| At first, the party convention was more like a caucus, where a party’s politicians attended and voted for who would represent them. But people wanted more direct control over who was nominated, which led to the creation of the primary election system. This means that now the candidate that will represent the party is usually known by the time the Democratic and Republican conventions are held in the summer. So now the true purpose of the political convention is to align the party behind one vision for the coming election and eliminate any apparent divisions. A unified party is thought to have a better chance of getting their candidate into the White House. The members also hold an official vote for their candidate, to reinforce the original vote from the primaries. |