March 19, 2012--Illinois Rules

In tomorrow's Republican primary in Illinois, on the surface it looks as if 69 delegates are up for grabs. Look again.

Like the other 49 states and various U.S. territories such as Guam, Illinois has its own idiosyncratic way of determining how these delegates will ultimately be assigned.

If you have the inclination to look at the details here they are:

69 total delegates - 10 base at-large / 54 re: 18 congressional districts / 3 party / 2 bonus

Tuesday 20 March 2012: 54 delegates--(3 from each of the 18 congressional districts) of Illinois' 69 delegates to the Republican National Convention will be directly elected in the Illinois Presidential Primary.

This is a so-called "Loophole" primary (a Delegate Selection Primary combined with an Advisory "beauty contest" presidential preference vote). The popular vote in the Illinois Republican Primary will have nothing whatsoever to do with the presidential preference of the 54 separately elected National Convention delegates.

Each candidate for delegate ... must file a Statement of Presidential Preference supporting a specific presidential candidate, or a statement that he/she intends to run uncommitted [SBE No. P-1E]. Note: There is no law or rule officially binding the delegates to the candidate.

Each of the State's 18 congressional districts CDs) is assigned 2 to 4 National Convention delegates- the number of delegates assigned to each district being based on the relative strength of that district's vote for the Republican presidential nominee in the previous Presidential election: a total of 54 district delegates to be directly elected by the voters and individually listed on the ballot with their presidential preferences indicated.

CD 1: 3
CD 2: 3
CD 3: 3
CD 4: 2
CD 5: 3
CD 6: 3
CD 7: 2
CD 8: 3
CD 9: 3
CD 10: 3
CD 11: 3
CD 12: 3
CD 13: 3
CD 14: 3
CD 15: 4
CD 16: 3
CD 17: 3
CD 18: 4

Friday 8 June - Saturday 9 June 2012: The Illinois Republican Party State Convention convenes in Tinley Park and chooses the remaining 12 delegates.

Illinois' 12 (10 at-large + 2 bonus) delegates are chosen by the State's Republican Party Convention will go to the Republican National Convention officially unbound.

In addition, 3 party leaders, the National Committeeman, the National Committeewoman, and the chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, will attend the convention as unbound delegates by virtue of their position.

Got it?

Fortunately, there will be no pop quiz tomorrow to see if you've have this memorized. There will be only the various pundits spin about the results--the popular vote vs. the delegate distribution vs. which candidate has the momentum.

Beyond that--

Are the same Republicans who came up with these and the other tortured rules capable of running the country? They talk about a small, unobtrusive government; but by the evidence of the primary rules they concocted for Illinois and elsewhere, what would they come up with for the rest of us?

Nothing good.