By Leah Askarinam, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 2,500 delegates are gathering in Milwaukee this week for a roll-call vote to select the Republican presidential nominee, officially ending the presidential primary.
It will be a suspense-free moment: Former President Donald Trump has already been the presumptive nominee for months, having won a majority of delegates at the convention on March 12, but he does not officially become the party’s standard-bearer until after the roll call, when delegates vote on the nominee.
A large majority of those delegates are already committed to supporting Trump, who needs only a majority to win the Republican nomination. However, due to state party rules, at least a handful of delegates are still expected to go to former candidate Nikki Haley, even after she releases her delegates.
While Democratic delegates are technically allowed to deviate from their chosen candidate to vote their conscience, Republican delegates remain tied to their nominated candidate, regardless of their personal views. That means party rules all but guarantee that Trump will officially become the nominee this week.
When is the call and how will it take place?
The head of each state delegation will announce in turn, in alphabetical order, its results. If a delegation misses its turn, it will have another opportunity to announce its results at the end of the roll call.
Republicans have not yet announced the time and date of the call.
How many delegates will support Trump?
At least 2,268 delegates will support Trump at the Republican National Convention, although his ceiling is even higher than that.
Most states send delegates to the convention who are “bound” to a particular candidate, meaning that these delegates are required to support a particular candidate at the convention. State political parties use the results of primaries or caucuses and smaller party rallies to decide how to allocate these delegates to the various presidential candidates.
But at least 150 Republican delegates — including the entire delegations from Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota — are technically “free,” meaning they can vote for any candidate at the convention. Dozens of those delegates have already confirmed to the AP that they plan to vote for Trump at the convention — reflected in the 2,268 delegates already pledged to Trump. Some of those delegates have also said they expect their peers to vote for Trump, though those delegates have not confirmed their intentions to the AP.
What happens to the delegates of a candidate who withdraws?
Trump will likely be the only candidate officially in the running for the nomination, as RNC rules require candidates to win a plurality of delegates in at least five states. Trump is the only candidate to win five states in the primaries — Haley won only Vermont and Washington, D.C. — and no other candidate has won a Republican nomination contest this year. However, individual state rules dictate whether delegates tied to withdrawn candidates are allowed to vote for another candidate, and some require delegates to remain committed to their candidate regardless.
For example, a spokesperson for the North Carolina Republican Party confirmed that Haley’s delegates remain tied to her, under state rules. She won 12 delegates in that state’s March primary. In New Hampshire, however, state rules state that the nine delegates Haley pledged are free to vote for another candidate since she formally withdrew from the race, with no requirement to formally release them.
In Iowa, where four Republican presidential candidates received delegates, a party spokesman confirmed that state rules stipulate that all 40 delegates will support the only candidate whose name will be considered: Trump.
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