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2023 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

2. The Democratic Party Primary

Authors : Michael A. Jones, David McCune, Jennifer M. Wilson

Published in: Delegate Apportionment in the US Presidential Primaries

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

We detail the process by which delegates are allocated to presidential candidates in the Democratic Party presidential primaries. First, we examine how delegates are apportioned among the states prior to the state contests and then explain the process by which they are subsequently divided into statewide and district-wide delegates. Then, using data from recent primaries, we illustrate the use of Hamilton’s method with a threshold, as prescribed by the Democratic Delegate Selection Rules, to allocate delegates to candidates based on their share of the popular vote, and explain how the geometry of the simplex can be used to visualize the allocation. We conclude with a brief discussion of the use of ranked choice voting in Democratic primaries.

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previous chapter Apportionment in the US Presidential Primaries

next chapter The Iowa and Nevada Democratic Caucuses

In some election years, SEV was the average number of the state’s electoral votes in the current election year and the previous two presidential elections.

Each state party also receives a certain number of unpledged PLEO delegates, or superdelegates. These delegates played a large role in the 2008 and 2016 primaries, but in 2020 the rules were changed so that these delegates were not allowed to cast a vote in the initial round of voting at the Democratic National Convention. Thus, unpledged PLEO delegates vote only if a candidate does not secure a majority of the pledged delegate vote, which did not occur.

This rule was used by all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico, which divided its 44 base delegates into 33 district, 11 at-large delegates.

This was confirmed with state party officials from Colorado and county party officials from Iowa.

We note that the HI primary allows for voters to vote for uncommitted. This shadow candidate was not eliminated until Round 4, having lasted longer than Deval Patrick, Tom Steyer, and Amy Klobuchar. In HI’s second CD, uncommitted lasted until Round 6.

We obtained the ranked choice vote data for HI, KS, and WY and verified this ourselves. We were unable to obtain the AK data but were told in a private communication by an election official that the use of RCV also made no difference in AK.

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Democratic National Committee (2018b) Delegate selection rules for the 2020 Democratic National Committee. https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2020-Delegate-Selection-Rules-12.17.18-FINAL.pdf. Accessed 2021 Dec 15

Democratic National Committee (2018c) Regulations of the rules and bylaws committee for the 2020 Democratic National Committee. https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Regulations-of-the-RBC-for-the-2020-Convention-12.17.18-FINAL.pdf. Accessed 2021 Dec 15

Geist KA, Jones MA, Wilson JM (2010) Apportionment in the Democratic primary process. Math Teacher 104:214–220. https://doi.org/10.2307/20876835CrossRef

Georgia Democratic Party (2019) Georgia delegate selection plan for the 2020 Democratic National Committee. https://www.georgiademocrat.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/DPG-2020-Delegate-Selection-Plan-FINAL.pdf. Accessed 2021 Dec 15

Jewitt CE (2019) The primary rules: parties, voters, and presidential nominations. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.10020994

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Jones MA, McCune D, Wilson JM (2019) The elimination paradox: apportionment in the Democratic party. Public Choice 178(1):53–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-018-0608-3CrossRef

Lucas WF (1983) The apportionment problem. In: Brams SJ, Lucas WF, Straffin PJ Jr (eds) Political and related models, modules in applied mathematics. Springer, New York, Chapter 14, pp 358–396

New Hampshire Democratic Party (2019) New Hampshire delegate selection plan for the 2020 Democratic National Committee. https://www.nhdp.org/_files/ugd/696cec_039185b132f1438994df5d7a3140d353.pdf. Accessed 2021 Dec 15

The Green Papers (2022) The Green Papers. http://www.TheGreenPapers.com. Accessed 2021 Dec 15

Title: The Democratic Party Primary
Authors: Michael A. Jones
David McCune
Jennifer M. Wilson
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Delegate Apportionment in the US Presidential Primaries
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-24953-2

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-24954-9

Copyright Year: 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24954-9_2

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