Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have leads in Tuesday’s New York Republican and Democratic primaries, but don’t tell Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz and John Kasich that.
While Trump is ahead by nearly 30 points, if polls are to be believed, and Clinton holds anywhere from 10 to 17 points, depending on whom you ask, Cruz and Sanders are still in the Empire State stumping for last-minute votes and hoping they can pull-off a New York upset.
Here’s a quick look at how the New York primaries work.
Who can vote?
Both the New York primaries are closed primaries -- meaning to vote in the Democrat primary you must be registered as a Democrat, and to vote in the Republican primary you must be registered as a Republican. There are 3.2 million New Yorkers registered with no party or registered with a minor one. They will not be voting Tuesday. You must have been registered by last October to vote in the primaries -- just ask Donald Trump's kids.
What time are the polling places open/closed?
In a few counties, polling places open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Elsewhere in the state, voting takes place from noon to 9 p.m.
What do the polls say?
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is holding anywhere from a 10 to 17-point lead over Bernie Sanders ahead of the New York Democratic primary, according to Real Clear Politics. There has been some narrowing in distance between the two Democratic candidate's polling numbers in the past few weeks.
On the Republican side, it has been all Donald Trump, all the time. According to Real Clear Politics, Trump's lead ranges from 23 to 34 points, depending on which poll you look out. The golden number for Trump is 50 percent – if he can get 50 percent plus one, he can get all 14 at-large delegates.
What will they win?
On the Democratic side, 247 delegates are at stake. On the Republican side, there are 95 delegates in play.
Here’s how the delegates are divided:
For Democrats, of the 247 delegates, 84 will be awarded proportionally based on the statewide vote, and 163 will be “pledged” delegates. Pledge delegates are awarded proportionally based on how many votes the candidates get within each of the state’s congressional districts. There are also 44 unpledged or “superdelegates” in New York.
>>What is a superdelegate, and what do they do?
For Republicans, of those 95 delegates, 81 are awarded to the person who wins in each of the state’s congressional districts. The other 14 delegates will go to any candidate who gets 50 percent plus one of the statewide vote. If no one gets 50 percent of the vote, then the 14 delegates will be divided between the other two candidates if their vote tops at least 20 percent of the total vote.
How many delegates do they need to win the nomination and how many delegates are left?
The number of delegates needed to win the Republican nomination is 1,237. As of Monday, there are 854 Republican delegates yet to be alloted.
A Democratic candidate needs 2,383 delegates to win the nomination. There are still 1,938 Democratic delegates to be alloted.
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