INDIANA, NORTH CAROLINA, WASHINGTON, D.C., HOLD PRIMARIES TODAY

The Democratic and Republican presidential nominating races may seem to many voters to have already run their course, but the process continues with three more primary elections set to take place today.

The primaries, along with state political conventions and informal party caucus votes, are all part of the process of selecting delegates to the two major parties' national nominating conventions, which take place this summer.

The process will continue through the month of June.

At stake in today's voting in Indiana, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C., are 122 Republican and 178 Democratic nominating delegates.

That's about 4 percent of those expected to attend the Democratic National Convention in New York City beginning July 13, and nearly 6 percent of the total for the Republican National Convention convention opening Aug. 17 in Houston.

President Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton are expected to win easily in all three primaries. A recent Political/Media Research poll in Indiana showed Mr. Clinton defeating Jerry Brown by a margin of more than 3 to 1 and Mr. Bush rolling over Patrick Buchanan in the home state of the president's running mate, Vice President Dan Quayle.

Ohio was initially scheduled to hold a primary today but that contest was delayed until June 2 by a federal court in a dispute over how to update the boundary lines for the state's congressional districts in light of the latest census.