Over the weekend, Congressional Districts 1 and 6 held assemblies to nominate candidates to the ballot as well as elect delegates to the national convention. With the presidential election still up for grabs, these delegates could play a huge role in nominating the next Republican presidential candidate. That’s why Cruz fans went wild when Cruz-bound delegates swept this weekend’s Congressional Assemblies.
While Cruz fans are celebrating, it should be noted that Colorado delegates are bound to Cruz for the first vote only. That means, that some of the Cruz delegation (or any of the other candidates, for that matter) could potentially vote for another candidate on the second ballot. That means that Trump delegates could vote Cruz on second ballot or vice versa (although, not likely – at least not likely from the delegates coming from Colorado). There’s also talk of someone not currently in the race taking the nomination. While talk of an outside candidate sounds conspiratorial, just yesterday, Politico posted an article on how the Speaker of House Paul Ryan’s name keeps surfacing as a potential open convention candidate.
How would that even happen? A handy video by the Republican National Committee explains how the whole process works for those who don’t know (which would be everybody).
What the video leaves out is how the election process works once at the convention. That’s probably partially because the rules have not yet been set for the convention. But here’s what the GOP FAQ site offered:
“If a candidate receives 1,237 delegates or more on the first round of voting, he or she wins the nomination. If no candidate reaches a majority, rounds of voting will occur until a candidate does.”
In short, delegates will vote until someone – anyone – gets 1237 votes.
If all else fails, America’s Finest News Source, The Onion, has a handy guide, which is a bright spot in a somewhat dark election year. In fact, just go with this guide.