California's Votes Will Matter! At the Convention, They'll Matter.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I love our Democratic Nominating Conventions (except maybe 1968). I watch them every four years. I listen to the speeches and watch the busy convention floor activity, but what I like best of all is the roll call of the states. I'll be watching that this year, too.
It's exciting, even if I already know what the result will be. The states vote in alphabetical order, as called by the Convention chair. It would be simple, except that states have the option of yielding to another state, rather than voting in order. That's where California may give us all a nice gift.
As each state is called, or later, if a state yields, the chairperson of that state's delegation announces its votes:
"Madam Chairperson! The great state of Alaska has nn votes for Bernie Sanders and nn votes for Hillary Clinton!"
Those numbers for each candidate include both the votes from the previously allocated pledged delegates plus the votes of that state's unpledged "Super Delegates." Both groups vote at the same time, and there's no separate announcement.
As each state announces its vote, the tally board shows the total vote for each candidate. One by one, the states announce their votes and the tally grows. At some point, one of the candidates has the required majority and becomes the nominee. Typically, at that point, someone moves to suspend the rules for a vote by acclamation for the winner.
Here's where California may come in. As one of the last states to hold its primary, it may well decide to yield to the other states until its votes will put a candidate over the top with a majority. It's a dramatic move, and the delegation chairs will have to agree to do it that way, of course, but why not? It may well happen just that way. California, after all has the largest delegation at the convention.
Now, it might not happen like that, but it doesn't matter. California's votes will play a large role in determining who will be the nominee. We'll all know who that is beforehand, of course, since a good number of the unpledged delegates have already announced how they will vote. But, the drama of the moment when the nominee has the required majority is an exciting thing.
I'll be watching. I always watch. I'm looking forward to the moment when Hillary Clinton's vote tally goes over that majority point. Since I lived in California for over 50 years of my life, I'm kind of hoping that California yields to become the state that pushes Hillary over the top. I'd like that.
I hope you'll all join me that night in watching the votes being tallied and supporting the winner as the general election campaign gets under way officially. It's going to be a great day, indeed!
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