Laurent Kretz

Update: Check the paradox of the number of delegates per State.

In my ongoing discovery of the fantastic(ally strange, complex and obscure) US election process, which I share here for the ones (there must be some … ?) who are as lost as I am, here is an update on my understanding of the process.

I was watching I Am Legend yesterday evening with my friend Olivier, and while having a drink before the movie, I explained what I understood so far. And then he asked me what the result of the primaries consists of ? So here I am !

So far I know that ….
- Primaries and Caucuses are held in the first quarter to determine which candidate should represent the major political parties, the democrats and the republicans.
- On the election day, the people vote for Presidential Electors representing a candidate or a party. The electoral college, consisting of the elected presidential electors, will cast the final votes in December for the President and vice president.
- The Presidential Electors are not legally bound to voting for the candidate they committed to vote for on the election day.
- The number of electors for each state is equal to the number of Representatives and Senators in the US Congress.

What I read today is that:
- Primaries aim, in each state, at selecting delegates that will then select the candidate representing their party at the election in November.
- State delegates will select the candidate representing their party at the party’s Convention or State’s Convention.
- In nearly all states, some or all the delegates are legally bound to vote for the candidate they pledged to vote for. Nearly. Some or all. …
- There are three types of primaries, defining who can vote. A closed primary only allows voters registered with a specific party to vote for this party primary. A semi-closed primary allows voters non registered with a party to choose a primary. Open primaries allow voters to vote for any primary, not taking into account the party they registered for.

So in summary and in brief, each primary consists in voting for delegates of a candidate, who will then vote for the aforementioned candidate during the party’s convention. The elected candidate, of each party, will then be running for president.

Trick question now: how many delegates per state ?
Well, it seems impossible to find a simple answer …

There are 4,049 democratic delegates in total, and 2,488 republican delegates. Each party has its own rules, and there are country and state conventions, bonus delegates, the last results from each state at the national election are weighed in, size of the population, size of the registered party voters, …. It’s a real headache to calculate the figures !

To find out how they are divided per state, I would first look here:
The Democratic party Charter and ByLaws
The Democratic convention Delegate Selection Rules
The Repubilican party rules, Rule #13
The Republican Source, Convention Rules

Bottom line so far, until the Conventions of each party, we have no clue to foresee which candidate will run for president on each side. And there are SO MANY LAYERS between a citizen and an elected president that we really can wonder about the representativeness of the elected “leader of the free world” …

Good luck !

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