Republican Delegate Allocation Rules by State (2016)

Convention: State will bind delegates to the national convention at a state/territory convention. Other conventions will leave the delegation unbound.

Proportional: State will proportionally allocated delegates based either on the statewide primary/caucus vote or on the combination of the statewide and congressional district votes.

Proportional with Trigger: State will follow above proportional rules but allows for a winner-take-all allocation if a candidate wins a majority of the vote statewide or at the congressional district level.

Hybrid: State will follow some form of winner-take-more plan (i.e.: winner-take-all by congressional district) or directly elects delegates on the primary ballot.

Winner-take-all: State will award all delegates to the plurality winner of the primary or caucus.

*s indicate that there is more nuance to the rules than can be condensed to tabular form. When in doubt, read the full discussion of the state's plan by following the link in the table.

Detailed 2016 Republican Delegate Allocation

What I've noticed thus far on FR is "poster-gunners" gunnin' for highlighting the "splash" of the given state primary victory.

Yet, delegate-wise, 'tis only a handful of state primaries where "winner-takes-all"...
...states like Delaware, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Arizona, Ohio, Florida, & NJ (+ Virgin Islands & one other territory).

While, yes, each primary sends signals as to...
...who has momentum;
who is stagnating;
who isn't resonating at all;
who may be more likely to squeeze few $ out of donors;
and who may seriously consider ending their campaign right now (or after next primary)...
...if you notice from the charts provided at the link, a state "win" isn't as significant as many posters attempt to make it out to be.

Except in those winner-take-all states, delegates are proportionally assigned...tho another dozen states have a "winner takes all" should a given candidate secure a majority of votes.

Hence, Trump's NH win isn't all that "trump-worthy" over the other candidates...& neither was Cruz' in IA.

'Tis a marathon, folks! There's no "win-loss" primary record kept like football & other major sports; indeed, tho, if you're gonna come out as the eventual nominee, you're gonna have to take some states sometime.

I can only imagine how loosey-goosey The Powers That Be can play with these rules. "Backdoor"?? What the... It's their party and Party, so they can (and will) do what they want.

1 Qualifying threshold: Some states require candidates receive a certain percentage of the vote either statewide or on the congressional district level to qualify for at-large (statewide) and/or congressional district delegates. By rule, that threshold can be no higher than 20%.

2 Winner-take-all threshold: In a number of states, there is, as allowed by the rules of the Republican Party, also a percentage of the vote that a candidate can hit statewide and/or on the congressional district level and be allocated all of the at-large and/or congressional district delegates. That threshold can be set no lower than 50%, a simple majority.

3 Backdoor winner-take-all: Under the rules in some states, it is possible for a candidate to win all of the at-large and/or congressional district delegates if that candidate is the only one over the qualifying threshold. Such a backdoor route to a winner-take-all or winner-take-more allocation is prohibited in some states.

4 Number of ballots bound: The RNC rules defer to the state parties the ability to bind delegates and the length of that binding. For the majority of states that point is after the first ballot. There is, however, some variation in this across states. Some extend it, while other states keep the delegates bound until released by the candidates to whom they are bound.

5 Winner's rounding: There is also variation in rounding rules across states in the event of over- or under-allocated delegates. In a number of states, those rounding rules favor primary/caucus winners or those at the top of the order to the detriment of those candidates at the bottom of the order (just above the qualifying threshold). Other states have different rounding rules, based on the distance from the rounding threshold (typically .5).

6 Pooled delegates: Some states opt to pool and allocate all of their delegates as a block (with either proportionally or in a winner-take-all manner) while other states divide the allocation (again either proportional or winner-take-all) across both the statewide and congressional districts. This distinction is particularly relevant when it comes to either the winner-take-all threshold or the various backdoor winner-take-all scenarios that are possible. It means the difference between winning some larger fraction of delegates or all of them in some cases. -- For those wanting to read ahead, summary details on later states can be found in the RNC process book.

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