WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump is on the brink of unofficially securing the Republican presidential nomination for a third time as voters cast their ballots in Georgia, Mississippi, Washington and Hawaii on Tuesday. But it can be done in these states, which require about 8 out of 10 delegates. If not, you will have to wait up to a week before you can claim the title of presumptive candidate again.
The former president's near-total victory on Super Tuesday last week, and his recent victory in the American Samoa caucuses, left him just 126 delegates short of the 1,215 needed to win the nomination. That includes 11 Texas delegates that the state party announced Tuesday would go to Trump. The party had previously planned to award delegates at the state convention in May, but instead decided to award delegates based on the March 5 primary election, citing a violation of Republican National Committee rules. did.
President Trump currently needs to win about 78% of the 161 delegates in Tuesday's race, but he won 93% of last week's massive Super Tuesday delegate pick. If you think about it, that seems like a reasonable goal.
With former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley withdrawing from the race, there is little doubt that Trump will win most, or perhaps all, of the delegates he is expected to win on Tuesday. But the exact timing of when he reaches that milestone, and which states put him over the top, will depend on how much of an advantage Trump has in Tuesday's race, and whether election officials or party members It will depend on how quickly rally organizers provide updates on voting results.
One reason for the delay in awarding delegates to candidates may be the determination of voting results at the Congressional district level.
All four states holding Republican elections on Tuesday will allocate a portion of their delegates based on voting results in their congressional districts. But most states tally votes at the county level rather than at the precinct level, at least for non-House races. Doing this can be a complex and time-consuming task, since many congressional district boundaries do not neatly line up with county boundaries. A county may be included in more than one of her congressional districts. This means that once a county's results are reported on election night, they must be further analyzed and parsed in order to divide them into the appropriate congressional districts.
It is easier to determine the winner of a state's House district when a candidate has a strong lead statewide and also in the counties that make up the district. Become. As the race approaches, it may take some time to determine the results at districts.
In Georgia and Washington, a candidate can win all delegates in a district by winning a majority of votes in that district. In Mississippi, a candidate can win all 12 district delegates by winning a majority of the statewide vote. In all three states, if a candidate does not meet the required majority vote threshold, delegates for a district are allocated proportionally to the votes in that district. Hawaii distributes delegates in six districts proportionally based on caucus results, regardless of whether a candidate receives a majority of votes.
The first vote of the night in Georgia, which has 59 Republican delegates, 42 of whom are elected in 14 congressional districts, ends at 7 p.m. EDT. Voting ends in Mississippi at 8 p.m. EDT, and if no candidate wins a statewide majority, 12 of the state's 40 delegates will be elected in four congressional districts. At 11 p.m. EDT, polls close in Washington with 43 delegates, 30 of whom will be elected in 10 Congressional districts.
These three states have 142 delegates. To win the nomination before the Hawaii caucuses end, Trump needs to win all but five delegates from Georgia, Mississippi and Washington.
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