Why Delegates Matter

The Conventions are not rigged insider affairs: they’re run-offs.

by Rod D. Martin
April 29, 2016

Despite holding 200 more delegates than he would were the races decided proportionally, Donald Trump and his supporters have taken to screaming that "the process is rigged," that proportional representation should rule, and that a plurality -- not a majority -- should determine the Republican nomination.

This is of course just campaign talk. The Trumpkins did not feel this way when they won 99 of 99 Florida delegates with just 45% of the vote.

Still, this increasingly shrill line of attack is a problem, particularly in a country where fewer people than ever actually understand the system or why it's designed the way it is. "Rigged" now means "my guy isn't getting his way." It also means "not fair" by the most superficial of definitions, without regard to centuries of accumulated wisdom.

Delegates matter. No, they don’t have to be selected exactly the way they are now in the various Republican contests. But the specific details of their selection are not as i…