Who gets to vote and how many votes does it take to change a rule at the convention?
The delegates, and a simple majority.
Which is why the premise of this article is silly: if Trump goes into the convention with 1237 votes (and I think he probably will), his delegates are not going to vote to require more than 1237 votes for the nomination. If he goes into the convention with fewer than 1237 delegates, there will be no need to change the rule to stop Trump.
The Rules Committee sets the Convention Rules prior to the Convention in Cleveland.
The question is, does the body of delegates IN the convention get to approve the Rules and/or rules changes?
I am also hearing show on news reports that the candidates with the most delegates will be allowed to set their people on the Rules Committee and therefore the Rules changes should be set for the upcoming Convention, which are agreeable to TRUMP and Cruz.
Can’t bank that, but that is the word I heard.
We can google the Republican National Convention Rules 2016.
Supposedly they have a delegate graphic up that explains how a Contested (OPEN) Convention would work, in the event that happens.
Does it matter ? From what I’ve seen on TV, these are “voice votes” to the floor calling for “Nay” or “Yay” and the Speaker of the House decides he heard more of whichever one he wanted.
This rule has been in effect for over 150 years. If someone reaches that number they should have it
Probably the “Rules Committee” (Priebus surrogates).
The rules committee, RNC GOPe insiders propose the changes, A “majority” of the delegates approve the rules. The vote could be by voice at 5AM and the rule would be adopted.