Oklahoma’s delegation is made up of 79 Oklahoma Republicans, including 41 delegates and 38 alternates. The 41 delegates include three automatic delegates who do not have alternates: the State Chairman (Gary Jones), the National Committeeman (Lynn Windel) and the National Committeewoman (Bunny Chambers). All three of those officers are elected at the state convention and may vote for whom they please at the RNC. And why 41 for Oklahoma? Too complicated to go into here, but if you really want to know, here you are.
The other delegates and alternates came to the convention in one of two ways. Each congressional district elected three delegates and three alternates, and those delegates pledged to vote at the RNC for the candidate who got the most votes in their congressional district on Feb. 5, 2008. Failure to vote that way is a misdemeanor in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, John McCain won the 3rd, 4th and 5th districts, and Mike Huckabee won the 1st and 2nd districts. Huckabee’s delegates are now free to vote for their personal preference, because he has released them to do so.
To win their slots, those district delegates and alternates gave speeches at their district conventions this past spring, which followed precinct and county meetings, and preceded the state convention. The voters who selected them were Republicans who attended their precinct, county and district meetings. The Fifth District, for instance, had a couple hundred voters present and about 20 candidates for delegate.
The other 23 delegates and 23 alternates were selected by a group of activists that come together from all over the state and consider applicants for those at-large slots. The slate they select is then ratified at the state convention. The at-large delegates must cast their votes by Oklahoma law for the candidate who won the state on Feb. 5, 2008. That was, of course, John McCain.
It is never a given that a person elected as a delegate is necessarily a supporter of the person they are supposed to vote for at the RNC. That was never more true than in 2008, when supporters of Ron Paul made a run at trying to control the delegation. They mounted efforts at the district conventions that were successful in some cases, and an effort at the state convention that was not.
Delegates and alternates pay their own way to the RNC.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:36 am
[...] the 810,675 Oklahoma Republicans in St. Paul. If this doesn’t make sense, see the last post. I’ll try to introduce you to as many of these people next week as I can. Each of them [...]
September 4th, 2008 at 8:53 am
[...] The two votes for Ron Paul were from delegates that had been allocated to Mike Huckabee, and those people can now legally vote for who they want. They were elected on a Ron Paul platform at their district convention. (See more explanation here.) [...]