Nevada Democratic Party
May 14, 2016

Final Allocation of Pledged National Delegates for NV Dems

Las Vegas, NV – The Nevada State Democratic Party held its 2016 State Convention today, the final step in a three-tiered delegate selection process to choose the Democratic nominee for President. In the final credential report, Hillary Clinton had 1,695 Delegates and Bernie Sanders had 1,662 Delegates at the State Convention. Nevada will send 20 Pledged National Delegates for Clinton and 15 for Sanders.

Here is the final overview of the allocation for Pledged National Delegates from Nevada to the 2016 Democratic National Convention:

Pledged Delegate Categories Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders
District-Level Delegates (23) 13 10
At-Large Delegates (7) 4 3
Pledged PLEO Delegates (5) 3 2
TOTAL (35) 20 15

 

Nevada will send a total of 43 Delegates and 3 Alternates to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July. Delegates at the State Convention elect 35 Pledged Delegates and 3 Alternates. There are also 8 Unpledged PLEO Delegates, Democratic elected officials and party leaders who decide independently which presidential candidate they will support.

The District-Level Delegates are allocated based on the percentage of the precinct caucus vote on February 20. The At-Large and Pledged PLEO Delegates are determined based on the State Convention results.

Ed. note: The convention was contentious.  Sample headlines:

"Chaos At Nevada Democratic Convention; State Party Chair Flees As Sanders Supporters Demand Recount" (RealClearPolitics)

 "Nevada Dem convention devolves into chaos" (The Hill)

"Clinton edges Sanders in chaotic Nevada convention" (CNN)

Petition posted at: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/investigate-misconduct-chair-5142016-nevada-democratic-convention

Investigate misconduct by the chair of the 5/14/2016 Nevada Democratic Convention

Please investigate the following acts of misconduct by Roberta Lange, chair of the Nevada Democratic Convention.

1) The initial vote was taken 30 minutes prior to schedule and while delegates were still entering the building.
2) Requests for a re-vote were ignored.
3) Requests to review and acknowledge petitions were ignored.
4) Rule changes were passed without a majority.
5) 64 Sanders delegates were disqualified with very few given the chance to prove eligibility.
6) The convention was closed with a motion for a re-vote still on the table.

Nevada Democratic Party
May 16, 2016 posting on Medium

The Facts about the Nevada Democratic State Convention on Saturday

These are the facts about what happened at Saturday’s Democratic Convention. It’s important that everyone understand what happened and why it happened so we can come together and move forward.

It all comes down to simple math:
  • Based on the county convention results, Bernie Sanders had 2,124 delegate slots to the State Convention and Hillary Clinton had 1,722 delegate slots to the State Convention.
  • On Saturday at the State Convention, after all of the alternates were seated, Hillary Clinton filled 1,695 of her delegate slots and Bernie Sanders only filled 1,662 at the State Convention — giving Clinton a 33-delegate margin of victory.
  • Clinton only had 27 delegate positions vacant on Saturday. Sanders left 462 vacant. Clinton filled 98 percent of her available delegate slots at the State Convention, and Sanders only filled 78 percent of his available delegate slots.
  • In plain terms, the Clinton campaign organized and got nearly all of their delegates to the State Convention. The Sanders campaign did not.
On the false and wildly inaccurate accusations that there were 64 potential Sanders delegates in question who were “denied” by the State Convention’s Credentials Committee on Saturday:
  • Six of the 64 potential delegates were seated as delegates after investigation.
  • The remaining potential delegates were ineligible for two main reasons: 1) They were not registered Democratic voters in Nevada by May 1, 2016, and 2) Their information — such as address, date of birth and name — could not be found or identified, and they did not respond to requests from the party and campaigns to correct it.
  • Only eight of the ineligible delegates even attempted to register at the State Convention.
  • The so-called “minority report” about these ineligible delegates was not written by the Credentials Committee — it was written by national Sanders campaign staff on site. A member of Sanders’ National Delegate Operations Team drafted and arranged for a member of that committee to attempt to deliver an incendiary report that caused chaos and violence at the convention. It was inaccurate, misleading and subsequently discredited by the Credentials Committee.
  • The Credentials Committee, the panel that made decisions on these issues, was co-chaired by supporters of both campaigns and the membership of the committee was also equally divided between supporters of both campaigns. This was done to ensure that the entire process was fair, transparent and accountable for both campaigns and their supporters. The committee worked diligently and cooperatively all day, under incredibly trying circumstances, to be fair and impartial in its work.
National Delegates Results

In terms of the final results for National Delegates, Nevada’s 23 District-Level Delegates are allocated based on the percentage of the precinct caucus vote on February 20. Clinton won 13 of these, compared to 10 for Sanders. The seven At-Large and five Pledged PLEO Delegates are determined based on the State Convention results. Because Clinton had a majority of delegates at the State Convention, she carried the At-Large Delegates 4–3 and the Pledged PLEO Delegates 3–2. So Clinton earned 20 pledged delegates and Sanders earned 15 pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention in July.

We understand that the caucus to convention process can be confusing. That’s why we have said it’s time to re-examine the caucus system. But everything the State Party did here was fair, transparent and appropriate according to our delegate selection plan. The convention rules were consistent with how previous State Conventions have been run in previous election cycles. And we made sure to include an equal number of supporters from both campaigns to run the State Convention committees.

The Tone and Tenor of this Democratic Primary

It’s unfortunate that while we were making these efforts to ensure that we conducted a fair State Convention, the Sanders campaign was deliberately sharing misinformation about how the convention operates to get people riled up. And after starting this fire, they had no capacity — and no desire — to control their own supporters from hurling threats and insults and being disruptive to the proceedings. We were forced to conclude the State Convention at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel quickly because event security no longer had the capacity to control the unruly and unpredictable crowd.

Our State Party chairwoman Roberta Lange has led Nevada Democrats with honor and integrity since 2011. We’re proud to be one of the most effective state party organizations in the country, and that’s in no small part thanks to her leadership. Since the State Convention was adjourned Saturday night and Sanders supporters posted her cell phone number and other contact information online, our chairwoman has received thousands of death threats and threats of violence and misogynistic insults that aren’t fit to print. Our chairwoman had to be given a security detail throughout Saturday just to be able to move around the room and go to the bathroom safely. Our office was vandalized by protesters with hateful insults. This activity is beyond the pale.

Nevada is a major battleground state in 2016. Winning Nevada is critical for Democrats to hold the White House and take back the Senate this year. It is time to fix the tone and tenor of this Democratic primary so that we can move forward and unify to defeat Donald Trump and elect Democrats up and down the ballot this November.
Bernie 2016

May 17, 2016
Contact: Michael Briggs

Sanders Statement on Nevada

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday issued the following statement:

“It is imperative that the Democratic leadership, both nationally and in the states, understand that the political world is changing and that millions of Americans are outraged at establishment politics and establishment economics. The people of this country want a government which represents all of us, not just the 1 percent, super PACs and wealthy campaign contributors.

“The Democratic Party has a choice. It can open its doors and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change – people who are willing to take on Wall Street, corporate greed and a fossil fuel industry which is destroying this planet. Or the party can choose to maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big-money campaign contributions and be a party with limited participation and limited energy.

“Within the last few days there have been a number of criticisms made against my campaign organization. Party leaders in Nevada, for example, claim that the Sanders campaign has a ‘penchant for violence.’ That is nonsense. Our campaign has held giant rallies all across this country, including in high-crime areas, and there have been zero reports of violence. Our campaign of course believes in non-violent change and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals. But, when we speak of violence, I should add here that months ago, during the Nevada campaign, shots were fired into my campaign office in Nevada and apartment housing complex my campaign staff lived in was broken into and ransacked.

“If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned. I am happy to say that has been the case at state conventions in Maine, Alaska, Colorado and Hawaii where good discussions were held and democratic decisions were reached. Unfortunately, that was not the case at the Nevada convention. At that convention the Democratic leadership used its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place. Among other things:
  • The chair of the convention announced that the convention rules passed on voice vote, when the vote was a clear no-vote. At the very least, the Chair should have allowed for a headcount.
  • The chair allowed its Credentials Committee to en mass rule that 64 delegates were ineligible without offering an opportunity for 58 of them to be heard. That decision enabled the Clinton campaign to end up with a 30-vote majority.
  • The chair refused to acknowledge any motions made from the floor or allow votes on them.
  • The chair refused to accept any petitions for amendments to the rules that were properly submitted.
"These are on top of failures at the precinct and county conventions including trying to depose and then threaten with arrest the Clark County convention credentials chair because she was operating too fairly."
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