How did Super Tuesday get its name?

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In the United States’ election system, primaries are by each party to determine who their nominee for president will be. While the general election has some regulation from the federal government – like mandating that the election takes place on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November – primaries are well and truly governed by the state parties.

As such, parties will often jockey to have their state vote during strategically important times to try and maximize their influence on the presidential nomination process.

Enter Super Tuesday.

Why the day matters is simple: over 30% of the delegates that are available to win will be up for grabs on a single day. Primary campaigns often live and die off of Super Tuesday.

Prior to this recent trend, “Super Tuesday” used to refer to the last Tuesday of the election cycle, when big states like California were in play. However, since 2008, in an effort by parties to avoid politically bloody and costly primary elections, more and more states started frontloading their election dates in an effort to select a nominee early.