Delegates: Understanding the numbers and the rules About 4,051 pledged About 712 unpledged 2472 delegates 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 Check these boxes if this is a boxes if this is population a party loyalty component? component? Delegate number State whether these delegates are atlarge delegates or committed delegates. 1. 3 delegates for each congressional district Committed 2. 5 delegates for each US Senator At-large 3. 4. 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 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? 3 At-large Varies by state Varies by State 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. 14. 15. 16. 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 Check these boxes if this is a population component? Check these boxes if this is a party loyalty component? 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. Republicans Democrats State District At large PLEO Bonus Total State District At large PLEO Supers Total Alabama 21 10 3 16 50 Alabama 34 11 7 6 58 Alaska 3 10 3 12 28 Alaska 9 3 2 4 18 Amer. Samoa 6 3 9 Amer. Samoa 6 4 10 Arizona 27 10 3 18 58 Arizona 41 14 8 12 75 Arkansas 12 10 3 15 40 Arkansas 21 7 4 5 37 California 159 10 3 172 California 264 88 53 71 476 Colorado 21 10 3 3 37 Colorado 42 14 8 13 77 Connecticut 15 10 3 28 Connecticut 33 11 7 14 65 Delaware 3 10 3 16 Delaware 11 4 2 10 27 DC 16 3 19 DC 11 4 2 20 37 Florida 81 10 3 5 99 Florida 135 45 27 31 238 Georgia 42 10 3 21 76 Georgia 64 21 13 14 112 Guam 6 3 9 Guam 6 5 11 Hawaii 6 10 3 19 Hawaii 14 5 3 9 31 Idaho 6 10 3 13 32 Idaho 13 4 3 4 24 Illinois 54 10 3 2 69 Illinois 104 35 21 30 190 Indiana 27 10 3 17 57 Indiana 46 15 9 9 79 Iowa 12 10 3 5 30 Iowa 30 10 6 8 54 Kansas 12 10 3 15 40 Kansas 22 7 4 4 37 Kentucky 18 10 3 14 45 Kentucky 31 10 6 6 53 Louisiana 18 10 3 15 46 Louisiana 35 12 7 7 61 Maine 6 10 3 4 23 Maine 17 5 3 5 30 Maryland 24 10 3 1 38 Maryland 51 17 10 27 105 Massachusetts 27 10 3 2 42 Massachusetts 62 21 12 26 121 Michigan 42 10 3 4 59 Michigan 87 29 17 19 152 Minnesota 24 10 3 1 38 Minnesota 51 17 10 16 94 Mississippi 12 10 3 14 39 Mississippi 23 8 5 5 41 Missouri 24 10 3 15 52 Missouri 49 16 10 13 88 Montana 3 10 3 11 27 Montana 10 3 2 7 22 Nebraska 9 10 3 14 36 Nebraska 17 6 3 5 31 Nevada 12 10 3 5 30 Nevada 20 7 4 8 39 New Hampshire 6 10 3 4 23 New Hampshire 16 5 3 8 32 New Jersey 36 10 3 2 51 New Jersey 72 24 14 16 126
New Mexico 9 10 3 2 24 New Mexico 19 6 4 9 38 New York 81 10 3 1 95 New York 152 51 30 44 277 North Carolina 39 10 3 20 72 North Carolina 70 23 14 13 120 North Dakota 3 10 3 12 28 North Dakota 9 3 2 5 19 N. Marianas 6 3 9 N. Marianas 6 5 11 Ohio 48 10 3 5 66 Ohio 97 32 19 17 165 Oklahoma 15 10 3 15 43 Oklahoma 25 8 5 4 42 Oregon 15 10 3 28 Oregon 34 11 7 12 64 Pennsylvania 54 10 3 4 71 Pennsylvania 104 35 21 21 181 Puerto Rico 20 3 23 Puerto Rico 33 11 7 7 58 Rhode Island 6 10 3 19 Rhode Island 14 5 3 9 31 South Carolina 21 10 3 16 50 South Carolina 33 11 7 6 57 South Dakota 3 10 3 13 29 South Dakota 10 3 2 5 20 Tennessee 27 10 3 18 58 Tennessee 44 15 9 9 77 Texas 108 10 3 34 155 Texas 136 45 27 29 237 Utah 12 10 3 15 40 Utah 16 5 3 4 28 Vermont 3 10 3 16 Vermont 10 3 2 8 23 Virgin Islands 6 3 9 Virgin Islands 6 5 11 Virginia 33 10 3 3 49 Virginia 62 21 12 17 112 Washington 30 10 3 1 44 Washington 56 19 11 16 102 West Virginia 9 10 3 12 34 West Virginia 17 6 3 9 35 Wisconsin 24 10 3 5 42 Wisconsin 52 17 10 10 89 Wyoming 3 10 3 13 29 Wyoming 8 3 2 4 17 Totals 1305 560 168 437 2470 Democrats Abroad 12 1 4 17 Unassigned 1 1 Totals 2436 847 486 714 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 Brought to you by Yummymath.com