If you are confused about voting early or next Tuesday for national and state offices, you will be scratching your head when you see your ballot for the presidential race because you can vote for none of the above. More accurately, you can cast a vote to say you do not prefer – or like, or you want to say “a pox on all of them.” Yes, a choice in both the Republican and Democratic races is No Preference.
Wake County Board of Elections Director Gary Sims said the votes in both party primaries are allocated proportionately according to the number of votes each candidate receives. If a voter chooses the No Preference option, those delegates or delegate seats will be assigned to the state party office as the proportional formula provides.
The North Carolina Republican Party has 72 delegates to the national convention. Of those 72, 10 delegates are called base at-large; 39 are allocated three each for the 13 congressional districts; three delegates are listed as party; and 20 are bonus. Readers will have to ask the state Republican headquarters exactly what each category means, but the website says “The State Chairman shall allocate the 72 Delegate positions between the Candidates accurately reflecting the division of votes in the statewide primary. For every 1.45% 1.39% of the statewide vote the candidate receives 1 delegate. Each person nominated as a Delegate at either the District or State Convention must have publicly declared as a representative of a Candidate on the Presidential Preference Primary ballot prior to the election of Delegates to the National Convention. [Article VII (F)]. The 3 party leaders, the National Committeeman, the National Committeewoman, and the chairman of the North Carolina’s Republican Party, will attend the convention as bound delegates by virtue of their position.”
On the Democratic side, there are 121 North Carolina delegate seats at the national convention: 70 district; 23 at-large; 14 pledged PLEOs; and 14 unpledged PLEOs. PLEO refers to party leaders and elected officials, and the unpledged PLEOs are called super delegates. The party’s website says: “107 of 121 delegates to the Democratic National Convention are pledged to presidential contenders based on the results of the voting in [the March 15] North Carolina Presidential Primary. A mandatory 15 percent threshold is required in order for a presidential contender to be allocated National Convention delegates at either the congressional district or statewide level. How the Democratic Proportional Delegate Allocation Math works: 70 district delegates are to be pledged proportionally to presidential contenders based on the primary results in each of the State’s 13 congressional districts. In addition, 37 delegates are to be allocated to presidential contenders based on the primary vote statewide, plus there are 23 at-large National Convention delegates and14 Pledged PLEOs.
And you thought the IRS had convoluted rules. It makes you wonder about the horse-trading and deal-making that resulted in these numbers on both sides.
