Rule 16, Rules of the Republican Party, 2012
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Rule 16 of the 2012 Rules of the Republican Party is entitled Election, Selection, Allocation, or Binding of Delegates and Alternate Delegates.
Rule 16
| Election, Selection, Allocation, or Binding of Delegates and Alternate Delegates
(a) Binding and Allocation. (1) Any statewide presidential preference vote that permits a choice among candidates for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in a primary, caucuses, or a state convention must be used to allocate and bind the state’s delegation to the national convention in either a proportional or winner-take-all manner, except for delegates and alternate delegates who appear on a ballot in a statewide election and are elected directly by primary voters. (2) The Secretary of the Convention shall faithfully announce and record each delegate’s vote in accordance with the delegate’s obligation under these rules, state law or state party rule. If any delegate bound by these rules, state party rule or state law to vote for a presidential candidate at the national convention demonstrates support under Rule 40 for any person other than the candidate to whom he or she is bound, such support shall not be recognized. Except as provided for by state law or state party rule, no presidential candidate shall have the power to remove a delegate. (b) Order of Precedence. Delegates at large and their alternate delegates and delegates from Congressional districts and their alternate delegates to the national convention shall be elected, selected, allocated, or bound in the following manner: (1) In accordance with any applicable Republican Party rules of a state, insofar as the same are not inconsistent with these rules; or (2) To the extent not provided for in the applicable Republican Party rules of a state, in accordance with any applicable laws of a state, insofar as the same are not inconsistent with these rules; or (3) By a combination of the methods set forth in paragraphs (b)(1) or (b)(2) of this rule; or (4) To the extent not provided by state law or party rules, as set forth in paragraph (e) of this rule. (c) Timing and Allocation. (1) No primary, caucus, convention, or other process to elect, select, allocate, or bind delegates to the national convention shall occur prior to March 1 or after the second Saturday in June in the year in which a national convention is held. Except Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada may conduct their processes no earlier than one month before the next earliest state in the year in which a national convention is held and shall not be subject to the provisions of paragraph (c)(2) of this rule. (2) Any presidential primary, caucus, convention, or other process to elect, select, allocate, or bind delegates to the national convention that occurs prior to March 15 in the year in which the national convention is held shall provide for the allocation of delegates on a proportional basis. (3) Proportional allocation of total delegates as required by Rule 16(c)(2) shall be based upon the number of statewide votes cast or the number of congressional district votes cast in proportion to the number of votes received by each candidate. (i) A state may establish by statewide vote or by congressional district a minimum threshold of the percentage of votes received by a candidate that must be reached below which a candidate may receive no delegates, provided such threshold is no higher than twenty percent (20%). (ii) A state may establish by statewide vote or by congressional district a minimum threshold of the percentage of votes received by a candidate that must be reached above which the candidate may receive all the delegates, provided such threshold is no lower than fifty percent (50%). (d) General. In all elections or selections of delegates or alternate delegates to the national convention, the following rules shall apply: (1) Delegates and alternate delegates to the national convention may be elected, selected, allocated, or bound only in one of the following manners: (i) by primary election; (ii) by the Republican state committee, where specifically provided by state law; (iii) by state and Congressional district conventions; (iv) by any method consistent with these rules by which delegates and alternate delegates were elected, selected, allocated, or bound to the most recent Republican National Convention from that state; (v) by Rule No. 14 (a)(2) of these rules. (2) Only persons eligible to vote who are deemed as a matter of public record to be Republicans pursuant to state law or, if voters are not enrolled by party, by Republican Party rules of a state, shall participate in any primary election held for the purpose of electing delegates or alternate delegates to the national convention or in any Republican caucus, mass meeting, or mass convention held for the purpose of selecting delegates to the county, district, or state conventions, and only such legal and qualified voters shall be elected as delegates to county, district, and state conventions; provided, however, that in addition to the qualifications provided herein, the applicable Republican Party rules of a state may prescribe additional qualifications not inconsistent with law, which additional qualifications shall be adopted before October 1 in the year before the year in which the national convention is to be held and published in at least one (1) newspaper having a general circulation throughout the state, such publication to be at least ninety (90) days before such qualifications become effective. (3) No state law shall be observed that permits any person to participate in a primary delegate and alternate delegate selection process that also permits that person at the same primary to participate in the choosing of nominees of any other party for other elective office. Delegates and alternate delegates to the national convention shall in that event be selected pursuant to state Republican Party rules that are not inconsistent with The Rules of the Republican Party; provided, however, that the selection process established by the state Republican Party rules shall provide that only persons eligible to vote who are deemed to be Republicans pursuant to state law or state Republican Party rules shall participate in such delegate election or selection process. (4) In any jurisdiction in which Republican representation upon the board of judges or inspectors of elections for primary elections is denied by law, delegates and alternate delegates shall be elected as provided in paragraph (b) of this rule. (5) In electing or selecting delegates and alternate delegates to the national convention, no state law shall be observed which hinders, abridges, or denies to any citizen of the United States, eligible under the Constitution of the United States to hold the office of President of the United States or Vice President of the United States, the right or privilege of being a candidate under such state law for the nomination for President of the United States or Vice President of the United States or which authorizes the election or selection of a number of delegates or alternate delegates from any state to the national convention different from that fixed in these rules. (6) Alternate delegates shall be elected to the national convention for each unit of representation equal in number to the number of delegates elected therein and shall be chosen in the same manner and at the same time as the delegates and under the same rules; provided, however, that if the law of any state shall prescribe another method of choosing alternate delegates, they may be chosen in accordance with the provisions of the law of the state in which the election occurs, except that no alternates shall be selected for Republican National Committee members. (7) Any process authorized or implemented by a state Republican Party for selecting delegates and alternate delegates or for binding the presidential preference of such delegates shall use every means practicable to guarantee the right of active duty military personnel and individuals unable to attend meetings due to injuries suffered in military service the opportunity to exercise their right to vote in that process. This rule is not intended to and shall not prevent a state from using a caucus or convention process that may or may not elect presidential delegates or alternates. (8) Delegates and alternate delegates at large to the national convention when serving as delegates and alternate delegates shall be residents of and duly qualified voters in their respective states. All delegates and alternate delegates allocated as delegates and alternate delegates at large shall be elected at large in the several states. (9) Delegates and alternate delegates to the national convention representing Congressional districts shall be residents of and qualified voters in said districts respectively when elected and when serving as delegates and alternate delegates. There shall be three (3) delegates and three (3) alternate delegates allocated to represent each Congressional district of the several states, who shall be elected by each such Congressional district. (10) No delegate or alternate delegate, or candidate for delegate or alternate delegate, to the national convention shall be required to pay an assessment or fee in excess of that provided by the law of the state in which his or her election or selection occurs as a condition of standing for election or serving as a delegate or alternate delegate to the national convention. (11) There shall be no automatic delegates to the national convention who serve by virtue of party position or elective office, except as provided for in Rule No. 14(a)(2). (12) No delegates or alternate delegates shall be elected, selected, allocated, or bound pursuant to any Republican Party rule of a state or state law which materially changes the manner of electing, selecting, allocating, or binding delegates or alternate delegates or the date upon which such state Republican Party holds a presidential primary, caucus, convention, or meeting for the purpose of voting for a presidential candidate and/or electing, selecting, allocating, or binding delegates to the national convention if such changes were adopted or made effective after October 1 of the year before the year in which the national convention is to be held. Where it is not possible for a state Republican Party to certify the manner and the date upon which it holds a presidential primary, caucus, convention, or meeting for the purpose of voting for a presidential candidate and/or electing, selecting, allocating, or binding delegates to the national convention in effect in that state on the date and in the manner provided in paragraph (f) of this rule, the process for holding the presidential primary, caucus, convention, or meeting for the purpose of voting for a presidential candidate and/or electing, selecting, allocating, or binding delegates to the national convention shall be conducted in the same manner and held upon the same date as was used for the immediately preceding national convention. If it is not possible to hold a presidential primary, caucus, convention, or meeting for the purpose of voting for a presidential candidate and/or electing, selecting, allocating, or binding delegates to the national convention upon the same date as was used for the immediately preceding national convention, then delegates or alternate delegates shall be elected or selected by Congressional district or state conventions pursuant to paragraph (e) of this rule. (e) Conventions. Wherever state law permits or the Republican Party rules of a state require the election of delegates and alternate delegates by convention or there is no applicable state law or Republican Party rule, delegates and alternate delegates to the national convention shall be elected by Congressional district or state conventions pursuant to the following rules: (1) Congressional district or state conventions shall be called by the Republican state committee. (2) Delegates to Congressional district conventions may be elected in precinct caucuses, mass meetings, mass conventions, or county conventions in which only eligible voters in such precinct, county, or district, as the case may be, shall vote. (3) Notices of the call for any such caucus, meeting, or convention shall be published in a newspaper or newspapers or on the state party’s website or other method sufficient for general circulation in the county, district, or state, as the case may be, not less than fifteen (l5) days prior to the date of such caucus, meeting, or convention. (4) No delegates shall be deemed eligible to participate in any Congressional district or state convention the purpose of which is to elect or select delegates to the national convention who are elected or selected prior to the date of the issuance of the call of such national convention. (5) Congressional district conventions shall be composed of delegates who are persons eligible to vote and who are deemed to be Republicans pursuant to state law or party rules. State conventions shall be composed of delegates who are persons eligible to vote and who are deemed to be Republicans pursuant to state law or party rules in the respective districts that they represent in said state conventions. Such delegates shall be apportioned by the state Republican Party among counties, parishes, and cities of the state or district having regard to the Republican vote or the population therein. (6) There shall be no proxies at any district or state convention (which shall not include meetings of a Republican state committee) held for the purpose of electing or selecting delegates to the national convention. If alternate delegates to such selection convention are elected or selected, the alternate delegate and no other shall vote in the absence of the delegate. (f) Certification and filing by the state committees. (1) On or before October 1 of the year before the year in which the national convention is to be held, each Republican state committee shall adopt rules, procedures, policies, and instructive materials (prepared pursuant to Rule No. 15(a)) governing the election, selection, allocation, or binding of delegates and alternate delegates to the national convention to convene during the following year and shall certify and file with the secretary of the Republican National Committee true copies of the same and of all statutes governing the election, selection, allocation, or binding of such delegates and alternate delegates. (2) The Republican National Committee may grant a waiver to a state Republican Party from certain provisions of this rule where it is not possible for a state Republican Party to comply with the October 1 deadline delineated in paragraph (f)(1) of this rule and not possible for a state Republican Party to hold its presidential primary, caucus, convention, or meeting for the purpose of voting for a presidential candidate and/or electing, selecting, allocating, or binding delegates to the national convention as was used for the immediately preceding national convention or to elect, select, allocate, or bind delegates or alternate delegates by Congressional district or state conventions pursuant to paragraph (e) of this rule, and the Republican National Committee determines that granting such waiver is in the best interest of the Republican Party. (3) The Republican National Committee may grant a waiver to a state Republican Party from the provisions of Rule Nos. 16(a)(1) and (2) where compliance is impossible and the Republican National Committee determines that granting such waiver is in the best interests of the Republican Party.[1] |
See also
- Republican National Convention, 2016
- Presidential election, 2016
- Democratic National Convention, 2016
- Republican National Committee
External links
Footnotes
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