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RNC delegate guidelines from Nevada, 2016

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2016 Republican National Convention

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This page provides known guidelines for Republican delegates representing Nevada at the 2016 Republican National Convention, as compiled from the "Standing Rules of the Nevada Republican Central Committee." The full text of relevant regulations is reproduced below.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Nevada sent 30 delegates to the Republican National Convention in 2016: three automatic delegates from the Republican National Committee, 12 congressional district delegates, and 15 at-large delegates.
  • Delegates were proportionally allocated based on the results of the state preference poll. If only one candidate were to win delegates, then the chair of the state party was to be unbound to avoid the entire delegation voting as a unit.
  • Delegates from Nevada were bound on the first ballot unless the candidate to whom they were pledged suspended his campaign. However, according to Nevada GOP rules in 2016, a presidential candidate who withdrew from the presidential race could keep his delegates by submitting a request to the state party secretary that they remain bound on the first ballot.
  • Standing Rules of the Nevada Republican Central Committee

    The text below has been reproduced verbatim from: Standing Rules of the Nevada Republican Central Committee

    Chapter Three - Delegate Binding Rules

    § 1.0 Proportional Allocation of Delegates and Alternates.

    In accordance with the Rules of the Republican National Committee, in Presidential election years, the Nevada Republican Party chooses that its National Delegates and Alternates shall be allocated proportionally based on the final results of the Nevada Presidential Preference Poll or Presidential Primary Election, as appropriate, rounded to the nearest whole number. All allocated Delegates shall be elected at the Nevada Republican Convention on behalf of [any] all candidates who receive the percentage of [the] vote required for one or more delegates. Any candidate who receives less than the percentage required for one Delegate will receive no Delegates.

    § 2.0 Nomination of National Delegates and Alternates.

    Subsection 2.1

    a) Nominations for the position of National Delegate and Alternate, whether At-Large or congressional district, shall be by self-nomination.

    b) Self-nominations may be made for either a congressional district or At-Large Delegate position, but not both.

    c) Nominees must be Delegates to the State Convention.

    d) Nominations and any biography or public statement as provided for in Subsection 2.7, must be submitted in advance not less than seven (7) days prior to the State Convention in writing to the NRP Secretary.

    e) The NRP Secretary must include the information in paragraphs (a) through (d) above and information on how to self-nominate in the Call to the Meeting of the State Convention including all required information to self-nominate and in such form and manner as the Secretary shall prescribe.

    Subsection 2.2 – Nominees for Congressional District National must be qualified electors of the congressional district they seek to represent.

    Subsection 2.3 – The names of all properly submitted nominations shall be included on the respective Delegate ballots.

    Subsection 2.4 – The NRP Secretary shall notify each Nevada State Convention Delegate of the names of all individuals properly nominated to be National Delegates not less than three (3) days prior to the State Convention. This information is not part of the Call to Convention.

    Subsection 2.5 - The NRP Secretary must also include a reminder in the Call that those elected as a National Delegate or Alternate Delegate must pay all their own expenses to the national Convention including registration, travel, meals and lodging.

    Subsection 2.6 – No person who is otherwise qualified to be a Delegate to the Republican National Convention shall be eligible to hold such a position if, at any time following the adoption of this rule, that person, acting as a Delegate, has failed to uphold their obligation, as provided for in these rules or the Rules of the RNC, in support of a specific candidate. The determination of this provision shall be based solely on the vote conveyed to the Convention Secretary by the Delegate. This provision shall not apply to delegates who are released from their commitment in accordance with these Rules and shall not be applied retroactively to past Delegates.

    Subsection 2.7 – Each National Delegate nominee may optionally provide a biography or public statement of 250 words or less, along with their self-nomination, which shall be posted by the Secretary on the NRP website at least three (3) days prior to the Nevada Republican Convention. Additionally, each National Delegate nominee may opt to place the name of their preferred Presidential Candidate in parentheses adjacent to the nominee’s name on the ballot.

    § 3.0 Election of Delegates to the Republican National Convention

    Subsection 3.1 – Delegates and Alternates to the Republican National Convention (National Delegates and Alternates) shall be elected at the Nevada Republican Convention. There shall be three (3) National Delegates allocated to represent each congressional district in Nevada, and a number of At-Large Delegates as determined in accordance with the Rules of the Republican National Committee. Each National Delegate position shall also have one (1) Alternate for that position, except for automatic Delegates.

    Subsection 3.2 – National Delegates allocated to represent congressional districts (Congressional District National Delegates) shall be elected by the Nevada Republican Convention Delegates from each such congressional district. Each Delegate to the Nevada Republican Convention may vote for up to three (3) nominees for National Delegate for their congressional district. All nominees receiving votes shall be ranked in accordance with the number of votes received from highest to lowest. Congressional District Delegate positions shall be awarded to the three (3) highest ranked nominees, with Alternate positions being awarded to the next three (3) highest ranked nominees in descending order.

    Subsection 3.3 – At-Large National Delegates shall be elected by all Nevada Republican Convention Delegates. Each Delegate to the Nevada Republican Convention may vote for up to the number of nominees for At-Large National Delegate as there are At-Large Delegate positions as determined in accordance with the Rules of the Republican National Committee. All nominees receiving votes shall be ranked in accordance with the number of votes received from highest to lowest. At-Large Delegate positions shall be assigned starting with the highest ranked nominee and continuing in descending order until all At-Large Delegate positions are filled, followed by Alternate positions to be assigned starting with the highest ranked nominee who did not win a Delegate position and continuing in descending order until all Alternate positions are filled.

    Subsection 3.4 – Any ballot cast for the election of Congressional District or At-Large Delegates that has more votes cast than positions to be filled shall be declared void.

    § 4.0 Assignment of National Delegates and Alternates

    Subsection 4.1 - After their election, the NRP Secretary shall assign each National Delegate an obligation to vote for a particular Presidential Candidate (Binding) no later than ten (10) calendar days after the close of the State Convention.

    Subsection 4.2 - The NRP Secretary shall allocate National Delegates to the candidate of their choice by first allocating the three (3) automatic Delegates (Nevada Republican Party Chair, National Committeeman, and National Committeewoman) to their preferred candidate.

    Subsection 4.3 - The NRP Secretary will next allocate the three (3) Delegates from each congressional district based on the percentage of the vote each Delegate received among all Congressional District Delegates, beginning with the highest percentage of votes cast for that position, to their preferred candidate.

    Subsection 4.4 - The Secretary will then allocate the remaining Delegates for each candidate, beginning with the preference of the At-Large national Delegate with the highest votes followed by the preference of the national Delegate receiving the second highest number of votes, and continuing in descending order of votes received until the number of Delegates earned by each candidate in the Presidential Preference Poll has been allocated.

    Subsection 4.5 – Once all earned Delegates have been allocated to a specific candidate, the remaining Delegates must choose to be bound to a candidate with Delegate positions remaining; otherwise that Delegate will be assigned by the Secretary an obligation to one of the remaining candidates, regardless of preference.

    Subsection 4.6 - Each Alternate will be assigned to a Delegate according to rank ordering of votes among both Delegates and Alternates at the State Convention and shall inherit that Delegate’s candidate binding obligation for the purpose of temporary replacement on the floor of the National Nominating Convention. Permanent replacement of Delegates by Alternates shall be done in accordance with Section 7.0 of this Chapter. Alternates shall inherit the candidate binding of the Delegates they replace.

    § 5.0 Binding and Release of National Delegates and Alternates.

    Subsection 5.1 All votes of National Delegates and Alternates – Automatic, At-Large and Congressional District – shall be required to be cast for the Presidential Candidate to whom they are bound. This requirement applies only to the first candidate vote at the Republican National Convention.

    Subsection 5.2 In the event that a Presidential Candidate should win all the National Delegates, the NRP Chair shall be automatically unbound, without further action, in order to prevent violation of RNC rules prohibiting unit voting.

    Subsection 5.3

    a) The NRP Secretary shall contact each Presidential Candidate or the candidate’s designated campaign representative in writing thirty (30) days prior to the date of the Nevada Republican Convention to determine the candidate’s desired disposition of their National Delegates following the State Convention.

    b) Each candidate may elect to either affirm the binding obligation of the delegates to be elected on their behalf at the Nevada Republican Convention, fully release the binding obligation of their delegates, or proportionally reallocate the binding obligation of their delegates to the remaining candidates based on the results of the Presidential Preference Poll.

    c) The NRP Secretary shall also inform each candidate or designated campaign representative that a response must be received in writing no less than ten (10) days prior to the date of the Nevada Republican Convention; otherwise the binding obligation of their delegates shall be fully released.

    d) The Secretary shall provide an email summary of the candidate delegate disposition information to all Nevada Republican Convention delegates within twenty-four (24) hours following the candidate reporting deadline. The Secretary shall also post the same information on the state party website within the same time frame.

    Subsection 5.4

    a) National Delegates and Alternates bound to any candidate who withdraws, suspends, or otherwise discontinues their campaign at any time following the Nevada Republican Convention but prior to the Republican National Convention shall be released from their commitment to that candidate and may vote as they choose on the first and any subsequent candidate votes at the Republican National Convention.

    b) For the purposes of these rules, a candidate shall be considered to have discontinued his or her campaign should they file with the Federal Election Commission to terminate their campaign, publicly endorse another candidate in the race, publicly release their delegates, or make a public statement indicating that they have “suspended” their campaign such that they will otherwise no longer be actively seeking the Office of President.

    Subsection 5.5 – Any Presidential Candidate whose National Delegates’ binding obligation is released pursuant to Subsection 5.4 above may elect to retain the binding obligation of their delegates by notifying the NRP Secretary in writing at least seven (7) days prior to the Republican National Convention.

    § 6 – Delegation Chairman and Polling of Delegates for Candidate Votes

    Subsection 6.1 - The Delegation Chairman shall be elected by the National Delegates and shall be responsible to cast the delegation’s votes on behalf of the delegation when called upon by the Secretary of the Republican National Convention.

    Subsection 6.2 – The Delegation Chairman shall, upon the first round of candidate voting, calculate the delegation’s votes by polling all unbound National Delegates and adding the votes cast to the votes of all bound National Delegates, whose votes will automatically be counted in accordance with their Binding. National Delegates who are bound to a specific candidate will not be polled on the first round of candidate voting.

    § 7.0 Vacancies in State Delegation.

    Subsection 7.1 - In accordance with the Rules of the Republican National Committee, filling of vacancies in the National Convention Delegation shall be by the NRP Executive Committee.

    Subsection 7.2 - Delegates and Alternates must be eligible to represent Congressional Districts and At-Large positions at both the time of their election and the time of the National Nominating Convention.

    Subsection 7.3 - In the event that a Delegate is no longer eligible to the position, or resigns, the position shall be declared vacant. In the event of a permanent vacancy in a Congressional District or At-Large position, Alternates shall be elevated to Delegate in the order of their Nevada State Convention vote totals, commencing with the highest total, and a replacement Alternate shall be selected by the NRP Executive Committee.

    § 8.0 Miscellaneous Provisions.

    Subsection 8.1 - When rounding off numbers in the calculation of the allocation of Delegates, the calculation will be based on the largest remainder method.

    Subsection 8.2 –In the event of a tie, the decision shall be made by the cutting of a deck of cards. When determining the winner of a tie by the cutting of a deck of cards, the winner shall be the person who draws the highest card with the Ace considered the highest card, and with suits ranked in the following order, from highest to lowest: spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs.

    Subsection 8.3 – Any conflict of the rules of this chapter with state or federal law or the Rules of the Republican National Committee shall be resolved by the adoption of Temporary Rules by the NRP Executive Committee until the next properly noticed meeting of the NRCC can be convened for the purpose of amending the Rules to comply with appropriate law or rules, at which time any such Temporary Rules shall expire.

    See also