The Texas GOP appears to have approved the change, but it seems I overstated the vastness of the change earlier.
The delegates will still be bound based on the results of the primary (and the allocations of bindings are proportional). The delegates are still bound for up to three ballots; they will not even be polled on the first ballot.
Sorry, can you clarify this? Are you saying that the delegates will be chosen in April, but then their vote at the RNC will be bound by the results of the primary, which isn't until May or June?
Sorry. There will be district conventions in April, which choose delegates to the State Convention. The State Convention (as a whole or by districts) chooses the delegates to Tampa. These delegates need not be vetted or approved by any campaign.
The State Chairman then assigns each delegate a candidate they are bound to based on the results of the primary (each candidate gets a number of delegates directly proportional to the statewide vote).
This allocation of delegates will be what Texas reports as its vote for the first ballot (the delegates are not even polled), unless the candidate decides to release them. They are also bound on the second ballot (although the delegates may be polled?). If a candidate receives less than 20% of the vote on the second ballot, their delegates are released for the third. All delegates are released for the fourth.
So if this does drag out for several ballots, the preferences of the delegates (chosen by the State Convention only, not vetted in any way by any campaign) become important.
