2016 Alabama Primary

The 2016 Alabama Primary is part of the Super Tuesday lineup on March 1. I’ll be updating the results here on election night as the returns come in. On this page, you’ll also find information on how on many delegates are at stake and how each party awards them.

Primary Type
The Alabama primary is open. All voters may choose either a Democratic or Republican ballot.

Delegate Award MethodologyDemocrats
Pledged delegates (53) are awarded proportionally based on statewide and district level vote totals. A 15% threshold is in place for all delegates. This means that a candidate must win at least 15% of the vote in a district or statewide election to be eligible for any delegates. Alabama is also allocated 7 superdelegates which are not pledged based on the primary outcome.

Republicans
All Alabama delegates (50) are awarded in the Republican primary. The GOP utilizes a “winner-take-most” system for awarding delegates. Three delegates are awarded in each congressional district (21 total), and 29 at-large delegates are awarded based on the statewide results.

District level delegates are awarded as follows.

If a candidate earns more than 50% of the vote or if only one candidate earns more than 20% of the vote, then that candidate is awarded all three the district delegates.

If no one gets more than 50% of the vote in a district, and more than one candidate receives 20% or more, then the first place finisher is awarded two delegates and the second place finisher gets one delegate.

If no one receives 20% of the vote in a district, then the delegates are awarded proportionally to all candidates.

Statewide delegates are awarded as follows.

If a candidate earns more than 50% of the vote or if only one candidate earns more than 20% of the vote, then that candidate is awarded all 29 at-large delegates.

If no one gets more than 50% of the vote statewide, and more than one candidate receives 20% or more, then the 29 at-large delegates are given proportionally to all candidates who receive at least 20% of the statewide vote.

If no one receives 20% of the statewide vote, then the 29 at-large delegates are awarded proportionally to all candidates.