PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

DECISION 2008: PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY CANDIDATES

Presidential Preference Primary:

Voters in Pennsylvania have the opportunity to express their preference for a presidential nominee of their party. They may write in the name of their choice if it is not listed on the ballot. The results of this Presidential Preference Primary are not binding on any delegate to the national nominating conventions. The following names will appear on the Pennsylvania primary ballot. Mike Huckabee withdrew from the GOP presidential race after the ballot deadline in Pennsylvania.

DEMOCRATIC (Vote for one)

Barack Obama

Hillary Clinton

REPUBLICAN (Vote for one)

Ron Paul

John McCain

Mike Huckabee

Delegates to this summer’s national political conventions are elected at this time. The delegates choose the party’s nominees for president and vice president and write party platforms. Alternates have no vote unless they replace a delegate. Pennsylvania delegates — Republican and Democratic — are not bound by the results of the state’s Presidential Preference Primary.

Democratic candidates for delegate run as committed to a presidential candidate, and that information is on the ballot, including the name of the candidate to whom the delegate is committed. Democratic delegates are committed to a given delegate on the first convention ballot only and may be released by the candidate prior to that. Democratic voters may vote for any combination of delegates they choose. It does not have to coincide with their expression of preference for a presidential candidate. Delegates are elected as individuals, even if committed to a candidate, and no voter has to choose the entire slate of delegates for one candidate.

While Republican candidates for delegate may publicly express a preference for a particular presidential candidate, that information does not appear on the ballot, and they are not committed to vote for a particular candidate.