Picking America’s choice for the next president is a very complicated process; there are so many contributing factors that play into who is put on the ballot box on Election Day. Because of this, it is so important for eligible voters to understand how exactly the election process works.

Starting out, something has to be done about the many candidates up for election. To winnow out the options, the election process has smaller state specific election known as primaries, where voters can decide which candidate they like the most.

There are two kinds of these types of elections: primaries and caucuses. Primaries are private, anonymous votes done at ballot boxes. Caucuses are events where voters stand at either end of a room for which candidate they favor.

For simplicity’s sake, both are usually just called primaries. Most states have closed primaries, where only official party members can vote for their candidate and independent voters cannot.

Some states have semi-closed primaries, which allow independents to vote for one party only. Other states have open primaries, where any citizen regardless of party can vote in any primary they please. Primaries are held in all U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. However, people territories are not allowed to vote in the presidential election.

Following the citizen vote, the votes are not sent to the candidates directly, but rather to delegates who represent the voters. Delegates are party officials or state representatives who pledge votes for a particular candidate.

When all state primaries have been completed, party delegates go to their own respective National Convention. Here is where official vote to select the presidential nominee happens. A major factor in the Democratic National Convention are superdelegates, who are top party members like congressmen, governors, senators, or former presidents.

Superdelegates are unpledged delegates, meaning that they did not indicate their preferred candidate.  Superdelegates can vote for whoever they want, regardless of the citizen’s vote.

The number of superdelegates is significantly smaller than regular delegates, being less than 800 to over 3,000, respectively. The Republican National Convention does not officially have superdelegates, but they do have unpledged delegates.

Fast forward to election night in the United States. It is more than what it seems: one person, one vote is really the product of what has come a whole year in advance prior to the vote.

Thus, a situation can occur in a democratic republic electing its next president wherein the popular vote can actually be greater for candidate who lost to his or her opponent. The purpose of primaries are to make the election process more democratic; to put more power in the individual voter’s hands.

Understandably, this process is very difficult considering the many moving parts. However, is is monumentally important for the American voter to fully understand the way in which the way their leader is elected, and how the future of their country is forged.