You are a seasoned, Democratic political operative, with extensive experience managing state and local campaigns in Rhode Island. You are approached by wealthy, female entrepreneur with no political e

Nothing could be simpler, right?

Dream on!

In Rhode Island, and all across America, the presidential primary system was designed to be anything but simple. From the ballots to the way votes are counted to how delegates are allocated to each candidate, complexity abounds.

The rules aren’t even the same for the Republicans and the Democrats.

In general, though, the ballot for each party will contain the names of four candidates, plus the names of a slew of delegate candidates, broken down by the presidential candidate with whom they are aligned. Voters select the name of a presidential candidate in the first part of the ballot, plus one or more delegates for the candidate they marked in the first part. The vote for presidential candidates will determine how many delegates each candidate gets. The votes for delegate candidates will determine which specific delegates go to the national convention.

Why four presidential candidates on each ballot?

Th e R .I . P re sid en tia l P rim ary : A h ea d - sc ra tc h in g d ele g ate g am e For the Democrats, there are two major candidates, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, plus two minor candidates. For the Republicans, there are the candidates still in the race — Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich — plus one who has already dropped out, Marco Rubio.

Ballots for each party also include a line where voters can select delegates who are not committed to a candidate and a line for write-ins.

So, how does delegate selection work? It varies by party:

Democrats Rhode Island Democrats will send 33 delegates to their national convention in Philadelphia in July. They’ll also send two alternates, which we’ll overlook for the sake of simplicity.

Only 15 of those 33 delegates will be chosen by the voters in Tuesday’s primary.

Another nine will be chosen by the state Democratic Party at its state convention in June. The final nine are superdelegates, party officials and officeholders who get to go to Philadelphia by virtue of the offices they hold: four members of the Democratic National Committee from Rhode Island, the two U.S. senators, the two U.S. representatives and the governor.

That makes it theoretically possible for a Democratic candidate to get 100 percent of the votes Tuesday, but lose Rhode Island 18 delegates to 15.

The 15 chosen Tuesday are not selected statewide, but by Congressional District.

District 1, represented in Congress by David N. Cicilline, will choose eight delegates, and District 2, represented by Jim Langevin, will choose seven. The numbers are based on population and turnout in past elections.

Within each district, delegates will be awarded in proportion to the votes for each candidate.

After selecting a presidential candidate, voters will be asked to choose delegate candidates; eight in District 1 and seven in District 2.

Republicans Rhode Island Republicans have an arguably simpler system, but not by a whole lot.

Rhode Island will send 19 delegates to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July. Rhode Island Republicans will also have 16 alternates.

Of the 19 delegates, 16 will be chosen by voters on Tuesday. The three others are members of the Republican National Committee from Rhode Island.

Unlike the Democrats, Republicans will use a hybrid system in selecting the 16 elected delegates. Ten will be chosen statewide, divided in proportion to the votes each candidate receives. Three will be chosen in Congressional District 1 and three in District 2, again divided in proportion to the votes each candidate receives in the district.

So while the Republican system is simpler, its ballot is more complicated.

In addition to choosing a presidential candidate, Republican voters will be asked to select two sets of delegate candidates: 10 statewide candidates and three within their Congressional District.

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