No matter who you vote for Tuesday as your choice for the presidential nominee, experts said there’s another vote in Pennsylvania that’s equally, if not more, important.
Those are the delegates to the party’s conventions. Experts said those votes are especially important on the Republican side.
“Somebody could vote for Cruz for their presidential choice, but then vote for three delegates who aren’t Cruz delegates,” Ryan Belz, a delegate candidate, said. “Vice versa, they could vote for Trump and pick three Cruz delegates.”
Most states GOP convention delegates are picked on a winner-take-all or proportional basis, but in Pennsylvania, 54 Republican delegates aren’t bound to a candidate and do not have to announce their intent before Tuesday. The delegates who win can then vote any way they want at convention.
“Voters aren’t selecting the individuals who they want to lead their party, they’re selecting people who will select the individual who is going to lead the party in the general election,” Zachary Baumann, a lecturer in the Penn State Political Science department, said.
Registered Democrats will vote for pledge delegates, who are then bound to vote for their nominee.
Experts suggest researching each delegate candidate to know who you’re voting for.
“We’re having lots of discussions now about rules and whether we like the system that’s in place,” Baumann said. “Do you like the Republican process in Pennsylvania, which essentially allows the delegates selected to make up their own mind in terms of who to support, allow them to change their mind in who they support, all the way up to the point that they cast a vote at the convention?”
The polls open in Pennsylvania Tuesday morning at 7:00a.m.
For a list of the delegate candidates that will appear on the ballot throughout the state and who they currently support for president, click here for a PennLive article.