Super Tuesday Is Coming. Here's What You Need to Know About the Virginia Primary.

By Matt Blair

February 6, 2020

The Commonwealth votes for their preferred presidential primary candidates in less than one month.

On March 3, Virginia and 14 other jurisdictions are holding Democratic primary votes, marking the day that has come to be known as ‘Super Tuesday.’ Here’s everything you need to know.

In order to vote in Virginia’s primary, you need to be registered by February 10. Since Virginia doesn’t require voters to declare a party, all voters–Republican, Democrat, and independent–can vote. To check whether you’re registered and find your polling station’s location, head over to Virginia’s election website.

By the time Super Tuesday rolls around, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina will have already held their own primaries. While a breakout leader has typically emerged by Super Tuesday in past election cycles, this year it could still be a tight race, due to the crowded primary field.

In order to win the entire primary campaign, a candidate needs to have 1,991 delegate votes. States are not winner-take-all, however, and candidates can earn delegates even in a state they lose. The delegates will then go to the Democratic National Convention in July to officially cast their votes.

A total of 124 delegates are up for grabs in Virginia. This is considerably more than in some of the earlier states like Iowa (41 delegates) and New Hampshire (24 delegates), although not as many as behemoths like California (415) or Texas (228).

Virginia’s primary date has jumped around in recent history. In 2004, the state’s primary was held ahead of Super Tuesday on February 10, the same day as Tennessee’s. In 2008, the state’s primary was held on February 12, the same day as Maryland and D.C., and was dubbed the “Potomac” primary. In 2016 the state officially joined other states on the Super Tuesday roster, although that could change again in the future.

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