Delegates
The Delegate Winning Process:
Here's how to standardize the delegate winning process:
1) Each political party will designate the number of delegates (either 538 or 1,076 or 1,614, etc.) that it will use in its nomination process from a multiple of 538 (the number of electors to the Electoral College). Two possible approaches to the state apportionment of the delegates (or a combination of the two) could be used.* A simple majority of delegates (either 270 or 539 or 808, etc.) will win the party’s nomination.
2) There will be no super delegates or unbound delegates. All delegates are won by candidates based on the primary results for each state.
3) Instead of some states being winner take all, others proportional, and others by congressional district with no rhyme or reason across the states and calendar, delegates will be won in a purposeful and coordinated manner, as follows:
a) For the first 6 states, if one candidate wins a majority of the votes, that candidate wins all of the state’s delegates. If, however, the result is a plurality, the first place candidate receives 1/2 of the delegates, the second place candidate receives 1/3, and the third place candidate receives 1/6.** This likely enables multiple candidates to remain viable past the first six states.
b) For the next 12 states, if one candidate wins a majority of the votes, that candidate wins all of the state’s delegates. If, however, the result is a plurality, the first place candidate receives 2/3 of the delegates while the second place candidate receives 1/3.*** This will significantly narrow the field but leave room for a second (and possibly third) candidate to remain viable for a while longer.
c) For the remaining 32 states, whether majority or plurality, the first place candidate will win all of the state’s delegates. This puts pressure on the candidates to narrow the field down to the final two and makes it likely (though not guaranteed) that one of the candidates will achieve the simple majority of delegates needed to secure the nomination on the first ballot.
Making explicit what is implied above, states will not award subsets of delegates by gerrymandered congressional districts or any other means. Similar to what is almost uniformly done for the Electoral College, the total statewide results will be the basis for determination of the allocation of all delegates.
This process makes delegate math straightforward and transparent. There will be no confusion or contention about the actual count of delegates for any candidate at any point throughout the primaries.
* The apportionment of delegates among the states may be done by one of the following methods:
A) Each state (and D.C.) gets the number of delegates (or a multiple thereof) according to the number of electors it has in the Electoral College system.
B) Each state (and D.C.) gets its number of the 538 delegates (or the multiple thereof) based on a proportional distribution of the delegates according to a comparison of each state’s total number of voters who are registered for that party on January 1st.
C) Combination: The party assigns 538 delegates to the various states according to option A and an additional 538 delegates according to option B for a total of 1,076 delegates.
How a party chooses to apportion delegates among the states (using either option A, B or C) must be publicly announced by the party chairman on or before December 31st. If the party chooses option B or C, the official total number of delegates for each state must be publicly announced by the party chairman on or before January 31st. If the party does not meet either of these deadlines, it will revert to using 538 delegates under option A.
** Some states will not have delegate counts perfectly divisible by 6. Specific breakdowns of delegate awards in such cases are provided below:
First 6 states (when plurality)
Total First Second Third Total First Second Third
Delegates Place Place Place Delegates Place Place Place
1 1 0 0 37 19 12 6
2 1 1 0 38 19 13 6
3 1 1 1 39 19 13 7
4 2 1 1 40 20 13 7
5 2 2 1 41 20 14 7
6 3 2 1 42 21 14 7
7 4 2 1 43 22 14 7
8 4 3 1 44 22 15 7
9 4 3 2 45 22 15 8
10 5 3 2 46 23 15 8
11 5 4 2 47 23 16 8
12 6 4 2 48 24 16 8
13 7 4 2 49 25 16 8
14 7 5 2 50 25 17 8
15 7 5 3 51 25 17 9
16 8 5 3 52 26 17 9
17 8 6 3 53 26 18 9
18 9 6 3 54 27 18 9
19 10 6 3 55 28 18 9
20 10 7 3 56 28 19 9
21 10 7 4 57 28 19 10
22 11 7 4 58 29 19 10
23 11 8 4 59 29 20 10
24 12 8 4 60 30 20 10
25 13 8 4 61 31 20 10
26 13 9 4 62 31 21 10
27 13 9 5 63 31 21 11
28 14 9 5 64 32 21 11
29 14 10 5 65 32 22 11
30 15 10 5 66 33 22 11
31 16 10 5 67 34 22 11
32 16 11 5 68 34 23 11
33 16 11 6 69 34 23 12
34 17 11 6 70 35 23 12
35 17 12 6 71 35 24 12
36 18 12 6 72 36 24 12
*** Some states will not have delegate counts perfectly divisible by 3. Specific breakdowns of delegate awards in such cases are provided below:
Next 12 states (when plurality)
Total First Second Total First Second
Delegates Place Place Delegates Place Place
1 1 0 37 25 12
2 1 1 38 25 13
3 2 1 39 26 13
4 3 1 40 27 13
5 3 2 41 27 14
6 4 2 42 28 14
7 5 2 43 29 14
8 5 3 44 29 15
9 6 3 45 30 15
10 7 3 46 31 15
11 7 4 47 31 16
12 8 4 48 32 16
13 9 4 49 33 16
14 9 5 50 33 17
15 10 5 51 34 17
16 11 5 52 35 17
17 11 6 53 35 18
18 12 6 54 36 18
19 13 6 55 37 18
20 13 7 56 37 19
21 14 7 57 38 19
22 15 7 58 39 19
23 15 8 59 39 20
24 16 8 60 40 20
25 17 8 61 41 20
26 17 9 62 41 21
27 18 9 63 42 21
28 19 9 64 43 21
29 19 10 65 43 22
30 20 10 66 44 22
31 21 10 67 45 22
32 21 11 68 45 23
33 22 11 69 46 23
34 23 11 70 47 23
35 23 12 71 47 24
36 24 12 72 48 24