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Friday, April 1, 2016

HOW VOTES FOR TRUMP COULD BECOME DELEGATES FOR SOMEONE ELSE - US Democracy can become a sham when a majority of voters elect a candidate, but party delegates nominate a different one

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Whether you like Trump or not,
it's the system that is flawed.

Subverting democracy - The Republican Party establishment has been trying to figure out all sorts of ways and tricks to SUBVERT democracy and keep Donald Trump from becoming the party nominee. 
 
And it would be relatively easy.  It's all in the flawed and anti-democratic system of citizens voting for delegates instead of directly for the candidates. 
 
More than a paternalistic system of telling voters "we know better than you," it is a way to keep control over who can run for president:  not the most popular individual, but the one who is more likely to go along with the party elite and their puppet masters.
 
Importing Democrat voters.  Electoral manipulation does not end there.  The Obama administration has been facilitating the entry and legalization of millions of illegals from Mexico and other countries, while welcoming hundreds of thousands of Muslims.  The plan is that they will eventually become citizens and vote Democrat, to counterbalance the more politically conservative part of the American population. 
 
There is an aggressive drive right now to register Muslim voters to vote, in order to keep Republicans from winning the presidency.  
 
This devious plan is exactly what the British Labour Party started some years ago.  Hiding their true motives from the British people, they opened the gates to millions of Africans and Asians who would become dependent on Labour's policy of generous social benefits, thus ensuring there would be an endless and ever growing source of votes for that party.   

The following article uses drawings to explain how each state's delegates could - by following allowed regulations - legally steal the nomination from Trump.
 

How Votes For Trump Could
Become Delegates for Someone Else

The rules for how Republican delegates are selected — which differ in every state — could end up turning votes for one candidate into delegates who will support another candidate at the convention.

Continue reading and see how the delegates system works
IN PICTURES

Delegates are generally
supposed to represent voters.

When voters cast ballots in the presidential primaries, they are really voting for delegates.



Those delegates, in turn, are the actual people who will vote on the party’s nominee at the summer convention.




But delegates may not personally
support the candidate that voters picked.

In a few states, candidates pick their delegates outright, but in most cases they have less control. Many delegates are elected by party members at local and state conventions. The candidates often conduct parallel campaigns to get their supporters named as delegates.
 
Here are examples of the variety of methods for selecting delegates used in different states. In fact, many states use two or more methods.
Candidates handpick
California: Choose from anyone
Wisconsin: Choose from approved list


Voters choose
Maryland: Delegates list candidate they support, only if candidate approves
Alabama: Delegates list candidate they support
Pennsylvania: Delegates do not list candidate they support

Party members choose
Georgia: Through conventions
South Carolina: Through conventions, from prior delegates
Kentucky: Approve nominations made by committees

Party leaders choose
Tennessee: With candidate input
Kansas: Without candidate input


The outcome of the convention
could come down to whom
the delegates personally favor.

When they get to the convention, most delegates are “bound” to vote for the candidate voters have chosen in their state or district. But if no candidate gets the 1,237 delegates needed to win, subsequent votes will be held until someone does.
 
This is where the loyalty of each of the 2,472 delegates really matters. Most states “unbind” their delegates after the first or second vote. Then each delegate can vote for whomever they want. Some possibilities:
 
Delegates Selected By Candidates
May Be Less Likely to Switch Sides
 
A Trump delegate from California ...



... is hand-picked by Mr. Trump.
... may continue voting for Mr. Trump, but could switch.
... must vote for Trump on the first two ballots.


In a handful of states like California, which holds its primary on June 7, candidates handpick their delegates to the convention, making it more likely that they will stay true to the voters’ wishes even when they are unbound (for Californians, this occurs after the second ballot).
 
Delegates Chosen By Party
Members Could Flip Their Support
A Trump delegate from Texas ...



... is chosen by party members.
... must vote for Trump on the first two ballots.
... could switch votes on the third ballot.

 
 
In several states, including Texas, at least some delegates are elected through local caucuses and at the state convention. In Texas, the presidential candidates run what the state party’s assistant general counsel described as “36 separate mini-campaigns” in the state’s congressional districts to get their supporters elected.
 
Some Delegates Can Only Be
Released by Winning Candidates
A Rubio delegate from Alabama ...



... is chosen by voters.
... may change allegiance once released.
... must vote for Mr. Rubio until he releases them.



Some states do not unbind delegates after a certain number of ballots. In Alabama, delegates are elected on the primary ballot, listed next to the presidential candidate they support.

They must continue to support that candidate at the convention until two-thirds of the delegation votes to change, or until the candidate releases them.

Other states, like Alaska, unbind delegates if their candidate drops out of the race. Marco Rubio, who suspended his campaign in mid-March,
sent a letter to the state party asking it not to release the five delegates he won there.
 
Some States Don’t Bind Their
Delegates to Primary Results at All
 
A delegate in Pennsylvania ...



... is chosen by voters.
... can switch at any point.
... can vote for whoever they want.


Roughly five percent of delegates will go into the convention free to vote as they please, including 54 from Pennsylvania.
 
Party Leaders Who Are Automatic

Delegates Could Favor Anyone
National party delegates in states Trump won ...



... are automatically selected.
… could eventually switch votes.
… must vote for Mr. Trump for at least one ballot.



Three party leaders from each state — the national committeeman, the national committeewoman and the state chairman — are automatically selected as delegates. States have different requirements for how long these delegates must remain bound to a candidate.

It’s also possible that
the rules will change.

The potential for rule changes is another reason the nomination could come down to delegate loyalty. A rules committee, made up of representatives from each state, can propose pretty much any change to the rules before the convention begins, and it takes just a majority of convention delegates to approve them.
 

Ron Paul delegates from Maine protested at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa. Damon Winter/The New York Times
 
In 2012, supporters of Representative Ron Paul, the last remaining Republican challenger to Mitt Romney, fought to secure delegates at local and state conventions, particularly in states where those delegates were not tied to election results.
 
The Iowa delegation, for example, was made up primarily of Mr. Paul’s supporters, even though Mr. Romney and Rick Santorum essentially tied for first in the state’s caucuses.
 
These tactics did not go over smoothly at the convention. Half of Mr. Paul’s delegates from Maine were unseated, and his supporters erupted with anger after Mr. Romney’s allies passed new rules to prevent Mr. Paul from qualifying for the first nomination vote on the floor.

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