Winning the presidential nomination is all about delegates. But how does the process work?

Although voters across the country cast ballots for their preferred presidential candidate during the presidential primary season, it’s actually the delegates to the national party conventions who select the presidential nominees for each major party. Much like in the general election, where a candidate needs a majority of votes in the Electoral College to win the White House, in the primaries, candidates need a majority of delegate votes at the convention to win the party’s presidential nomination. Here are the basics about the delegate selection process that you should know as the primary campaign gets underway in less than seven weeks: What is a delegate?