Everything you need to know about Super Tuesday, one of the most important dates on the political calendar

Super Tuesday is one of the most important days in American politics. It is the day in which the most states have primaries. This year, Super Tuesday will take place on March 5. Fifteen states and one territory will hold elections.

These are the states that will have elections for this Super Tuesday: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia. The remaining territory is American Samoa.

Different states, different rules

For primaries, each state has its rules about who can vote. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, these are the five categories of primary elections: closed, partially closed, open to unaffiliated voters, partially open and open.

On this Super Tuesday, six states have open elections, which means that all registered voters, regardless of their political affiliation, can participate in the Republican and Democratic primaries. Those states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Minnesota, Texas, Vermont and Virginia.

None of the states participating in this Super Tuesday have closed elections, which require voters to be registered with the party in order to vote.

A not-so-exciting Super Tuesday?

Super Tuesdays are often exciting for those who follow American politics because, after the primaries in a couple of key states, it is typically the date where the results and possible trends that have been drawn in the early primaries like Iowa and New Hampshire are confirmed or refuted. Additionally, questions asked of voters in each Super Tuesday state reveal key data about the most important concerns within each party.

However, in 2024, it is almost certain that the winners from the two parties will be President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. The possibility of Nikki Haley winning even one of the contested states is almost non-existent. This certainly makes this Super Tuesday less exciting compared previous years where one or both races were more hotly contested.

However, the results of these 15 states, and seeing just how big Donald Trump's advantage is over Haley, remain very important issues in race to the White House.

The primaries that could end Haley's campaign

Despite going from defeat to defeat, the former ambassador to the United Nations has yet to withdraw from the race for the Republican nomination. Even after losing the primary in South Carolina, her home state, by 20 points, Haley assured that she would continue and will not miss Super Tuesday.

However, unless an absolutely unexpected event occurs and she achieves an important victory on Super Tuesday, March 5 could be the date that Haley finally admits that she has no chance of being the Republican nominee in 2024.

But perhaps the race is not completely over for Haley, given that her spirit seems to remain intact despite the defeats and, even more importantly, she continues to receive donations. Among her supporters, more and more voices are suggesting that she may take a path as an independent candidate.