In my last blog entry I mentioned my fault with the current Primary and Caucus elections and mentioned how I would change the way the voting and selection process. After a little more research I had found out the delegate counts for each state and territory as well as the number needed to win. The delegate counts for each state are posted below.
- WEST (441 Delegates) – California (172), Oregon (29), Washington (43), Idaho (32), Montana (26), Wyoming (29), Alaska (27), Hawaii (20), Nebraska (35)
- ROCKY MOUNTAIN (507 delegates) – Arizona (58), Utah (40), New Mexico (23), Colorado (36), Texas (155), Oklahoma (43), Kansas (40), Missouri (30), Arkansas (36), Louisiana (46)
- MIDWEST (451 delegates) - North Dakota (28), South Dakota (28), Iowa (28), Minnesota (40), Wisconsin (42), Illinois (69), Indiana (46), Michigan (59), Ohio (66), Kentucky (45)
- SOUTH (532 delegates) – Mississippi (40), Alabama (50), Georgia (76), Florida (99), South Carolina (50), North Carolina (55), Virginia (50), Tennessee (58), Maryland (37), Delaware (17)
- NEW ENGLAND (400 delegates) – Pennsylvania (72), New Jersey (50), West Virginia (31), Connecticut (28), New York (95), Massachusetts (41), Vermont (17), New Hampshire (23), Maine (24), Rhode Island (19)
Now, all told the 50 states send 2331 delegates to the conventions. If I add the territories of Washington DC (which sends 19 delegates to the convention and votes in the general election in November unlike the other territories), US Virgin Islands (9 delegates), Puerto Rico (23 delegates), Northern Mariana Islands (9 delegates), Guam (9 delegates), and American Samoa (9 delegates), the total is 79 delegates for the 6 Territories. Therefore, the total for the 56 primaries and caucuses are 2410 delegates at the convention. Now according to the rules, 1191 delegates are needed to win the nomination, and some of the primaries and caucuses are not winner take all. The changes I would make to the Primary and Caucus season which I did not mention in my last blog entry would be as follows:
- EVERY STATE would be winner take all.
- the candidate would need 1200 delegates to win
This way as I said in the last entry, every candidate would have some skin in the game regardless of how much money they have or how they rank in the polls because this would be a 50 state election process and not focusing on any state in particular like the current system does where the pundits say that one candidate is done for after a certain state.
Again, there might be pro’s and con’s for this process I am proposing, and if there are any comments as to this scenario, please let me know on this entry or in my Instant Messengers or emails.
