Delegates for the Presidential Convention

For John, BLUF:  You have to vote to have a say.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

For those of you who are interested in Delegates for the Republican Presidential Convention this year, here is a website to bookmark.  It has an individual page for The Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

On the Republican side, to win the nomination one needs 1,237 delegates out of 2,472 available.

On the Democrat side, to win one needs 2,383 delegates out of 4,764 available. ♠

Sticking to the Republican side, there are 42 delegates from our Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Of those, 39 will be based on the election on 1 March and 3 will be our Party Leadership, the National Committeeman (Ron Kaufman), the National Committeewoman (Chanel Prunier), and the chairman of the Massachusetts's Republican Party (Kirsten Hughes), who will attend the convention as unpledged delegates.  Ah, the myth of a brokered convention.

So, we will vote on 1 March and then,

• Saturday 23 April 2016:  Congressional District Conventions.  27 District delegates are elected according to the results of the primary.
• Sometime between Sunday 1 May - Friday 3 June 2016 (presumably):  Deadline for State Committee Meeting.  12 At-Large delegates are elected according to the results of the primary.

There are a lot of rules and one is that a Candidate has to get 5% of the vote to get a delegate.  Another rules is:

All delegates ... whose selection is made ... by ... Presidential Primary ... shall vote on the first such roll call for that presidential candidate unless released by such candidate. [G.L. c.53, §70I] [Plan I. 1.4]

So, 39 of our delegates are "pledged" for the first ballot at the Convention.

Per the Green Pages:

Under a "gentleman's agreement" in force since the 1940s, the Republicans (as the "out" Party re: the White House) will be hold their National Convention first.

• Thus, the 41st Republican National Convention will run from Monday 18 through Thursday 21 July 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio.
• The Democrats will hold their 47th National Convention in The City of Brotherly Love from Monday 25 July through Thursday 28 July 2016.

I note the Prohibition Party is still around and on a 31 July 2015 conference call picked Jamess Hedges of Pennsylvania for President and Bill Bayes of Mississippi for Vice-President.

And, the reason Senator Bernie Sanders is trying for the Democrat nomination is that the Socialist Party of the United States, meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 October 2015 nominated Emidio "Mimi" Soltysik of California for President and Angela Nicole Walker of Wisconsin for Vice-President.

The Green Party will hold a national convention in Houstan, Texas, 4-7 August.  Candidates include two time Massachusetts Governor Candidate Dr Jill Stein and, from California, Mr Darryl Cherney.

So, in sum, there is a reason to come to Lowell between now and 1 March, all you Republican Candidates. We have delegates you can use this Summer, at the Convention.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Yes, the various parties have separate rules for nominating people to run for president.