Every fifth grader knows how to have a democratic election. When deciding on whether to play kick ball or four square for instance, the preference of the majority rules. Each student has a vote; these votes are cast (heads down on desks, arms up); votes are tallied; and the sport (or whatever is up for decision) with the most votes wins. Simple. Straightforward. No explanations or mathematic algorithms needed.
Why democratic elections at the national level have failed to adhere to this simple logic is beyond me. Our presidential primaries are perhaps one of the most discombobulated occurrences sanctioned by a government body, followed only by the presidential election itself. We have constructed a system that only a political wonk can figure out, and only a super delegate (more on that later) could love.
Basic Math
Each party designates the number of delegates a state has based on population and other factors, including party strength. The overall amount of Democratic delegates is larger, so they have more delegates per state. For instance, in 2008, California has 441 Democratic delegates and 173 Republican delegates; in Texas, there are 228 Democratic delegates and 140 Republican. In the primaries, the presidential candidates are trying to rack up as many delegates as they can.
The candidate with the majority of delegates will win the party nomination. To make things confusing, the two parties do not have the same number of total delegates, and this total changes every year. This year there are 4,049 for the Democrats and 2,380 for the Republicans. That means, in order to win the nomination, a Democratic candidate must win 2,025 delegates and a Republican must win 1,191 delegates. Some states, like Michigan and Florida, were stripped of their delegates because of issues between the national and states parties.
The delegates attend their party’s national convention to cast their votes. The Democrats will have their convention on August 25 in Denver, Colorado; the Republicans on September 1st in St. Paul, Minnesota.
At the national conventions, there are two different kinds of delegates in attendance: the pledged and the unpledged.
Pledged Delegates
The majority of delegates from both parties are considered to be pledged; that is, they must vote for a specific candidate at the national convention. (Though this vote is taken in good conscience and is only “pledged” for the first vote). Around 80 percent of the Democratic and Republicans delegates are pledged.
For the Democrats, the number of pledged delegates a candidate receives is roughly proportional to the primary or caucus vote totals. This is divided differently in different states. Some of the delegates are split by how many votes a candidate received in the state totals, and some are by split by congressional districts. Most states have primaries, where individuals cast votes on a designated election night. However, some states, like Iowa, have caucuses, where people gather to support their choice of candidates (and sometimes raise their hands to express this support). Other states, like Texas, have both a primary and a caucus. In their Democratic election, voters in the primaries will assign only 126 of the 228 delegates on election night. The rest are allocated by a complex caucus system that involves mathematical equations and an advanced degree to figure out (where are those fifth graders?).
For the Democrats, a candidate must receive at least 15 percent of the votes in a state to receive delegates. For instance, say Clinton, Obama, Edwards, and Kucinich were all running in a state, and they received 35, 35, 20, and 10 percent of the votes, respectively. Kucinich would receive no delegates, because he failed to get the 15 percent minimum, and the remaining delegates would be split between the other three candidates.
Republicans have different ways of allocating delegates. Some states have a “winner-take-all” delegate award, meaning that if a candidate has the most votes in that state, he will receive all the delegates. Others states award delegates based on wins in certain congressional districts. Rules vary by state.
