Talk Elections

Presidential Elections - Analysis and Discussion => Presidential Election Process => Topic started by: golden on May 16, 2012, 07:40:18 AM



Title: 3.5%
Post by: golden on May 16, 2012, 07:40:18 AM
Why is a 3.5% threshold required in the Oregon primary in order for a presidential contender to be allocated National Convention delegates?

Why such an "odd" number? Normally thresholds like 15%, 20% or 25% are used.
Even a threshold of π % would seem more logical to me.


Title: Re: 3.5%
Post by: True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자) on May 17, 2012, 12:34:43 AM
The 3.5% figure given in the Green Pages is probably in error as it is not in the 2012 OR GOP Rules.  It may have been in the 2008 rules which the Green Pages gives the same 3.5% floor, as the guy who does the Green Pages tends to cut and paste the old rules, which sometimes causes errors to creep in. 3.5% is to the nearest half of a percent what 1 delegate was worth in 2008 (and 2012).   Since Oregon allows write-in votes for primaries, applying the 2012 rules to the 2008 results with no floor would have resulted in some random write-in guy getting a delegate, so that probably was the purpose of the floor.  The floor wouldn't have come into play this year even if it had been in the rules.