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Welcome to the Monday, March 9, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- What happens to Democratic delegates allocated to withdrawn candidates?
- Ballotpedia partners with Transparency USA to provide state-level campaign finance data
- Federal Register adds fewest pages in a week since January 3
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What happens to Democratic delegates allocated to withdrawn candidates?
Super Tuesday is now behind us - after an eventful week for everyone in the political sphere. Last week was an eventful one for Ballotpedia, as our staff worked through the night on Super Tuesday and the following days to process and analyze election results. After last week’s results, seven Democratic presidential candidates have earned at least one pledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention—Michael Bloomberg, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren.
Four of those candidates receiving pledged delegates—Bloomberg, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Warren— suspended their presidential campaigns last week. This then begs the question: What will happen to their delegates?
The Delegate Selection Rules for the 2020 Democratic National Convention include two provisions dealing with the binding of delegates to the candidates they supported at the time of their selection.
- "No delegate at any level of the delegate selection process shall be mandated by law or Party rule to vote contrary to that person’s presidential choice as expressed at the time the delegate is elected."—Rule 13.I (p. 14)
- "Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them."—Rule 13.J (p. 14)
Outside of these clauses, the Delegate Selection Rules don’t include guidelines for pledged delegates allocated to candidates who withdraw from the race.
Twelve out of 50 states, however, have laws providing instructions about the release of these delegates. These states have established provisions that release delegates in up to three ways—upon a candidate's withdrawal, at the candidate's direction, or after a specific number of ballots have been taken at the national convention.
Eight states—Arizona, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, and Tennessee—allow for the release of pledged delegates either upon a candidate's withdrawal, at the candidate's direction, or after a specific number of ballots have been taken at the convention. Indiana only allows for the release of pledged delegates after a specific number of ballots. The other three states—Connecticut, Georgia, and Oklahoma—allow pledged delegates to be released either upon a candidate's withdrawal or at the candidate's direction.
Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Tennessee conducted their primaries last week. Thirty-nine pledged delegates were allocated based on those results to candidates who have ended their presidential campaigns—27 to Warren and 12 to Bloomberg.
Based on the latest projections, 157 pledged delegates have been allocated to candidates who are no longer running for the Democratic presidential nomination—Warren (64), Bloomberg (60), Buttigieg (26), and Klobuchar (7). Of the remaining candidates, Biden has 638 pledged delegates, Sanders has 563, and Gabbard has two. There have been 1,360 pledged delegates allocated overall.
To win the Democratic nomination, a presidential candidate must receive support from a majority of the pledged delegates on the first ballot, which equates to 1,991 pledged delegates. If the convention is contested and goes to a second ballot or more, automatic delegates will be able to vote and a candidate must receive majority support from all delegates—2,375.5. In 2020, there will be 4,750 delegates to the Democratic National Convention—3,979 pledged delegates and 771 automatic delegates.
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Ballotpedia partners with Transparency USA to provide improved state campaign finance data
I’m excited to share with you today one of our newest initiatives—in partnership with Transparency USA—which provides improved campaign finance data to enable voters to better understand this aspect of political campaigns. Starting today, voters can see easy-to-understand campaign finance data from Transparency USA for all state-level candidates in Texas, North Carolina, and Ohio, with plans to expand this to six more states in 2020. Thousands of candidate articles on Ballotpedia will contain this campaign finance information. Voters can search on Transparency USA’s sites by candidate, PAC, or donor to find out more information in those states.
Transparency USA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization that provides searchable state-level campaign finance data. Our new tool—powered by Transparency USA’s data—will allow voters in nine states to track campaign finance data in nearly-real-time. The information is powered by the analysts at Transparency USA, with the raw data coming straight from state government filings. The standardized format is designed to be straightforward and convenient, with campaign finance information easily found on Ballotpedia’s profiles of each state-level candidate (for races such as governor and secretary of state) as well as on our state legislative candidates and elections articles.
Campaign finance is a complicated part of the election process - and often the information is hard to find or not available until after the election. We’re so excited to be able to share this information with our readers at an earlier phase of the election cycle. We’re proud to partner with Transparency USA to bring campaign finance information to our readers and simplify the search for who’s giving, who’s getting, and how the money is being spent in these states. Voters in Texas, North Carolina, and Ohio can see the following information on 2020 state-level candidate pages starting today:
- Total contributions to each campaign
- Total expenditures from each campaign
- The top ten individuals or organizations contributing to each campaign
- The top ten individuals or organizations being paid by each campaign
- The number of donors to each campaign
- The number of payees from each campaign
Here are a couple of examples of the data you’ll see on candidates’ profile pages:
Ballotpedia plans to roll out this information for six additional states–Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—ahead of their primaries later this year.
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Federal Register adds fewest pages in a week since January 3
It’s time to provide an update in the Brew regarding the Federal Register, which is something we track regularly at Ballotpedia.
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity. We monitor page counts and other information about the Federal Register each week as part of our Administrative State Project.
Last week, the Federal Register grew by 1,268 pages for a year-to-date total of 13,474 pages. This was the fewest number of pages added during a full calendar week so far in 2020. From January 1 to January 3, the Federal Register grew by 418 pages.
Over the same period in 2019 and 2018, the Federal Register reached 8,588 pages and 10,552 pages, respectively. As of March 6, the 2020 total was greater than the 2019 total by 4,886 pages and the 2018 total by 2,922 pages.
This week’s Federal Register featured the following 641 documents:
- 420 notices
- 11 presidential documents
- 30 proposed rules
- 59 final rules
Two proposed rules were deemed significant under E.O. 12866—meaning that they could have large impacts on the economy, environment, public health, or state or local governments. Significant actions may also conflict with presidential priorities or other agency rules. The Trump administration in 2020 has issued nine significant proposed rules and 16 significant final rules as of March 6.
The Trump administration added an average of 1,369 pages to the Federal Register each week in 2019 and an average of 1,301 pages each week over the course of 2018. During the Obama administration, the Federal Register increased by an average of 1,658 pages per week.
Our Administrative State Project includes information about the administrative and regulatory activities of the United States government as well as concepts, laws, court cases, executive orders, scholarly work, and other material related to the administrative state. You can stay up to date on actions at both the federal and state level related to rulemaking, the separation of powers, and due process by subscribing to our monthly Checks and Balances newsletter.
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The Lucy Burns Institute, publisher of Ballotpedia, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All donations are tax deductible to the extent of the law. Donations to the Lucy Burns Institute or Ballotpedia do not support any candidates or campaigns.
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