As the 2016 primary season comes to a close, I am disheartened by the actions of this nation and am becoming less optimistic about the next coming years. Fear not, this is not an article created to get you heated about one candidate over the other, but is an article written to shine light on our current voting system.

This year is the first general election that I am eligible to vote for and surprisingly has lead me on a path to work (fingers crossed) in our nation's capitol. Before this year, I had no idea what the primary season was, but now I understand that the primary season is arguably more important than the general election.

Democrats and Republicans choose their nominees a little differently. Without going into tremendous detail, let's break it down a little.

Democrats:

Via Politifact

On the Democratic side, we have contests which are called Caucuses and Primaries. All voting procedures are decided on by the state, which explains all the different procedures.

Caucuses describe a meeting of members of a particular political party within the state. At these meetings, there is discussion about candidates and then delegates are chosen to represent the interests of the outspoken members who show up for the meeting.

Primaries are similar to a general election voting procedure, as in, the voter goes into a designated voting area, chooses a candidate, and the state awards a percentage of votes to a certain number of delegates to represent the candidate at the national convention. Some states hold open primaries, meaning you can vote for either party, while some hold closed primaries, meaning you can only vote for the party you are registered to.

Republicans:

Via The New Yorker

On the Republican side, we have similar contests. Where they differ, however, is the choice of delegates. Instead of a percentage equaling a certain amount of delegates, the winner of the state takes all of the votes of the state to the national convention. However, the state does have the option of awarding a percentage of delegates as well.

So, Who are delegates?

Via Diffen

The point of these primary elections is to have fewer voices at the national convention. both sides have delegates, but the rules on how they operate are decided by the political party itself, not by Congress nor by the Constitution, explaining why they seem like they have their own rules; they do.

These delegates go on to attend each party's national convention, respectively, to formally nominate a candidate to represent the party. Because the contests run from state to state, we already know the nominees without waiting to hear from the conventions in July.

Both parties have, what are called, superdelegates, but as you've probably heard, they are only relevant to the Democratic party in 2016. These are members who may vote at the convention however they please.

One person, one vote?

Via NPR

So, you may understand my confusion now? On the Republican side, nominees are chosen by a winner-take-all system more often than not. As we saw a few months ago, this winner-take-all system caused candidates to drop early in the primary season and offer one candidate to gain momentum and finally take the nomination.

On the Democratic side, superdelegates exist. Recently, we saw Clinton take over 500 superdelegates, closing the gap between delegates, and solidifying her role as the presumptive nominee.

It seems to me as though one of the most important parts of the presidential race has been skewed. One person may still mean one vote, but hey, if you're in the minority, then you lose. What happened to equal representation? As a Democratic nation, we shouldn't let individuals rise to power so easily. If the gap between a winner and a loser is so close you could spit through it, I don't agree that it should be a unanimous decision without more deliberation.