WHEELING – Depending on which ticket you vote in the May 10 primary election – Democrat or Republican – voters will see very different ballots at the polls, with a much different process for how delegates are selected and then allocated to the presidential candidates.

It’s been years since either the Republican or Democratic nominee wasn’t decided by the time West Virginians voted, and this year both parties’ nominations remain contested. That means West Virginia’s presidential vote truly matters this year, and more people are questioning the process used by both Democrats and Republicans to apportion party delegates.

Along with voting for a presidential candidate, voters with a Republican ballot will encounter a lengthy list of names for delegates to the Republican National Convention on their voting screens – a total of 268 for those in the state’s First Congressional District. Those delegates who are elected – there are 22 at-large to be selected from among 220 names, and three from each of the state’s congressional districts, with 48 running in the First District alone – will determine just how well a given presidential candidate does in West Virginia.

On the Democrat Party side, voters won’t see any delegates to the national convention on the May 10 ballot, as the party opted this year to use a caucus to choose delegates during the party’s state convention in June. County Democratic Party leaders met April 9 in their respective counties to choose, based on population, the delegates who will be sent to Charleston in June to take part in the state convention.

The Democrats changed their process after the 2008 election, when more than 400 names appeared on the ballot to be delegates to the national convention.

The Republican Process

For Grand Old Party supporters, the process to elect delegates is simple: Find the delegate you want on the ballot who supports the candidate you want to be the nominee for the next president and vote for that person. Then repeat, 21 more times for the at-large candidates and three times for the district candidates.

What’s important to realize this election cycle is that voting for the delegates is even more important than voting for president, as it’s the delegates, and not the voters, who will decide whom the state supports at the Republican National Convention.

This year, the Republican Party has 34 delegates to the national convention, which will be held July 18-21 in Cleveland. Nine of those delegates come from each of the state’s three congressional districts, 22 are at-large candidates, two are the party’s Republican National Committee representatives – Kris Warner and Melody Potter – and the final delegate is state GOP Chairman Conrad Lucas.

On the ballot, voters will see the delegates’ names, hometowns, counties and the presidential candidates the delegates support. Some delegates – such as Wheeling Mayor Andy McKenzie – are listed as “uncommitted,” meaning they can support whichever candidate they like.

Yet others are pledged to candidates no longer in the presidential race – Rand Paul, for example – and those delegates, if elected, also are free to support any candidate, Lucas said.

At the district level, voters will elect nine delegates, three from each district. In the First Congressional District, voters will see 48 delegate candidates on the ballot, and the top three vote-getters will be selected. The top three from the Second and Third districts also will be selected.

Following the district candidates, all voters will have an additional 220 delegate names on the ballot, and these are the at-large candidates. A total of 22 at-large delegates will be selected, and Lucas said the process won’t be as straightforward as the top 22 vote-getters being selected.

Instead, to ensure equal representation throughout the state, the top at-large vote-getter will earn a delegate spot to the national convention automatically. Then, the top seven from each congressional district will be selected for the remaining 21 slots. However, no one county can have more than two at-large candidates, so theoretically, a person could finish 10th in his or her district in at-large delegate voting, yet still be selected as a candidate if, say, five other delegates are above that person in terms of votes from a single county.

The process being used this year isn’t new, Lucas said, it’s just gaining more attention from the fact the national election remains contested.

“A very similar process to this has been in place in West Virginia for decades,” Lucas said, noting the exception came in 2008, when Republican Party leaders opted to hold an open convention, an experiment that did not go over well with voters. “This is a process that all Republicans in West Virginia should be happy with. This is a direct election of delegates to support candidates; there are no deals being made in smoke-filled rooms, the voters will choose delegates by name and by the candidate they support. … This is the most direct form of democracy.”

The delegate process does have some people concerned, as in theory, Donald Trump could win 70 percent of the popular vote in West Virginia yet receive a minority of delegates, as his delegate count would depend upon the number of delegates elected by voters on May 10 who have committed to supporting him as the nominee.

The other side of that coin could look like this: If Ted Cruz were to get 30 percent of the popular vote yet have pledged support from 20 of the at-large delegates, for example, he would receive that many delegate votes on the first ballot at the convention.

At the national convention, the winner of the popular vote in West Virginia is guaranteed at least two delegates – Lucas and committee chairwoman Potter both have publicly pledged to support the popular vote winner, no matter the candidate. Also, those uncommitted delegates or delegates elected yet pledged to a candidate who has dropped out of the race will have to decide whom to support, with Lucas noting he expects the Trump and Cruz campaigns, in particular, to court such delegates for their support.

If convention voting goes beyond the first ballot, then all of West Virginia’s delegates are released to vote for whomever they choose.

Lucas said the issue of delegate support versus the popular vote is part of a bigger national conversation that needs to take place. What he’s focusing on now is the state’s role in the process.

“It’s an exciting time to be a Republican in West Virginia as we play such a major role in the nomination process,” Lucas said. “Normally by now the party’s presidential candidate has been selected, so for things to remain in question as we prepare to vote really increases the level of importance for all state Republicans. Again, I urge voters to do their homework and make sure they understand the process before heading to the polls.”

The Democratic process

Democrats have 37 delegates to the Democratic National Convention this summer, set for July 25-28 in Philadelphia. Twenty of those delegates will be what are known as “district-level” candidates, eight are “super delegates,” three are “pledged party leaders and elected officials” and the remaining six are at-large delegates.

County Democratic Party leaders met April 9 in their respective counties to choose nominees to the state convention. More than 1,500 people will take part in that process on June 11, with three meetings set to select delegates from each of the state’s three congressional districts, 20 in total. In keeping with Democratic National Committee rules, state party Vice Chairman Chris Regan said those 20 delegates will be broken down by gender and location to give equal representation across the state.

From the First Congressional District, there will be three men and four women selected; from the Second District, there will be four men and three women; and from the Third District, three men and three women, for 10 men and 10 women serving as delegates, Regan said.

Another three delegates are known as “pledged party leaders and elected officials” – typically, this would be the Democratic nominee for governor, and other top elected party officials who already are not delegates.

These three will be selected on June 12 by the West Virginia Democratic Party State Executive Committee.

Then there are six at-large delegates. These candidates have to file by May 13 with the party and, again, are selected by the party’s executive committee. According to the “Delegate Selection Plan,” which can be found on the party’s website, wvdems.org/2016-democratic-convention, the at-large delegates will be used to give consideration to minorities – blacks, hispanics, Native Americans, LGBT and other groups.

These 29 delegates – 20 district level, three pledged party officials and six at-large – will be apportioned among the presidential candidates based upon the percentage of the vote each candidate receives in the primary election. For example, if Bernie Sanders wins 60 percent of the popular vote, he would receive 17 delegates.

A candidate has to reach 15 percent of the popular vote to qualify for delegates.

An additional eight delegates are known as “superdelegates” that can support any candidate. West Virginia’s superdelegates for this year’s national convention are Regan; party Chairwoman Belinda Biafore; state Treasurer John Perdue; Secretary of State Natalie Tennant; Sen. Joe Manchin; national committeeman Pat Maroney and committeewoman Elaine Harris; and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.

To date, Biafore and Tennant have publicly announced their support for Hillary Clinton, while Regan said he will support Sanders.

Regan said the state party’s process this year led it to receive an additional four delegates from the DNC.

“One of the reasons we have a convention and the process we are using is that we received bonus delegates by conforming with the DNC’s plan,” he said. “Our primary matters this year – we are not used to seeing that in May.”

As for his support of Sanders, Regan said he believes the senator, both “personality-wise and policy-wise,” best represents Democrats in West Virginia.

A COMPLEX PROCESS

Given the complexity of the delegate process this year for Republicans, and the fact that West Virginia will still be very much in the mix for presidential politics during the May 10 primary, state GOP Chairman Conrad Lucas is urging all Republicans to get a copy of the delegates – there is one located on this page, along with which candidate each delegate is supporting – highlight those they want to vote for, take it with them into the polls and use it as a delegate selection guide. A total of 268 delegates are on the May 10 ballot.

District 1 Delegates

Pledged to Donald Trump – 6

Mary Beth AndreiniOhio

Barry BledsoeMarion

Phil MallowMarion

Rick ModesittWood

Greg SmithWood

Sandy StaatsWood

Pledged to Ted Cruz – 8

Warren W BigleyWood

Don CorwinMonongalia

Kevin P HagertyGrant

D. Shannon KimesWood

Chris PhillipsBarbour

Mike SengewaltMonongalia

Rick StarnMarion

Dana WattsMineral

Pledged to John Kasich – 3

Matthew G. ChapmanOhio

Ryan FernsOhio

Rocky Allen PeckWood

Pledged to Marco Rubio – 6

Jared BedekovichWood

Lou BedekovichWood

Dalton C. HaasOhio

Danny HamrickHarrison

Robert D. HarmanMineral

Jennifer PoeMonongalia

Pledged to Jeb Bush – 3

Blake HumphreyOhio

Lisa MooreMarshall

Greg MorrisHarrison

Pledged to Ben Carson – 4

Lynn BakerMonongalia

Linda L. WickstromHancock

Phillip W. WileyWetzel

Jesse James WilliamsonWood

Pledged to Carly Fiorina – 1

Joseph KremerTaylor

Pledged to Rand Paul – 2

Jim AshleyWood

Thomas M. NutterPreston

Pledged to Chris Christie – 2

Tyler HenryMonongalia

Doris LongwellHarrison

Uncommitted – 13

Tom AzingerWood

Bill BellWood

Gina BrownMonongalia

Samuel R. BrownMonongalia

Frank DeemWood

Paul J. HoweHarrison

Del T. KelleyMarshall

Pam KrushanskyMonongalia

Pat McGeehanHancock

Andrew A. SabakMarion

Rudy R. SitesMineral

Amy SummersTaylor

Debbie WarnerMonongalia

At-Large Delegates:

Delegates Pledged to Donald Trump – 31

Stephanie AbramowitzKanawha

Gregory BaldtHancock

Diana BartleyHarrison

Kristi A. BeddowMingo

Donna J. BoleyPleasants

Edward R. BurgessKanawha

Brian CastoKanawha

Anne Brockus DandeletCabell

Vicki Dunn-MarshallCabell

Craig William EvansWayne

Justin FisherKanawha

Seth S. GaskinsKanawha

Joe HarperPendleton

Dan HillFayette

Kevin HonakerRaleigh

Kristi JeffreyFayette

Tyler JordonKanawha

Anne LiebermanKanawha

Thorney LiebermanKanawha

Christopher MayKanawha

Stephen McElroyHarrison

T. Aaron MetzMonongalia

Jared A. PageKanawha

John R. RaeseMonongalia

E. Virginia RockwellHarrison

Scott SimmsCabell

Mark E. SnappKanawha

Michael K. SnellingPutnam

Elizabeth “Beth” ThaxtonKanawha

Greg ThomasKanawha

Caleb A. TurnerPutnam

Delegates Pledged to Ted Cruz – 36

Bob AdamsJefferson

Stuart AdkinsCabell

Susie AzevedoKanawha

Barbara Kay BarnettKanawha

Rick BarnettKanawha

Jeremy Donald BausermanPocahontas

Brendan D. ByrneMorgan

Tamara ClineMonongalia

Sarah Coleman-MabesFayette

Lee DeanCabell

Matthew DonnellyJefferson

Nellie EsqueMason

Geoff FosterPutnam

Linda J. HartlingPutnam

Paul F. HartlingPutnam

Laura Hayes-ShifflettBerkeley

Austin HaynesFayette

Kurt HoffmanMonroe

Donna L. HolstineKanawha

Fred H. JosephKanawha

Rainer KisselBerkeley

Elliott A. KletterJefferson

Katherine McCormickKanawha

Alex X. MooneyJefferson

Matthew D MosherBerkeley

Bob MurtoJefferson

John OveringtonBerkeley

Tammy D. PhillipsMonongalia

Edward Rollins Jr.Harrison

Charlie F. SpencerBoone

Carolyn StricklenKanawha

Danny StricklenKanawha

Jason SwagerNicholas

Dallas K. ThackerWayne

Bradley A. WalkerHardy

Whitney E. WilsonKanawha

Delegates Pledged to John Kasich – 10

John R. BsharahKanawha

Toni DichiacchioMonongalia

Crescent GallagherKanawha

Catherine L. HalloranKanawha

Stacey HalloranKanawha

John R. HollandKanawha

Katrina (Tina) LewisMarshall

Matthew RohrbachCabell

Mark A. SaddKanawha

Jane WarnerKanawha

Delegates Pledged to Marco Rubio – 26

Angela AdamsWirt

Andrew G. AndersonKanawha

Jarred Alexander CannonCabell

Liam C. CaseyOhio

Cala Ann ClayWayne

Tony ClayWayne

Keaton R. CooperRandolph

Daryl E. CowlesMorgan

James FuerhoffPutnam

Ethan GibsonRaleigh

Brittany HamrickHarrison

Zachary JenkinsMason

Haileigh N. JohnsonOhio

Joanna “Joie” JohnstonPutnam

Jonpaul KessingerFayette

Veronica LewisJackson

Larry PackKanawha

Jeremiah ParlockCabell

Thomas PhillipsHarrison

Kevin Scott PoeMonongalia

Morgan PrattCabell

Suzette RainesKanawha

Abigail C. ReevesMonroe

Beth Ann SchmidtOhio

Steve WestfallJackson

Shane WilsonKanawha

Delegates Pledged to Jeb Bush – 23

David Michael AdkinsKanawha

Benjamin L. BaileyKanawha

John S. BreslandJefferson

Jon C. CooperRandolph

Kaitlynn CritchfieldUpshur

Tom CrouserKanawha

Ashley N. DeemKanawha

Elizabeth DevieseJackson

Mary Elisabeth EckersonKanawha

Karen S EvansBerkeley

Charles Joshua HageboeckKanawha

Michael KeatonRoane

David W. McCauleyUpshur

Tom O’NeillUpshur

Bill PhillipsRandolph

Jenny PhillipsRandolph

Ashley Kristen ReedUpshur

Geoffrey S SaundersBoone

Robert SteptoeMonongalia

Peter M. TurcicKanawha

Sharon Morehead TurcicKanawha

Anthony WinkleBerkeley

Cheryl Hinchman WyattKanawha

Delegates Pledged to Ben Carson – 2

Teresa M. MillerJackson

Carolyn D. SharpJackson

Delegates Pledged to Carly Fiorina – 6

Jeff Hoeflich-NickelsMonongalia

Beth H. LarussoBerkeley

Elgine McArdleOhio

Steven Brett OffuttJefferson

Ned H. SawyersPreston

Johnny George Walker IIIRaleigh

Delegates Pledged to Chris Christie – 20

Dewayne AnnisFayette

Tom BellCabell

Melanie DowdyMercer

Minnie EstepJackson

Charles FarleySummers

Joe V. FunderburkKanawha

Sandra HallMarshall

Kathy Lou JudgeLincoln

Robert Gordon JudgeLincoln

James KlineKanawha

Charles E. McCartyRoane

Terrie MorganGreenbrier

Linda Nichols-McCartyRoane

Steven D. TraceyKanawha

Denver TuckerPutnam

Jeffrey D. VanvolkenburgMarion

James A. Varner Sr.Harrison

Melissa S. WaybrightJackson

Gail A. WickstromHancock

Danny WrightFayette

Delegates Pledged to Rand Paul – 30

Julien AkleiPutnam

Dale Anderson IICabell

Daniel BelcherBoone

David BenderKanawha

Doug BurkhammerWood

Raymond CampbellJefferson

Brad FarhaRaleigh

David FisherKanawha

Anthony FitzgeraldGrant

Max A. GoldJefferson

Thomas Paul Hartman IIPutnam

Heather HaughtWood

Jessica Myers HayesBerkeley

Jack HefestayJefferson

Michael IhleJackson

George JohnsonMonongalia

James KelleyPutnam

Kyle LongPutnam

Kevin MaceWood

Todd MetzgarJefferson

Alvin H. MossMonongalia

Randy PeckHarrison

Justin E QuinnKanawha

Gage ReckartPreston

Sean Michael RogersMonongalia

Darren ShearlockWirt

Isabel SimonJefferson

Ian Douglas SullivanWayne

Mysty D. UnderwoodRaleigh

Alan R. WestfallLewis

Uncommitted Delegates – 36

Danny BlairJefferson

Duane Borchers Sr.Nicholas

William T. “Bill” BrightNicholas

Nancy CampbellKanawha

Robert L. CampbellKanawha

Mitch B. CarmichaelJackson

Mark CarterKanawha

Dan CastoJefferson

Laura Wakim ChapmanOhio

Drew M. ConstableHardy

Kathie Hess CrousePutnam

Michael “Mike” FolkBerkeley

Kit Forbes-WellfordKanawha

Nancy Reagan FosterPutnam

Ronald Reagan FosterPutnam

Caleb GibsonCabell

Thomas L. JarrellWood

Bruce A KolsunTucker

Brian S. LongMarshall

Marshall G. MannMercer

Andy McKenzieOhio

Doug McKinneyGreenbrier

Sue McKinneyGreenbrier

Bob Miller JrMarshall

Brenda Miller-MannMercer

Michel G. MoffattPutnam

Angel R MooreKanawha

Patrick MorriseyJefferson

Tally Ranels ReedMorgan

Sara Snyder GeisMineral

Jay TaylorTaylor

Joyce WarnerMonongalia

Mac WarnerMonongalia

Monroe P. Warner Jr.Kanawha

Michael WhalenHancock

Jacques WilliamsMonongalia