On the ballot for Maryland’s primary election on May 14, in addition to the usual offices — U.S. president, U.S. senator, District 1 representative, possibly the local school board — are the candidates for delegates to your party’s national convention. Who are these people? What are their responsibilities if elected?

Convention delegates — usually local political leaders or party activists — are chosen at the state level, and each state has its own procedure for choosing them, subject to rules set by the national parties. We’ll look at the Maryland ballot, specifically District 1 — which includes the Eastern Shore — then at some of the variations nationwide.

On the District 1 primary ballot, each party has a slate of delegates. The Democrats have six delegate slots and nine candidates; six are pledged to President Joe Biden and three are uncommitted. The Republican ballot has three delegate slots and six candidates, three each for Donald Trump and Nikki Haley. The Republicans also have three slots for alternate delegates, with six candidates — again equally divided between Trump and Haley supporters.

An additional wrinkle at the Democratic convention is the inclusion of “superdelegates” — typically elected officials or high-ranking party officials, who are chosen by the national party and make up about 16% of the total. They aren’t bound to a single candidate. Party rules adopted in 2020 bar superdelegates from voting on the first ballot unless one candidate is deemed to have an insurmountable lead. This rule gives the regularly elected delegates a chance to choose a candidate, based on the state primaries and party caucuses — which take the place of primaries in 13 states — if the voting appears close.

The GOP has not adopted the superdelegate model, but each state has three “automatic delegates,” who are members of that state’s Republican National Committee, including the state chairman.

The two parties have different systems to decide how many delegates the primary candidates receive. The Democrats allocate delegates proportionally to the candidates’ totals in the primary or caucus; a candidate must receive at least 15% of a state’s vote to be allocated a delegate. This rule applies to all Democratic primaries.

The Republicans’ system varies from state to state; some allocate delegates winner-take-all and others use a proportional method like the Democrats.

What does a delegate’s support of a specific candidate mean? In several states, delegates are required by law to support their candidate for a specified number of ballots. In states where that is not a requirement — Maryland is one — the Democratic party strongly encourages delegates to vote for the candidate to whom they’re pledged, at least on the first ballot.

Republican delegates are “bound” — in which case they are required by the party to vote for the winner of their state’s primary — or unbound and free to vote for anyone. The automatic delegates from every state are bound.

At the conventions this summer, the delegates will nominate their party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates, unless the nominees have already been selected by primary and caucus results prior to the convention; in that case, the actual vote will be a formality. The last time the choice of nominee took more than one ballot was 1952 for the Democrats. The candidate for vice president is typically chosen by the presidential candidate before the convention and is voted on by acclamation.

Delegates are different from Electoral College electors, who are appointed after the general election in November. The electors may or may not have served as delegates; it’s a completely different step in the election process.

If everything is decided at the primary/caucus level, what then, you may ask, is the point of the national conventions? Wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper just to pick a candidate based on the primaries?

Yes, but that overlooks the significant publicity splash from the conventions, which receive major media and press coverage. The convention is often the first chance for voters to see and hear the candidates, especially if they are not incumbents. And speeches and raucous celebrations on the convention floor generate enthusiasm, which the parties hope will spread to the general public.

A convention also showcases other political figures, some of whom may go on to run for major office. Barack Obama’s keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic convention is widely cited as the point at which he emerged into the national consciousness, setting the stage for his successful presidential campaigns.

In addition to selecting candidates for president and vice president, conventions adopt a party’s platform, which often reflects the priorities of the leading candidate, especially in the case of an incumbent. On the other hand, the platform can provoke considerable internal wrangling — at the 1996 Republican convention, for example, moderates unsuccessfully fought against a “Human Life Amendment” plank. In 2020, to avoid debates over policy that might split the party, the Republicans offered no platform at all beyond support for Donald Trump.

When you vote for convention delegates, you’re sending the winners to one of the nation’s most visible political events. The smoke-filled rooms may be gone, but the days of stirring speeches, energetic demonstrations in support of candidates, and national media exposure of the party’s personalities and principles are still with us. And delegates still have an important role to play in the formation of policy priorities.

In short, convention delegates are in for an experience of a lifetime. After all, it’s not every day they get to be on the main stage of history.

Peter Heck is a Chestertown-based writer and editor, who spent 10 years at the Kent County News and three more with the Chestertown Spy. He is the author of 10 novels and co-author of four plays, a book reviewer for Asimov’s and Kirkus Reviews, and an incorrigible guitarist.