This past Tuesday, “Super Tuesday,” Florida, along with Illinois, North Carolina, and Missouri had their Democratic and Republican presidential primary races.

The primary elections occur before the general election. The purpose of the primary elections is for contenders to gain support from delegates to earn the nomination to represent their party in the general election.

Democrat and Republican candidates have to win a different number of delegates. Republicans need 1,237 delegates to win the majority, and Democrats need 2,383 for their majority. Florida, in particular is a very important state for these candidates to win. This is because Florida has a large population, which means we have a lot of delegates.There are 99 Republican delegates, and 214 Democratic delegates.

The results of the Primary in Florida were as following:

Democrats:

• Clinton: 64.5%
• Sanders: 33.3%

Republicans:

• Trump: 45.8%
• Rubio: 27.0%
• Cruz: 17.1%
• Kasich: 6.8%

Trump won the republican primary and Clinton won the democratic primary.

This win for Trump gives him a total of 621 delegates, supplying him with half of the required amount to win the nomination. Cruz, is behind Trump with 168 delegates. On the Democrat side, Clinton has 1,147 pledged delegates, and Sanders has 830.

After the Florida results were released, Marco Rubio, a Florida Senator announced that he will be suspending his campaign.

Some in the ODA community were able to participate in political decisions for the first time ever. Many seniors were able to vote.

“I registered as a Republican, and since Florida is a closed primary, I could only vote for a Republican. I was glad I could vote against Trump,” says senior Ben Martin.

“I’m happy I got to vote because it was a chance for me to make my say politically for the first time. I felt more involved in current events and politics, and was just a fun first sense of empowerment as an American citizen,” adds on senior Joey Coco.

In addition to the seniors that could vote in the Primaries, some juniors will be eligible to vote in the general election.

“It’s cool that I’ll be able to vote because it makes me feel like I make a difference in society,” says junior Savannah Alario.

However, some juniors missed the cutoff by close margins.

“It’s just so frustrating that I’m missing the cut off by like two weeks. I make an effort to educate myself in politics and I feel like I should have a chance to have a say in who will be the next president,” says junior McCabe Ballance.

“I wish I could vote because I understand politics and I’ve formed an opinion, and it’s frustrating that I can’t vote. Meanwhile some of my friends who know nothing about politics can vote,” explains junior Sasha Brun-Wibaux.

Whether you can vote in November or not, staying informed about what is going on in politics this year is important. Because of the unusual candidates, 2016 will be one of the most memorable elections in United States history.