Georgia GOP Picks Delegates In County Conventions
Audience members hold up signs supporting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Boca Raton, Fla., Sunday, March 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
This weekend, county Republican parties will hold conventions across Georgia to elect delegates. It has GOP presidential hopefuls working to shore up support in the state.
That’s because the delegates chosen this weekend will go on to conventions at the district level. Then, they might continue to the state and even the Republican National Convention.
And the people who end up there could have a greater say this year in who becomes the GOP’s presidential nominee.
“It really does put a premium on who’s going to fill those delegate slots,” said Josh Putnam, a political science lecturer at the University of Georgia. “Who the actual human beings are that are bound to particular candidates.”
Candidates who won delegates in Georgia’s presidential primary don’t get to choose the people representing them at the convention.
That means, for example, that Georgia delegates sent to the national convention to vote for Donald Trump as the Republican nominee may actually prefer a different candidate. And those delegates could work against the interest of Trump in different ways at the convention, said Putnam.
First of all, they are only required to support Trump for the nomination on the first ballot at the convention. After that, if no single candidate wins a majority, the delegates are free to vote for whomever they like.
Then, even if a candidate like Trump, who is now in the lead, does win the majority of votes on the first call at the convention, Putnam said delegates bound to him could still find ways to support the cause of another candidate, like Ted Cruz.
“That they are Cruz supporters means that Cruz has an extra voice at the national convention on every other issue than the convention roll call vote, that’s literally the delegate’s last order of business there,” said Putnam.
The delegates could have a say in changing the very rules of the convention, he said.
The Republican National Convention will take place in July.
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