tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6719252574677567989.post1724268726391810088..comments2024-03-26T05:22:08.256-04:00Comments on Frontloading HQ: The Group That Might Change It All? A Closer Look at the Democratic Change Commission's MembershipJosh Putnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06301836432446874997noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6719252574677567989.post-11172625215915280022009-06-29T11:55:30.505-04:002009-06-29T11:55:30.505-04:00I'd say the chances of that are zero. I don&#...I'd say the chances of that are zero. I don't even know if that issue is on the table at the Democratic Change Commission's meetings. The formula that decides the number of delegates each state has is determined by the state's population and how loyal the state's voters have been (in the aggregate) to the parties. Population is a no-brainer -- the electoral college and number of representatives in Congress are built on that. The loyalty issue is in place to reward states that have consistently voted for one of the parties' presidential candidates, or with one of the parties' gubernatorial or senate candidates more often than not.<br /><br />African Americans aren't the determinative factor here then. The extent to which they continue to support the Democratic Party in elections across all offices is what drives delegate numbers up in those states.<br /><br />Here's the 2008 formula from <a href="http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/D-Alloc.phtml" rel="nofollow">TheGreenPapers</a>:<br /><br />Computation of (intermediate) Base Votes<br />for Jurisdictions with Electoral Votes<br /><br />The rules of the Democratic National Convention call for the following formula to be used in determining the allocation of delegate votes to each jurisdiction sending a delegation to the Convention.<br /><br />Each jurisdiction with electoral votes is assigned a number of Base (delegate) votes based on an "Allocation Factor" multiplied by 3,000 arrived at through a calculation involving the following factors:<br /><br /> 1. State's Democratic Vote (SDV): The jurisdiction's popular vote for the Democratic candidate for President in the last three Presidential Elections (1996, 2000, and 2004).<br /> 2. Total Democratic Vote (TDV): The total popular vote for the Democratic candidate for President in the last three Presidential Elections (1996, 2000, and 2004).<br /> 3. The state's Electoral Vote (SEV).<br /> 4. The total Electoral Vote of all jurisdictions (538).<br /><br />The formula for determining a jurisdiction's Allocation Factor is:<br /><br />Allocation Factor = ½ × ( ( SDV ÷ TDV ) + ( SEV ÷ 538 ) )<br /><br />The number of Base votes assigned to a state is Allocation Factor × 3000 (Fractions 0.5 and above are rounded to the next highest integer).<br /><br />To summarize, half of a jurisdiction's base vote is determined by the number of Presidential Electors assigned to that state and half are computed by the number of people who voted for the Democratic candidate in the last three elections.Josh Putnamhttp://frontloading.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6719252574677567989.post-46536198670589832202009-06-29T00:45:33.824-04:002009-06-29T00:45:33.824-04:00What are the chances they change the disproportion...What are the chances they change the disproportionate distribution of delegates in each state? I am fairly sure they Clyburn is quite happy with African American votes counting for more than others', which is the case since urban areas receive more delegates per 1,000 or 10,000 or whatever the case is. Oh man, I hate being a democrat right now, I feel so helpless.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com