The Super Tuesday primaries are the largest voting day of the year in the United States aside from the November general election.
Voters in 16 states are choosing presidential nominees. Some states are also deciding who should run for governor, senator or district attorneys.
Party primaries, caucuses or presidential preference votes are being held in Alabama, American Samoa, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia.
Here’s the latest:
A TRANSGENDER CENTER, AND NOW A VOTING CENTER
LOS ANGELES — Voters trickled into the Connie Norman Transgender Empowerment Center on Tuesday as it served as a voting center for the first time, said Scottie Jeanette Madden, a director of the transgender advocacy group FLUX.
To mark the occasion, the center planned for a DJ and gave out water and snacks, essentially turning the act of voting into a party.
“Our community has emotional boundaries, not geographic boundaries,” Madden said. “You can now come to a place that is safe and affirming and vote, which might not be your local polling place.”
For many years, California residents were assigned to vote at polling places based on their home addresses. The state now lets people cast ballots at any voting center in their county, paving the way for voting at Connie Norman, named for a late AIDS and LGBTQ+ rights activist.
FOR IOWA DEMOCRATS, A BREAK FROM TRADITION
DES MOINES, Iowa — For Democrats in Iowa, this year’s Super Tuesday is a break from five decades of tradition in how the state gets its say in helping determine the presidential nominee.
For 2024, the state party had to reapproach its caucuses. They’re the one-night spectacle in which community members publicly signal their support for a candidate.
This year, Iowa Democrats have quietly filled in the bubble for President Joe Biden or one of his long-shot competitors and slipped the forms into the mailbox. More than 19,000 ballots were requested, according to the party, and roughly 13,000 had been received as of Tuesday morning.
National Democrats reshuffled the primary calendar to prioritize more diverse states than Iowa. The change pushed Iowa from its leadoff position and back to Super Tuesday.
ONLY MINOR WRINKLES IN THE HOUSTON AREA
HOUSTON — Elections in recent years in Texas’ most populous county have drawn attention because of problems ranging from paper ballot shortages to malfunctioning machines to long lines.
But Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth, whose office is now in charge of elections, says that so far on Super Tuesday, things generally have gone smoothly in the area, with problems in just a few places.
Those problems have been dealt with, Hudspeth said, and she’s now taking her “first deep breath for the day knowing that voters are voting, our polls are working, and we’ve been able to address everything.”
HALEY BACKER LIKES CANDIDATE’S ‘RESILIENCY’
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — “It’s time for a woman.”
That’s what Pam Hulstrand, 65, said as she cast her presidential primary ballot for Republican Nikki Haley in Eden Prairie, a Twin Cities suburb.
Haley, she said, is a new leader with experience and confidence.
But Hulstrand also said she’s prepared to vote for Republican front-runner Donald Trump in November if it comes to that. She said she voted for Joe Biden in 2020 but won’t do so again.
Hulstrand is holding out hope that Haley will win the nomination.
“The fact that she’s not giving up says a lot about her resiliency,” Hulstrand said.
Hulstrand, a minister, said she likes Haley’s stances on issues such as what’s taught in schools.
SAY WHAT? A CANDIDATE IS TOLD SHE ALREADY VOTED
HOUSTON — When the Houston area’s top prosecutor went to vote Tuesday, she was told she already had done so.
It took a bit of work, but the hiccup was soon resolved, and Kim Ogg was able to vote in the primary, in which she is seeking a third term.
Ogg says she was told that when her partner cast a ballot during early voting last week, it was mistakenly cast in Ogg’s name.
A county clerk says the mistake was fixed and Ogg got the go-ahead to vote.
BIDEN PREPS FOR THE STATE OF THE UNION
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden spent much of the run-up to Super Tuesday preparing for that OTHER big political event of the week: his annual State of the Union address.
Biden has been holed up at Camp David, the presidential retreat outside Washington, with some of his closest aides and outside advisers, according to a person familiar with the preparations. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss the president’s private preparations and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Among those with him: White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, senior adviser Anita Dunn, speechwriting director Vinay Reddy, counselor Steve Ricchetti, and Mike Donilon, a veteran Biden aide who recently moved from the White House to the campaign. Also on hand was the presidential historian Jon Meacham, a Biden favorite.
Others are participating virtually, according to the person familiar with the preparations.
The president returns to the White House later Tuesday. The address is scheduled for Thursday.
— Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim
TAYLOR TELLS SWIFTIES TO GET OUT AND VOTE
NEW YORK — Taylor Swift has not announced an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race. But the influential pop superstar is encouraging people to get out and vote.
In a post Tuesday on Instagram, Swift reminded her vast army of followers that the presidential primary is being held in Tennessee, where Swift lives, and elsewhere.
She wrote, “I wanted to remind you guys to vote the people who most represent YOU into power. If you haven’t already, make a plan to vote today.”
Swift endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2020 and backed Democratic candidates in Tennessee in 2018 after breaking her longstanding refusal to discuss her political views.
