Delegate Voting
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Delegates are asked to “in good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”
All delegates – both pledged and unpledged – formally cast their votes at the Convention.
The votes of unpledged delegates cast at the Convention do count towards a candidate securing the nomination.
In past nominating cycles, individual unpledged delegates have endorsed a specific presidential candidate.
Regardless of such endorsement, unpledged delegates are able to cast their vote for any presidential candidate at the Convention.
Pledged delegates are not bound to vote for the candidate they are pledged to at the Convention or on the first ballot.
A pledged delegate goes to the Convention with a signed pledge of support for a particular presidential candidate.
At the Convention, while it is assumed that delegates will cast their votes for the candidate they are publicly pledged to, it is not required.
Under the Delegate Selection Rules, a delegate is asked to “in good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”
This provision is designed in part to make the Convention a deliberative body.
Most former candidates “release” their delegates from voting for them; however, this is only symbolic.
Delegates can vote for another presidential candidate with or without being “released.”
When a candidate decides to leave the presidential race, a candidate is entitled to keep any district-level delegates that were awarded to the candidate and any district-level delegates that might be awarded in future contests.
If pledged Party Leader and Elected Official (PLEO) delegates and at-large delegates have been selected prior to the candidate withdrawing from the race, the candidate is also allowed to keep those delegates.
However, if a candidate leaves the race prior to the selection of pledged PLEO and at-large delegates, those delegate positions are reallocated to the candidates still in the race.
Delegates are not legally “bound” to vote for the candidate they were elected to represent.
They can, and have in the past, cast a vote for another presidential candidate at the Convention.
As a sign of good faith, most former candidates have “released” their delegates from voting for them; however, this is not required, and only has a symbolic meaning.
Delegates can vote for another presidential candidate with or without being “released.”
The last time the presidential nomination required more than one ballot was at the 1952 Democratic Convention in Chicago.
If neither candidate reaches a majority of delegate votes on the first ballot for president, the nomination and the race for delegates becomes competitive.
The last time the presidential nomination required more than one ballot was at the 1952 Democratic Convention in Chicago.
At the 1952 Convention, 11 names were placed in nomination in a heated contest between Adlai Stevenson, Estes Kefauver, Richard Russell, Averell Harriman and Paul Dever. Adlai Stevenson became the nominee on the third ballot with 617 ½ votes.
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