the general election ballot. Every state has some sort of official or unofficial deadline for this (see the table below). Some states have earlier deadlines than others because of early voting and voting by mail and absentee voting. As of February 2016, 34 states offered early voting in some form or another, and several states allow voting as early as late September.[6] Three states (Colorado, Oregon and Washington) use all-mail voting systems, thereby eliminating the need for early voting.

August/early September

The bulk of the dates for certifying the names of major party presidential candidates are in August and September. The Democratic and Republican parties, then, would have until about mid August to find a replacement nominee and still be able to get his or her name on the ballot in enough states to be competitive in November. For example, if a nominee dropped out in late August, his or her name would already be certified to appear as their party's candidate for president in about 20 states. If he or she dropped out in late September, that number rises to almost 40 states.

Late September

Replacing a candidate's name in late September could prove challenging. The parties would likely have to look to the courts. As Politico noted on August 4, 2016, the courts have shown a willingness to work with the parties on the issue of deadlines: "Courts have tended to discard ballot deadlines in favor of having two parties represented on the ballot.”[7] In 2002, for instance, the New Jersey Supreme Court allowed Democrats to replace their nominee for a U.S. Senate seat 15 days after the certification deadline.[8] In addition to this, election officials in the states have been known to show some leeway on the deadlines. Richard Winger, an expert on ballot access laws, told Ballotpedia by email, “even when major parties have missed deadlines for certifying presidential and vice-presidential nominees, or presidential elector candidates, election officials have always set the deadline aside.”[9]

The other factor to consider, however, is whether or not the opposing party would file lawsuits seeking to enforce state laws as they are written and prevent a replacement nominee from appearing on the ballot. This would consume a considerable amount time, energy, and resource for both parties but would likely exacerbate the struggles of the party trying to get its replacement nominee on the ballot.

October/early November

In October, especially later in the month, and in early November (before November 8) the situation becomes significantly more complicated. At this point, nearly all ballot certification deadlines have passed, many ballots have been printed off, and voters in some states will have already cast their ballots. This begs the question: what happens if a candidate has dropped out of the race but wins the popular vote in a state? Would the replacement nominee just receive those electoral votes? The answer lies in what that state has to say about its electors in the electoral college. The Constitution does dictate how electors must cast their votes. But some states do. About half the states have laws dictating how electors must vote and about half do not. If the former nominee won in a state that does not have a law on how its electors vote, then, theoretically, they could win all of that state's electoral votes. But if the former nominee won in a state that does have a law on how its electors vote, then, one would have to look at that law's fine print to see what would happen and if the state's electoral votes could go to the replacement nominee.

Examples of state laws on presidential electors

  • Michigan: "Refusal or failure to vote for the candidates for president and vice-president appearing on the Michigan ballot of the political party which nominated the elector constitutes a resignation from the office of elector, his vote shall not be recorded and the remaining electors shall forthwith fill the vacancy." (Michigan State Statute 168.47)
  • Florida: "Each such elector shall be a qualified elector of the party he or she represents who has taken an oath that he or she will vote for the candidates of the party that he or she is nominated to represent." (Florida State Statute 103.021)
  • Colorado: "Each presidential elector shall vote for the presidential candidate and, by separate ballot, vice-presidential candidate who received the highest number of votes at the preceding general election in this state." (Colorado State Statute 1.4.304)

Deadlines for parties to certify their candidates for the general election

The table below details state deadlines for major political parties to certify the names of their presidential and vice presidential candidates for placement on the general election ballot.

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term 2016 + presidential + campaign


2016 Campaign Events News Feed

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See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Quick Answers to Candidate Questions," accessed June 12, 2014
  2. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "FEC Record: Reporting," accessed June 12, 2014
  3. ↑ Yahoo News, "Democrats settle on Philadelphia as site of 2016 convention," February 12, 2015
  4. ↑ National Journal, "Handicapping the Democratic Convention Sites for 2016," July 25, 2014
  5. ↑ Cleveland.com, "Dates set for Republican National Convention in Cleveland; 4-day event will run July 18-21," January 14, 2015
  6. ↑ Roll Call, "Replacing Trump on Ballots: Murky Payoff and a Legal Thicket," August 9, 2016
  7. ↑ Politico, "Playbook," August 4, 2016
  8. ↑ LA Times, "What if Trump drops out?" August 4, 2016
  9. ↑ Email from Richard Winger on August 5, 2016
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