Maryland and Delaware play pivotal roles in upcoming primaries
Mark McIver, the chair of Wicomico County’s Republican Central Committee says, “I think both Delaware and Maryland will be players in the primary.”
McIver says in the past, primaries haven’t been a huge deal in states like Maryland and Delaware. This is because the primary winners were established before the elections got to the states.
McIver replies, “That was pretty much the case four years ago in the Republican primary. Mitt Romney pretty much had it wrapped up before Maryland got to vote, but this year as everyone knows, this is a whole different story.”
Delaware has 31 Democratic and 16 Republican delegates. Delaware is also a winner takes all state which means the candidate who wins the primary election will be awarded the delegates.
Maryland has 118 Democratic and 38 Republican delegates. Right now, none of the presidential hopefuls have hit what McIver calls the “magic number.”
He continues, “Every vote is going to count this primary cycle.”
Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, or John Kasich has to get 1,237 delegates to get the nomination. Trump is leading with the pack with 739 delegates. Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders need to get 2,383 delegates for the nomination. Clinton is leading with 1,712.
However, both Delaware and Maryland have closed primaries. A closed primary means you have to be either a registered Democrat or Republican to vote. You can only vote for the person affiliated with the party you’re registered.
If you’re an unaffiliated voter, you can’t participate. McIver says Maryland has a lot of those. He goes on, “I think the primary reason is they have been in the past frustrated with both parties. They’re saying ‘well I’m not going to register either party, I’m going to register unaffiliated.’ The bad side of that is now you can’t participate in the primary process.”
However, McIver says now is the chance, in Maryland at least. The deadline to declare a party is April 5th. Although the date to do that in Delaware has passed, McIver is still encouraging voters to at least participate in the general election.
47 ABC spent time in Delaware and Maryland Monday afternoon and asker voters who they would like to see win the primary in their state.
Dave Mumford says, “Hillary Clinton because I think she’s got more experience in the government.”
Yvonne Parks says, “Donald Trump just because I’m ready for something different.”
Marietta Robbins says, “Kasich over the others, it’s just my personal preference.”
Tysha says, “Vote for Bernie. He’s for the people.”
Polly Pusey says, “I haven’t made up my mind, but I know it probably won’t be Trump.”
The primaries in both Maryland and Delaware are April 26th.
