The process begins at the precinct level on Saturday, April 28. At 10 a.m., any registered voter declaring to be a Republican can meet at their regular voting precinct. The precinct caucuses choose county delegates to the county convention. In some counties, like Madison, each precinct chooses one delegate. Other counties, like Rankin, apportion delegates according to the total number of votes for John McCain in 2008 – with each precinct getting one delegate and larger Republican precincts getting more.
The process for electing national Republican leaders
begins this Saturday at your local precinct.
A precinct caucus could last 3 minutes or an hour. Individuals or factions wishing to control the county party – and the county’s delegates to the state convention – must turn out supporters at the precincts. If one person shows up at a precinct, that person can elect himself a delegate. If 50 people show up, then 26 choose the one or more delegates from that precinct. Usually, caucuses are routine. But when there is an intraparty struggle for control, they provide the most basic grassroots interpersonal political entertainment and mischief you’ll likely never read about.
At 3 p.m., on Saturday, the county delegates meet at county conventions, usually held at the courthouse. Delegates choose the members of the county executive committee, vote on resolutions and select state delegates to the state convention. Each county receives at least one state delegate, but for every 10,000 citizens another delegate is awarded. So while Claiborne, Kemper and Greene counties have only one delegate; Hinds has 24.5 delegates, Harrison has 18.5 and DeSoto has 16. There are 281 total delegates to the state convention divided among the four congressional districts.
State delegates meet in congressional district caucuses at the May 19 state convention. Within the district caucus, state delegates elect their district’s members of the Mississippi Republican State Executive Committee. The district caucus also chooses three national delegates (and three alternates) to the Republican National Convention. National delegates are bound to support the presidential candidate who won the apportioned delegates during the March 6 Republican Primary. Mitt Romney, the presumptive nominee won 12 delegates from Mississippi; Rick Santorum who suspended his campaign won 13 delegates; Newt Gingrich who has not met the threshold for the RNC ballot also won 12 delegates.
Brian Perry
Neshoba Democrat
4/25/12
Magnolia Tribune
