“Super Tuesday 3” a crucial night for many candidates

Courtesy: Wiki Commons

By Lyndsay Monsen 3/15/2016

Courtesy: Wiki Commons

Courtesy: Wiki Commons

Today’s “Super Tuesday 3” contests may be the Republican party’s last chance to stop Donald Trump before he secures the GOP nomination.

Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio voters will all be heading out to the polls to vote in their state’s primary.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is expected to continue her sweep of the South by winning in both Florida and North Carolina, whereas Bernie Sanders is hoping to repeat his victory in Michigan with wins in similar states: Illinois, Missouri, and Ohio.

Florida and Ohio are both “winner-take-all” states, meaning that whichever candidate comes out on top in that state will receive all of the delegates.

These two states are crucial in Trump’s lock of the GOP nomination: if he wins them, it will be nearly secure. If he doesn’t, it looks like no candidate may end up reaching the 1,238 delegates necessary to secure it before the convention.

These contests, however, come after a weekend of vibrant Trump rallies, some of which turned violent. There was also a Democratic town hall Sunday night where both Sanders and Clinton accused Trump of inciting “political arson.”

All in all, there are 367 delegates up for grabs on the Republican side today and 691 for the Democrats.