Delegates: Understanding the numbers and the rules
About4,051pledged
About712unpledged 2472delegates
Images from: https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_election,_2016
On the news I hear about super delegates and regular delegates and the number of delegates needed to win the conventions.
Where do these numbers come from and what do they mean?
We did some research and found that the numbers of delegates from each state to the national conventions are calculated in
complex ways.
Evidently there are two components to the number of delegates that a state receives.
• Population of the state and
• The loyalty percentages of the state's party preferences.
Republicans and Democratic conventions have different rules and very different sized conventions. There will be almost 5,000
delegates at the Democratic convention and only about 2,500 delegates at the Republican convention. These aren't the only two
major political parties in the United States that hold conventions. There is also the Green Party convention and the Libertarian
convention but the Democratic and Republican conventions are the largest and most closely followed.
The rules for how many delegates each state will send to the conventions are also calculated in different ways for the different
parties.
These are the Republican rules. See if you can calculate or identify their qualities and quantities.
Check these
boxes if this is a
population
component?
1.
3 delegates for each congressional district
2.
5 delegates for each US Senator
3.
4.
Check these
boxes if this is
a party loyalty
component?
3 automatic party delegates based on which party the state voted for in
the previous election and whether the state has a Republican governor,
Republican senators, or Republican controlled state legislature
Bonus delegates (none to 7) - awarded for states whose voting majority
voted for the Republican presidential candidate in the previous election
and for states who have Republican Senators, Congressman, Governors,
or State representatives
Delegate
number
State whether these
delegates are atlarge delegates or
committed delegates.
Committed
At-large
3
At-large
Varies by
state
Varies by State
So, for instance, in Massachusetts (where Yummymath is created), we have 9 congressional districts.
5.
What is our total number of congressional district Republican delegates in Massachusetts?
6.
Do you think that these Congressional district delegates represent the population of the state or the state's loyalty to the
Republican Party? Please explain and check off the appropriate box in the table above.
7.
Will each state have the same number of Republican Congressional district delegates? Please explain and give some
examples.
8.
What is Massachusetts' total number of Republican delegates assigned by the number of Massachusetts's Senators?
9.
How many Republican delegates will your state be assigned based on the number of Senators from your state?
10.
Does this number vary from state to state?
11.
Massachusetts has 42 Republican delegates. Do the numbers add up?
12.
How does your state add up for Republican delegates? Show and label all of the delegates that you can categorize.
13.
Florida has 99 Republican delegates assigned to go to the Republican Convention. About how many congressional districts
does Florida probably have? Please show your work.
The Democrat's delegation rules are different and, in my opinion, more elaborate. In general, these are the factors that contribute
to the number of pledged delegates for each state:
• The proportion of votes each state gave to the Democratic candidate in the last three presidential elections (2004, 2008, and 2012)
• The number of electoral votes each state has in the United States Electoral College.
Check these boxes if this is
a population component?
14.
15.
16.
Check these boxes if this is
a party loyalty component?
Proportion of Democratic votes averaged from
the previous 3 presidential elections.
Number of Electoral votes for each state from the
Electoral College.
Unpledged PLEO (party leaders and elected
officials) = # of democratic governors, senators,
representatives and distinguished party leaders
State whether these delegates
are pledged or not pledged.
Pledged
Pledged
Un-pledged
17. How many Democratic delegates will be sent to the convention from your state? Please label the category of delegates with
each number.
Currently there are 4,051 pledged delegates attending the Democratic convention in July. Of the 4,763 total Democratic delegates, 712 are super
delegates, which are usually Democratic members of Congress, governors, former Presidents, and other party leaders. They are not required to
indicate preference for a candidate but of course their votes will only be counted for Democratic candidates.
18. What percent of the Democratic convention's delegates appear to be unpledged and can vote for whichever candidate they
believe will make the best President? Show your calculations.
After the first votes in both the Republican (July 18 th through July 21 st ) and Democratic (July 25 th to July 28 th ) conventions, as the
results of the Convention votes become clear, candidates who are not in a possible winning position often instruct their delegates
to change their votes to a specific candidate. Then those pledged or committed delegates can vote for a different nominee than
the ones that they were pledged to vote for. If a majority of delegates isn't reached after the second vote then most states allow
their delegates to vote with their own conscience.
19. What number of delegate votes would represent a majority of Republican Delegates?
20. What number of delegate votes would represent a majority of Democratic Delegates?
21. Using the following chart or the maps from the beginning of this activity, create 3 somewhat mathematical questions that you
can bring to class tomorrow to further engage your class in understanding the delegate allotment rules.
State
Alabama
Alaska
Amer. Samoa
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
DC
Florida
Georgia
Guam
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
Republicans
District At large PLEO Bonus
21
10
3
16
3
10
3
12
6
3
27
10
3
18
12
10
3
15
159
10
3
21
10
3
3
15
10
3
3
10
3
16
3
81
10
3
5
42
10
3
21
6
3
6
10
3
6
10
3
13
54
10
3
2
27
10
3
17
12
10
3
5
12
10
3
15
18
10
3
14
18
10
3
15
6
10
3
4
24
10
3
1
27
10
3
2
42
10
3
4
24
10
3
1
12
10
3
14
24
10
3
15
3
10
3
11
9
10
3
14
12
10
3
5
6
10
3
4
36
10
3
2
Total
50
28
9
58
40
172
37
28
16
19
99
76
9
19
32
69
57
30
40
45
46
23
38
42
59
38
39
52
27
36
30
23
51
State
Alabama
Alaska
Amer. Samoa
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
DC
Florida
Georgia
Guam
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
Democrats
District At large PLEO Supers Total
34
11
7
6
58
9
3
2
4
18
6
4
10
41
14
8
12
75
21
7
4
5
37
264
88
53
71
476
42
14
8
13
77
33
11
7
14
65
11
4
2
10
27
11
4
2
20
37
135
45
27
31
238
64
21
13
14
112
6
5
11
14
5
3
9
31
13
4
3
4
24
104
35
21
30
190
46
15
9
9
79
30
10
6
8
54
22
7
4
4
37
31
10
6
6
53
35
12
7
7
61
17
5
3
5
30
51
17
10
27
105
62
21
12
26
121
87
29
17
19
152
51
17
10
16
94
23
8
5
5
41
49
16
10
13
88
10
3
2
7
22
17
6
3
5
31
20
7
4
8
39
16
5
3
8
32
72
24
14
16
126
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
N. Marianas
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virgin Islands
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Totals
9
81
39
3
48
15
15
54
6
21
3
27
108
12
3
33
30
9
24
3
1305
10
10
10
10
6
10
10
10
10
20
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
6
10
10
10
10
10
560
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
168
2
1
20
12
5
15
4
16
13
18
34
15
3
1
12
5
13
437
24
95
72
28
9
66
43
28
71
23
19
50
29
58
155
40
16
9
49
44
34
42
29
2470
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
N. Marianas
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virgin Islands
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Democrats Abroad
Unassigned
Totals
19
152
70
9
97
25
34
104
33
14
33
10
44
136
16
10
62
56
17
52
8
2436
6
51
23
3
6
32
8
11
35
11
5
11
3
15
45
5
3
6
21
19
6
17
3
12
4
30
14
2
847
486
19
5
7
21
7
3
7
2
9
27
3
2
12
11
3
10
2
1
9
44
13
5
5
17
4
12
21
7
9
6
5
9
29
4
8
5
17
16
9
10
4
4
1
714
38
277
120
19
11
165
42
64
181
58
31
57
20
77
237
28
23
11
112
102
35
89
17
17
1
4483
Democrats Abroad is part of the Democratic Party and gets delegates just like states do. Republicans Abroad is not part of the Republican Party and gets no
delegates. However, since it is not part of the Republican Party, it is free to take unlimited donations from foreigners, something Democrats Abroad is forbidden
from doing.
District = delegates chosen by district
At large = delegates chosen statewide
PLEO = Party Leaders and Elected Officials
Bonus = extra delegates given to Republican states good at electing Republicans
Supers = Democratic super delegates
Sources: http://www.mapsofworld.com/elections/usa/delegate-and-superdelegate.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delegate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2016_timeline
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/02/16/everything-you-need-to-know-about-delegate-math-in-the-presidential-primary/
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P16/MA-R
http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2016/Info/delegates.html
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