U.S. Elections Explained: What’s a Delegate?

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.