Mar 4, 2008 7:30 pm US/Eastern
Texas Dems Get Two Chances To Get Ballot Right
Lone Star State Democrats Get To Vote In Both Primary And Caucus
DALLAS (AP) ―
Texans have an interesting advantage over the rest of the nation in that they can vote twice today. Some call it the "Texas Two-Step".
Democratic voters get to cast their ballot in the primary and meet again on Election Day to caucus.
"It's not that confusing. You get to vote twice in Texas," voter Sophia Johnson explained. "Once in the primary, [and] once in the caucus. That's the way I understood."
Johnson is right.
Voters can only caucus at their designated voting precinct. Caucuses begin 15 minutes after the polls close and voters have the option of returning to participate. Only voters who participate in the democratic primary can attend a caucus.
During the caucus voters decide, as a group, on which candidate they prefer. The caucus vote accounts for roughly 1/3 of the available Texas delegates.
Texas has a total of 228 democratic delegates to award - based on the combination of primary and caucus results. Only 126 of those delegates will be decided through traditional voting… either at the polls or through early voting. The other 67 delegates are decided at precinct conventions – or caucuses.
The breakdown means that roughly 55-percent of delegates will be awarded from primary results and about 30-percent from the caucuses. The system could mean that one candidate could win the popular vote, but wind up with fewer delegates.
For the republicans, there are 140 delegates up for grabs in Texas. Almost all of those are awarded based on primary results.
Both Republican and democrat voters can return to their voting places tonight after the polls close if they would like to become delegates who want to go to their party's national convention later this year.
The Republican National Convention will be held in St. Paul, Minnesota in September. The Democratic National Convention will be held in Denver in August.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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