Super Tuesday is the date of March 1, 2016. It is called “Super Tuesday” because many states hold their primary voting on the same date which can create a situation where candidates that perform poorly often drop out as a result of the number of delegates decided in one day. This year, it is being nicknamed the “SEC Primary” which makes reference to the Southeastern Conference in college football based on the number of southern states holding their primary on Super Tuesday. Most of the Super Tuesday primaries are proportional meaning that the delegates will be awarded based on the percentage of the a candidate receives.
The table below contains the full list of Super Tuesday states, links to state pages containing polling locations, and lists all polling start and end times.
Super Tuesday Results
Republican Results
Democratic Results
States voting on Super Tuesday
| State | Delegates | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama Find Polling Place 7am to 7pm ET | 60 D, 50 R Proportional | Open |
| Alaska Republican Caucus Find Polling Place 3pm to 8pm Alaska Time (7pm to 12am ET) | 28 Proportional | Closed |
| American Samoa Democratic Caucus No information is available | 10 | Open |
| Arkansas Find Polling Place 7:30am to 7:30pm CT | 37 D, 40 R Proportional | Open |
| Colorado Caucuses Democratic Caucus Dem Caucus Locations 7pm MT Republican Caucus GOP Caucus Details 7pm MT | 79 D, 37 R Proportional | Closed |
| Democrats Abroad Find Polling Location Voting held at sites in 40 countries through March 8 | 17 | Closed |
| Georgia Find Polling Place 7am to 7pm ET | 116 D, 76 R Proportional | Open |
| Massachusetts Find Polling Place 7am to 8pm ET | 116 D, 42 R Proportional | Mixed |
| Minnesota Caucuses Find Caucus Location Starts at 7pm CT | 93 D, 38 R Proportional | Open |
| Oklahoma Find Polling Place 7am to 7pm CT | 42 D, 43 R Proportional | Closed |
| Tennessee Find Polling Place 7am - 7pm CT | 76 D, 58 R Proportional | Open |
| Texas Find Polling Place 7am to 7pm CT | 252 D, 155 R Proportional | Open |
| Vermont Find Polling Place Opens between 5am and 10am depending on town All Vermont polls closed by 7pm ET | 26 D, 16 R Proportional | Open |
| Virginia Find Polling Place 6am to 7pm ET | 110 D, 49 R Proportional | Open |
| Wyoming Republican Caucus Find Caucus Location Hours vary by location | 29 | Closed |
The History of “Super Tuesday”
“Super Tuesday was basically designed to nationalize the message, to try to reduce the influence of the so-called ‘Iowa syndrome,'” Virginia senator Chuck Robb told Robert MacNeil in an interview on “NewsHour” following the first Super Tuesday in 1988. Robb, one of the architects of the original mass-primary plan, was looking to offset a lot of the retail politics that come from spread-out primaries. Iowa is one of the first local nominating contests every four years and holds a lot of political influence.
Super Tuesday was meant to be a sink-or-swim boot camp for campaigns to determine if they could run a tight race on national issues in a manner that would be required of a candidate once he reached the White House. Super Tuesday was intended to bring out the wholesale politics that affect everyone in the United States: foreign policy, war and the economy.
Due to the consequential nature of Super Tuesday and the number of state delegates involved, many states over the years have moved their primary dates to become part of the nationwide primary and give their voters a voice earlier in the process.