Here's the lowdown on AZ's presidential preference election

Tuesday’s presidential preference election in Arizona is not a primary election.

The election will merely clarify for whom delegates to the Republican and Democratic national conventions will vote.

It’s a preliminary, nonbinding election, and the winner will not necessarily appear on the state’s November general election ballot, said Chris Roads, Pima County deputy recorder and registrar of voters.

For example, Hillary Clinton won the Democratic presidential preference in 2008, but Barack Obama’s name was on November’s general election ballot.

A primary election, on the other hand, winnows the field and nominates party candidates for a general election.

Arizona will hold its primary election Aug. 30. It will have congressional, local and other “down ballot” races, but will not include candidates for president or vice president.

Delegates are bound to vote for the presidential candidate selected during Tuesday’s preferential election in the first vote at the national conventions, Roads said. If there is not a nominee after the first vote, the delegates are free to vote for any candidate in subsequent balloting.

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The Democrats will use a proportional representation system based on the results of Tuesday’s preference election — so the delegates could be split among candidates. The GOP preference election is winner-take-all.

Arizona will send 85 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, and 58 delegates will go to the GOP National Convention. The delegates will be picked at the state party conventions next month. The congressional delegation and other party bigwigs have delegate slots at the national convention.

Even though some candidates who appear on the Arizona preference ballot have dropped out of the race, their names will be on the ballot. Go to the secretary of state’s website, azsos.gov, for more info on who is on the ballot.

If you’re a registered independent or “no party designated,” you must sit out this election.

The voter-approved Arizona open primary law, which allows indies and those who did not designate a party to select a party in the primary, did not include the presidential preference election.

The Republican National Convention is July 18-21 in Cleveland, and the Democrats convene July 25-28 in Philadelphia.