{"id":4887,"date":"2016-04-11T06:00:26","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=4887"},"modified":"2016-04-10T09:01:16","modified_gmt":"2016-04-10T16:01:16","slug":"the-election-process-explained-sort-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=4887","title":{"rendered":"The Election Process Explained . . . Sort Of"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bob Sparrow<\/p>\n

\"elephant<\/a>To go from my sister\u2019s emotion-filled description of her experience at the 9\/11 Museum<\/strong> in New York<\/strong> to my discussion of today\u2019s politics is like going from dining on filet minion to choking down some chipped beef on toast. But you can\u2019t have steak every night and we can no longer ignore the elephant or the donkey, (or more aptly, asses) in the room. However, we do understand that the subject of politics can be polarizing, so I\u2019m just going to try to \u2018splain\u2019 some things, because politics can also be confusing.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re now in the middle of presidential candidates vying for\u00a0electoral votes<\/strong> via the state\u2019s \u2018primary\u2019<\/strong> or \u2018caucus\u2019\u00a0<\/strong>process. There are \u2018open primaries\u2019<\/strong>, as well as \u2018closed primaries\u2019<\/strong>; there are \u2018semi-open primary\u2019<\/strong> and \u2018semi-closed primary\u2019<\/strong>. You would think that should just about cover it all; but it doesn\u2019t, as there are also\u00a0\u2018blanket primaries\u2019<\/strong> and of course the ever-popular \u2018nonpartisan blanket primaries\u2019<\/strong>. If you\u2019re already confused, that\u2019s exactly where the politicians want you.<\/p>\n

Some states don\u2019t use the \u2018primary\u2019<\/strong> process for delegate voting, but rather they have a \u2018caucus\u2019<\/strong>, where a select group of community leaders gather together in high school gymnasiums, church basements or community centers to cast their votes. The results of the caucus voting, however, do not directly determine which candidate will win the support of that state\u2019s voters for the presidential nomination, so sometimes the caucus is just a place where locals stand around and try to figure out what a caucus is.<\/p>\n

\"gummy<\/a>

Really???<\/p><\/div>\n

Whether the delegates vote in a primary<\/strong> or in a caucus<\/strong>, it is a very confusing process that varies state-by-state<\/strong>; for example, all the delegates in Louisiana<\/strong> can change their mind and thus their allegiance after the first vote in the state. In order to understand how delegate votes are gathered, you would need to know the importance of \u00a0the terms winnowing, calendar and front-loading. \u00a0Just know that it is possible for a candidate to \u2018win\u2019 the state in the primary, but actually end up with fewer delegates. And let\u2019s not forget about the \u2018super delegates\u2019<\/strong>, a position that the Democrats<\/strong> created in 1968<\/strong> after they felt that the regular delegates were doing a poor job of selecting presidential candidates. If you\u2019re thinking that \u2018super delegates\u2019 would give us \u2018super candidates\u2019, think again. Regardless if it\u2019s a \u2018primary\u2019<\/strong> or a \u2018caucus\u2019<\/strong>, the object is to get the required number of delegate votes to win the nomination at the convention. But what happens, you ask, if no candidate gets the required number of votes?<\/p>\n

Ahh, then we have a \u2018brokered convention\u2019<\/strong>, which is another contentious\u00a0process whose rules read in part as follows . . .<\/p>\n

On the first ballot at a brokered convention, delegates from all states and territories except<\/span> Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota, Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam <\/strong>and a few from Louisiana<\/strong> must vote for the candidate who won their support on the day of their state\u2019s primary or caucus<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On the second ballot, \u201c55 percent of a state\u2019s delegates will be free to vote for whomever they want.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not making this shit up!<\/p>\n

The confusion and convolutedness of this process is only overshadowed by the puerility and pretentious nature of this year\u2019s line-up of self-absorbed candidates. We started with over 20<\/strong>\u00a0hopefuls, who thought they could solve our country\u2019s problems that they mostly\u00a0helped create; we are now down to the following five<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\"trump\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Trump<\/strong> \u2013 A snake oil salesman who has come at a time when our country is apparently in need of snake oil.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Hilary\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hilary<\/strong> \u2013 who, if she can perfect her phony genuine smile, could win.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"sanders\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sanders<\/strong> \u2013 If he wins, will be the only president required to sign a \u2018Do Not Resuscitate\u2019 document prior to his inaugural speech.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"poor<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cruz<\/strong> – has realized that being the son of Cuban immigrants isn\u2019t enough; so listen for him to vow that he was born a poor black child.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"ozzie2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kasich<\/strong> \u2013 Listening to him is like watching an episode of Ozzie & Harriet<\/em><\/strong> where Ozzie is trying to tell Thorny why he\u2019s running for city counsel<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once each party selects its nominee, and after months of the requisite mud-slinging, we then go to the general election where a candidate can win the popular vote, but lose the election via that arcane institution called the \u2018Electoral College\u2019<\/strong>, whose mascot is the Cheetah<\/strong>. You don\u2019t really know how this process works either and you don\u2019t want to know!<\/p>\n

\"electoral<\/a>

Go Cheetahs!<\/p><\/div>\n

On Election Day<\/strong>, we in California<\/strong> are particularly frustrated, as by the time many of us actually get to cast a vote, the networks have already predicted a winner. We vote anyway as we like to show off the little sticker we put on our shirt that says, \u201cI voted\u201d<\/strong>. Emotionally, we feel like we were part of the process of selecting the leader of the free world, but intellectually we know that our ballot went the way of\u00a0the hanging chad.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I wonder why we all just don\u2019t put our heads down on our desks, close our eyes and raise our hands when we hear a name we like. Hey, it worked in elementary school and after listening to this year\u2019s debates, that\u2019s probably fitting. It couldn\u2019t possibly produce worse results.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bob Sparrow To go from my sister\u2019s emotion-filled description of her experience at the 9\/11 Museum in New York to my discussion of today\u2019s politics is like going from dining on filet minion to choking down some chipped beef … read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2141],"tags":[2139,2131,2137,2132,2140,2135,2138,2130,2136,2133,2134],"class_list":["post-4887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-brokered-convention","tag-caucus","tag-cruz","tag-delgages","tag-election-day","tag-hilary","tag-kasich","tag-primary","tag-sanders","tag-superdelegates","tag-trump"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/elephant-donkey.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31aN0-1gP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4887"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4902,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4887\/revisions\/4902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}