Presidential Primary Prep
By now, everyone should know that Tuesday, April 19, is the presidential primary in New York State. To vote in the primary, you must be registered Republican or a registered Democrat. If you are not sure if you are registered in one of the two major parties, you can check your status by clicking here.
If you are a registered Republican, your ballot choices on Tuesday will be easy. You can vote for Donald Trump, John Kasich, Ben Carson (even though he has withdrawn from the race), or Ted Cruz.
If you are a registered Democrat, you will be asked to vote not only for a presidential candidate--either Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton--but also for five delegates to the Democratic National Convention from the 19th Congressional District.
The delegates whose names appear on the same line as a candidate's are the delegates who support that candidate. The delegates on Line A support Bernie Sanders; the delegates on Line B support Hillary Clinton. You don't necessarily have to vote for the five delegates who support the candidate you choose. You can vote for delegates on either line, so long as you vote for no more than five.
On the ballot, (F) or (M) appears after each delegate's name, and, yes, that is the indication of their gender. According to New York State Democratic Party rules, the delegation to the National Convention must be made up of an equal number of women and men, hence the gender indicators.
The polls are open on Tuesday from noon until 9 p.m. Voters in the First, Second, and Third wards vote at St. Mary's Academy at Third and Allen streets; voters in the Fourth Ward vote at 401 State Street; voters in the Fifth Ward vote at the Central Fire Station, 77 North Seventh Street.
COPYRIGHT 2016 CAROLE OSTERINK
On the Dem side, if you don't vote for the delegates, and just for Sanders or Clinton, then it is possible that one candidate could win the popular vote in a congressional district, but lose the delegates. Who wins the nomination is based on delegates, not popular vote. So vote for the delegates, or you will be effectively disenfranchised. I was just looking this up, when a Sanders worker knocked on my door, and he confirmed what I am saying here. I was actually typing this comment when he knocked. Now wasn't that serendipitous? :)
ReplyDeleteThis is Karen Feldman’s explanation of the delegate votes, which she has allowed me to pass along: “... the Hillary delegates are not running against the Bernie delegates. The delegate vote is only to determine the order of priority amongst each set of delegates as to who goes to the convention. For example, if Hillary gets 60% of the vote in our congressional district (19th CD) and Bernie gets 40%, then 60% of Hillary’s delegates in the 19th CD will go (i.e., the top 3 delegates—the last 2 will not go). That’s why it is important to be one of the top vote-getting delegates. You can vote for any combination of delegates you want, regardless of your vote for President. So you can vote for Bernie and then vote for Hillary delegates and vice versa (or vote for less than 5 delegates). “ And Karen generally knows what she’s talking about ...
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