Chilton County voters will have the opportunity on March 1 to vote in the Democrat and Republican primary elections.

Upon voting for their presidential candidate, they will also vote for contested delegates for both parties.

Elected Republican delegates are committed to their presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention unless their presidential candidate releases them to vote for another presidential candidate, according to Alabama Republican Party Vice Chair of Congressional District 6 Renee Powers, who is running as a delegate under Ben Carson Place 4.

The Democrat National Convention will be held on July 25 in Philadelphia, Pa., and the Republican National Convention will be held July 18-21 in Cleveland, Ohio.

The ballot and the Alabama Republican Party rules state an individual must align their delegate vote with their presidential candidate vote; however, the voter machines are not capable of separating the votes, according to Powers.

An individual could vote in all contested delegate races, Powers said.

“It would seem to me this would be very wise, since it is possible we will have a ‘brokered’ or ‘contested’ convention with more than one presidential candidate going into the Republican National Convention.”

Powers said, “If that is the case, then the pool of delegates elected to represent Alabama Republicans could decide at the Republican National Convention who the Republican presidential nominee would be. Careful selection of contested delegates who represent your principles and values is important in the election process.”

Alabama Republican Party has a proportional delegate system, meaning that Republican presidential candidates garnishing 20 percent plus of Alabama Republican voters will carry proportionally a number of delegates to the Republican National Convention.

The names of unopposed delegates will not appear on the March 1 ballot.

The three candidates running from Chilton County as Republican delegates are Powers, who is running under Ben Carson Place 4; Kay Fox, who is running under Marco Rubio Place 6; and Alex Fox, who is running under Carson Place 3.

According to the Democrat ballot, voters can vote for no more than four female and no more than four male delegates committed to the presidential candidate individuals voted for at the top of the ballot, or no more than four females and four males who are running uncommitted if individuals voted uncommitted at the top of the ballot.

Votes for Democrat delegate candidates pledged to someone other than the voter’s choice for president are not allowed under Democrat party rules and according to the ballot.

Secretary for the Chilton County Democratic Party Barbara Schultz said there are no local individuals running as delegates on the Democratic ballot.

For a complete list of Republican and Democrat delegates running in the Primary Election, see Page 6A of today’s newspaper.