For all of you government majors who figured you were done with math for good, it's time to dust off that old TI-83 and think again. In yet another wrinkle for an increasingly bizarre primary season, the slightly eccentric manner in which our state's 228 delegates to the national convention has begun to earn its share of the spotlight. As both political scientists and junkies alike analyze all the complexities surrounding Texas' primary/caucus "hybrid," it is important that voters know what this slightly arcane system means for them - and for once, it offers good news.
It turns out that our state's system of delegate appropriation rewards the participation and dedication of Democratic voters across the state by allocating delegates for each candidate based on a (relatively) simple formula involving voter turnout and caucus attendance. We won't bother you with all the rather complicated math (for that, check out the excellent articles put out by the Burnt Orange Report or the Lone Star Project), but the gist is as follows:
At 7:15 p.m. on March 4, directly after the closing of the primary polls (whose votes will decide 75 percent of the delegate total in another arcane formula based on Senate districts), each voting precinct will hold a caucus to elect delegates to a county or Senatorial convention that will be held on Saturday, March 29. Based on the number of Democrats who voted in that precinct relative to the other precincts in the county, the convention will elect delegates who have "pledged" for a certain candidate to represent them at the next convention, in proportion to the number of supporters for each candidate who attends the caucus.
For example, if 100 voters show up to Precinct X's caucus, and 60 of these are Clinton supporters, then if the precinct has been allocated 10 delegates, six of them will be "pledged" to the New York senator. The process then repeats itself at the county or Senatorial convention, where these precinct delegates will select delegates among themselves to proportionally represent the county at the state Democratic convention on June 7.
This has several implications for the average primary voter. As if one needed another reason to vote this go 'round, your vote in the Democratic primary will not only be a vote for the candidate of your choice, it will also allow your precinct (and thus county or Senatorial district) to perhaps gain coveted delegates to the county and state conventions. Additionally, attending the caucus means that, for the only time in your life, your vote will count twice - and this time it will be more meaningful because you will only be competing against a relatively limited number of fellow voters who have way too much time on their hands.
And that's not even the best part. It turns out that anyone who has voted in the Democratic primary can become a national delegate simply by filing a "statement of candidacy" with the state party chair after April 21 and being elected by your peers at the state convention. Isn't democracy great?
So in this case, we can even more strongly encourage all you Democrats to vote early and often. If you don't, you know that guy who asks all of the pointless questions in GOV 310 certainly will.
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