10/8/2015 Important dates in the 2016 presidential race - Ballotpedia PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS THE ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE This page tracks important dates throughout the 2016 presidential election cycle, including primaries, caucuses and conventions, filing deadlines and campaign finance reporting Contents [show] deadlines. Candidate registration and financial disclosure Federal candidacy registration The Federal Election Commission (FEC) requires those running for the U.S. House,Senate or presidency to file a Statement of Candidacy form within 15 days raising the first 55,000 in campaign funding. The Statement of Candidacy form allows a candidate's campaign committee to engage in fundraising and spending of the campaign funds. Within 10 days of the Statement of Candidacy submission, the Statement of Organization form must be submitted to the FEC.I1) Campaign finance disclosures Presidential candidates, like Congressional candidates, must file regular campaign finance disclosure reports, depending on the extent of the committee's fundraising. If the committee has raised or anticipates raising or spending a total of $100,000 by the end of a calendar year, the committee will file monthly campaign finance reports in the following year. If the committee does not raise, spend or anticipate raising or spending that much, they must only file quarterly reports to the FEC.'2' Important campaign dates _ Iowa caucus The Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee chose to tentatively hoid the Iowa caucus on February 1, 2016.'3' New Hampshire primary The DNC's proposed date for the New Hampshire primary was February 9, 2016.13' Democratic National Convention See a/so: Democratic National Convention, 2016 Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee {DNC), announced on February 12, 2015, that Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will host the Convention during the week of July 25, 2016. M According to the National Journal, the initial list of possible host cities for the DNC were Birmingham, Alabama, Brooklyn,New York, Columbus, Ohio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Phoenix, Arizona.I5' Republican National Convention See also: Republican National Convention, 2016 The Republican National Committee (RNC) will hold the 2016 convention on July 18-21, 2016. "The convention will be held significantly earlier than previous election cycles, allowing access to crucial general election funds earlier than ever before to give our nominee a strong advantage heading into Election Day," Priebus said.'6' 2016 Presidential Election General Election Date Novembers, 2016 Declared candidates 0$ Democratic Lincoln Chafee ■ Hillary Clinton 'Lawrence Lessig ■ Martin O'Malley -Bernie Sanders • Jim Webb Democratic Convention Democratic Primary fkf Republican Job B jsh • Ben Carson • Chris Christie 'Ted Cruz • Carly Fiorina • Jim Gilmore -Lindsey Graham ■ Mike Huckabee -Bobby Jindal • John Kasich • George Pataki • Rand Paul • Marco Rubio • Rick Santorum • Donald Trump Republican Convention Republican Primary 2016 election coverage Presidential debates • Important campaign dates ■ Polling ■ Candidates -Ratings and scorecards • Straw polls -Election by state State primary dates data:text/html;charset=utf-8,%3Cdiv%20class%3D 1/1 KV8/2015 Important dates in the 2016 presidential race- Ballolpedia State primary dates Presidential Primary and Caucus Dates, By State [hide] State Date Filing Deadline Primary/Caucus Primary Type Iowa February 1, 2016 Caucus Closed New Hampshire February 9, 2016 November 27, 2015 Primary Mixed Nevada February 20, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed South Carolina February 20, 2016 September 30, 2015 Republican Primary Open Nevada February 23, 2016 December 18, 2015 Republican Caucus Closed South Carolina February 27, 2016 December 7, 2015 Democratic Primary Open Alabama March 1, 2016 January 6, 2016 Primary Open Alaska March 1, 2016 February 1, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed American Samoa March 1, 2016 Democratic Caucus Open Arkansas March 1, 2016 November 9, 2015 Primary Open Colorado March 1, 2016 January 9, 2016 Caucus Closed Georgia March 1, 2016 January 2, 2016 Primary Open Massachusetts March 1, 2016 January 2, 2016 Primary Mixed Minnesota March 1, 2016 Caucus Open North Dakota March 1, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed Oklahoma March 1, 2016 December 2, 2015 Primary Closed Tennessee March 1, 2016 December 1, 2015 Primary Open Texas March 1, 2016 November 10, 2015 Primary Open Vermont March 1, 2016 January 4, 2016 Primary Open Virginia March 1, 2016 December 17, 2015 Primary Open Wyoming March 1, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed Kentucky March 5, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed Kansas March 5, 2016 January 30, 2016 Caucus Closed Louisiana March5, 2016 November 20, 2015 Primary Closed Maine March 5, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed Nebraska March 5, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed Washington March 5, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed Maine March 6, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed American Samoa March 8, 2016 Republican Caucus Open Hawaii March 8, 2016 February 16, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed Idaho March 8, 2016 Republican Primary Closed data:text/html;charset=utf-8,%Xh3%20style%3D%22color%3A%20rgb(0%2C%200%2C 1/3 10/8/2015 Important dates in the 2016 presidential race - Ballotpedia Michigan March 8, 2016 December 20, 2015 Primary Closed Mississippi March 8, 2016 January 9, 2016 Primary Open Guam March 12, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed Northern Marianas March 12, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed Virgin Islands March 12, 2016 Republican Caucus Open Puerto Rico March 13, 2016 Primary Open Florida March 15, 2016 December 15, 2015 Primary Closed Illinois March 15, 2016 November 30, 2015 Primary Open Missouri March 15, 2016 December 30, 2015 Primary Open North Carolina March 15, 2016 December 29, 2015 Primary Mixed Northern Marianas March 15, 2016 Republican Caucus Closed Ohio March 15, 2016 January 2, 2016 Primary Mixed Arizona March 22, 2016 February 3, 2016 Primary Open Idaho March 22, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed Utah March 22, 2016 Caucus Closed Alaska March 26, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed Hawaii March 26, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed Washington March 26, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed Wisconsin April 5, 2016 February 2, 2016 Primary Open Wyoming April 9, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed New York April 19, 2016 March 1, 2016 Primary Closed Connecticut April 26,2016 March 7, 2016 Primary Closed Delaware April 26, 2016 February 26, 2016 Primary Closed Maryland April 26, 2016 February 3, 2016 Primary Closed Pennsylvania April 26, 2016 February 16, 2016 Primary Closed Rhode Island April 26, 2016 January 23, 2016 Primary Mixed Indiana May 3, 2016 February 5, 2016 Primary Open Guam May 7, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed Nebraska May 10, 2016 February 25, 2016 Republican Primary Closed West Virginia May 10, 2016 January 30, 2016 Primary Mixed Kentucky May 17, 2016 January 26, 2016 Primary Closed Oregon May 17, 2016 March 8, 2016 Primary Closed Puerto Rico June 5, 2016 Democratic Caucus Open Virgin Islands June 5, 2016 Democratic Caucus Open California June 7, 2016 March 25, 2016 Primary Closed Montana June 7, 2016 March 7, 2016 Primary Open data:textmtml;charset=utf-8,%3Cr^^ 2/3 10/8/2015 Important dates in the 2016 presidential race - Ballotpedia New Jersey June 7, 2016 April 4, 2016 Primary Mixed New Mexico June 7, 2016 March 17, 2016 Primary Closed North Dakota June 7, 2016 Democratic Caucus Closed South Dakota June 7, 2016 March 29, 2016 Primary Closed District of Columbia June 14, 2016 March 15, 2016 Primary Closed Presidential Primary dates are still being determined. The dates listed are subject to change. 10/3/2015 Important dates in the 2016 presidential race • Ballotpedia Committee strategies_ Republican National Committee Primaries The RNC overhauled some of its rules leading into the 2016 presidential primary following what party leaders and strategists saw as a primary campaign that lasted too long, lowering 2012 candidate Mitt Romney's chances of winning in the general election. The committee voted in January 2014, by a vote of 153-9, to move the convention from the end of August, when it was held last year, to as much as two months earlier at the end of June. The 2016 convention will be held July 18-21, 2016. In order to accomplish such a change, new penalties were introduced to encourage states to hold their campaign events earlier in the year. Additionally, the system of awarding delegates in primaries was changed for primaries held before March 14, 2016. The new rules stated that no primary held before March 14 could award delegates based on the "winner-take-all" system, instead the delegates were to be distributed in proportion to each candidate's support in order to stop any candidate from essentially winning the nomination in early March 2016. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus explained the reasoning, stating, "We have been saying for months that we were no longer going to sit around and allow ourselves to slice and dice our nominee for six months."!7^ Debates Another strategy implemented by the RNC was lowering the number of primary debates from the 20 that took place in 2012. Those familiar with the discussions claimed the new number of Republican debates would be between six and ten, with the intention of having each of the major television networks carry at least one of the debates. The RNC also discussed the idea of adding conservatives to the panels of moderators, potentially resulting in less fiery debates with easier questions, an idea that the networks were open to working with. The final change to debates was aimed at discouraging non-sanctioned debates, by barring candidates participating in them from being a part of the sanctioned debates. While big name candidates would not likely be impacted by the change, it would potentially make it harder for lesser known candidates to break through.t9' data:textfhtml;charset=utf-8,%3Ch3%20style%3D%22color%^ 3/3 10/8/2015 Important dates in the 2016 presidential race - Ballotpedia References______ 1. | Federal Election Commission, "Quick Answers to Candidate Questions," accessed June 12, 2014 2. | Federal Election Commission, "FEC Record: Reporting," accessed June 12, 2014 3 | 3.0 3.1 p0ntjCOi "QNC proposes 2016 Iowa caucus date," May 2, 2014 4. f Yahoo News, "Democrats settle on Philadelphia as site of 2016 convention," February 12, 2015 5. | National Journal, "Handicapping the Democratic Convention Sites for 2016," July 25, 2014 6. t Cleveland.com, "Dates set for Republican National Convention in Cleveland; 4-day event will run July 18-21," January 14, 2015 7. t Politico, "Republican National Committee easily passes 2016 calendar tweaks," January 24, 2014 8. t Politico, "Republicans brace for 2016 free-for-all," October 7, 2014 9. t Politico, "RNC clamps down on 2016 primary debates," May 9, 2014 data:text/html;charset=utf-8,%3Ch2%^^ 1/1