MOSCOW, March 4, Renat Abdullin. Tomorrow is one of the most important events of the American presidential campaign, the so-called Super Tuesday. The primaries on this day practically determine the finalists of the November presidential elections. About how everything works there — in the material.
Why Tuesday? This is how it happened historically. In November, voting will also take place on Tuesdays.
A man watches the counting of votes in the US elections
< br>According to one version, the tradition is connected with the fact that one hundred or two hundred years ago farmers did not make it to their plots on weekends. So they moved it up a couple of days.
Active voters note: there is not a single compelling reason to vote on Tuesday. Moreover, this has a negative impact on turnout: on average, only 47 percent — noticeably less than in countries where elections are held on weekends.
Primaries and caucuses in the United States have been going on for several months. But on Super Tuesday they take place simultaneously in 15 states. Taking into account the already available results, after March 5, the favorites of the race will be determined. Hence the prefix “super”.
What happens in the primaries? The American electoral system is constantly criticized, including within the country. Unlike most democracies, the United States does not have direct elections. In primaries, people vote for the party's candidate. But the result is not their votes at all, but the number of delegates that this or that politician will receive from this state.
For example, in the recent primaries in South Carolina, Nikki Haley was supported by almost 300 thousand people, Donald Trump — about 450 thousand . Nevertheless, she has only three delegates, and he has 47. Biden, who received only 126 thousand votes in this state, has 55.
US President Joe Biden 
The number of electors in the main American parties varies and is distributed across states (and internal districts ) is proportional to the population. The main task of the campaign is participation in party conventions (congresses). Both Democrats and Republicans will have these events in the summer. Delegates will then come together to approve the party's nominee.
Although all participants in the presidential race are usually called candidates, in fact they are not candidates before the conventions. Now there is a fight for the nomination. But the nominee is the final and only candidate from the party for the post of head of state.
What's at stake? For a Republican nomination, 1,215 party delegates are needed. The Democrats have more complicated rules, the qualification limit is higher — 1968. On Super Tuesday, both parties compete for about a third of the delegates. Hence the close attention.
Republicans are betting on Donald Trump. He has six times as many delegates as Haley on Super Tuesday. In the primaries in Nevada, she completely lost in the “against everyone” column, gaining 33% (no one was supported by more than 60%). It's unlikely that Haley will pull out a victory on Super Tuesday. But if this happens, the entire course of the race will change.
Former US Ambassador to the UN and presidential candidate Nikki Haley
The Democrats' bench is essentially empty. All currently available delegates are with President Joe Biden. His opponent, Congressman Dean Phillips, has a zero result so far.
What after? The primaries will continue in the remaining states. Will end by the summer conventions.
These primaries say a lot about the mood of the population. Thus, in the same South Carolina, Trump was more than three times ahead of Biden. And this will certainly have an impact on the November elections.
The rest of the summer and the beginning of autumn is the decisive stage of the campaign. Both candidates know their main rival and can avoid being distracted by internal party competition.
How will the elections take place in November? The scheme is quite confusing. In November, Americans will vote for electors. They become authoritative public figures and politicians.
A man in pants in the colors of the US flag at a polling station in Los Angeles
This is also a tribute to tradition: when the population was illiterate, it was precisely such people who could protect the system from random figures and excessive populism. Another reason: previously it was difficult to inform voters about the vote in a timely manner and they, in fact, delegated their vote.
There are 538 electors in total. There are as many representatives from each state as there are representatives in Congress (535). Plus three from DC. To win, you need a simple majority: 50% + one vote, that is, at least 270.
An important nuance: the candidate gets not individual electors, but an entire state. And even if 49.9% are for the Republican, their votes will still go to the Democrat.
Is this fair? In the end, the one who has, strictly speaking, less public support can win. More than 65 million Americans voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, but that only produced 227 electors. For Trump — 63 million, and he got 304 electors.
Citizens in Times Square in New York at screens with preliminary results of the vote count in the US presidential election. 2016 
The same thing happened in 1876 (Rutherford Hayes won), 1888 ( Benjamin Harrison), 2000 (George W. Bush; all three are Republicans). After the November elections, Americans wait another 40 days. On the 41st, electors “attached to the candidate” vote.
Theoretically, they can speak out against it, violating party discipline. In 1860, four members of the Democratic Party supported the Republican Abraham Lincoln. This, however, did not affect the outcome: Democrat Stephen Douglas would have lost anyway. But it will become clear who will become the new US president only in December.