Voters in four states head to primaries or caucus sites Tuesday to have their say in the Republican presidential primary process. Combined, the four contests will award 12 percent of the delegates needed to win the GOP nomination. Here’s a state-by-state breakdown of how the delegates will be allocated once the votes are counted. (All times are EST.)
Hawaii
Caucuses occur between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.
Total delegates: 19
At-large delegates: 10. Proportional distribution. Candidates are not required to reach any specific threshold to earn delegates.
Congressional district delegates: 6. Hawaii has two congressional districts. Each district gets three delegates. Delegates are awarded proportionally in each district with no threshold.
Idaho
Polls close: 10 p.m.
Total delegates: 32. Delegates are awarded proportionally based on the statewide vote. If a candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, he gets all 32 delegates. Candidates must pass a 20 percent threshold to earn any delegates.
Michigan
Polls close: 8 p.m.
Total delegates: 59. Proportional distribution. Candidates must pass a 15 percent threshold to earn any delegates. If any candidate earns more than 50 percent of the statewide vote, he receives all 59 delegates.
Otherwise, delegates are allocated based on their percentage of the “qualified vote,” meaning only votes cast for candidates who pass 15 percent will matter when distributing delegates.
For example, say candidate A gets 40 percent of all votes, candidates B and C each get 25 percent and candidate D gets 10 percent. Candidate D gets no delegates because he did not pass 15 percent of the vote, and his votes don’t matter for delegate distribution. Of the remaining votes, candidate A got 44 percent, so he gets 44 percent (26 delegates after rounding) of the 59 delegates. Candidates B and C each get 16 delegates. That adds up to 58 delegates. Candidate A gets the leftover delegate because he won the statewide vote.
If Candidate A gets 50 percent of the “qualified vote” but not 50 percent of the statewide vote, the delegates are still awarded proportionally.
Mississippi
Polls close: 8 p.m.
Total delegates: 40
At-large delegates: 25. Proportional distribution. Candidates must pass a 15 percent threshold to earn any delegates. Delegates are distributed among the qualified candidates based on votes only for candidates passing the 15 percent threshold. If one candidate gets less than 15 percent of the total vote, the delegates are distributed according to the vote totals only among the remaining three candidates.
Congressional district delegates: 12. Mississippi has four congressional districts. Each gets three delegates. If a candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in a district, he gets all three delegates. Otherwise, the leading candidate in each district gets two delegates and the runner-up gets one.
In every state, three of the total delegates are RNC delegates: the national committeeman, the national committeewoman, and the chairman of the state party. These delegates are tied to a specific candidate, they are not allowed to choose whomever they want like superdelegates can on the Democratic side.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
