Are pledged delegates required by law to vote as they are pledged ?

[m72mc]

I´m pretty sure the answer is no, but I could not find a source.

Edit: second question, can the delegates change the rules at the convention, meaning unbound themselves etc ? by voting for it ?
I think I heard it somewhere...

[drexhex]

I asked this in my thread... http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=1326694#post1326694
Got this response:


2. In some states, it is against state law and is considered voter fraud. In the GOP, you will lose your delegate status (meaning your vote won't count anyway, thus dropping the majority needed), you will be banned from the GOP for life. You will not be allowed to run for any office under the GOP, nor will you be allowed to be a delegate or serve on any committee. Further, if enough do it, they may see it as collusion , and it is possible for Ron Paul to be ejected from the party as well.

[nate895]

You can change the rules at the state convention.

[UtahApocalypse]

Voting against the pubic wishes is the wrong way to show Ron Paul as a honest person. Do that and he will NEVER win the general election. Why no one fucing gets this I don't know???? [Redacted by Moderator] The ONLY option we have now to win is 3rd party or Independent.

[joemiller]

I´m pretty sure the answer is no, but I could not find a source.

Edit: second question, can the delegates change the rules at the convention, meaning unbound themselves etc ? by voting for it ?
I think I heard it somewhere...

No, party delegates are not bound by statutory law from changing their pledge. Political parties are not public organizations, but private political parties and as such are governed by their own by-laws.

Any rule of any deliberative body, having adopted Robert's Rules, need only three-quarters of the members present to change any body rule, assuming a quorum has been established, and such suspension is consistent with the body's laws/by-laws/Constitution.

joe

[acptulsa]

Voting against the pubic wishes is the wrong way to show Ron Paul as a honest person. Do that and he will NEVER win the general election. Why no one fucing gets this I don't know???? [edit for quote] The ONLY option we have now to win is 3rd party or Independent.

Why are you cussing your brothers? Why would he have a better chance to win as an independent than with a party's blessing? What will the public's wishes be when the Democrats have slung more mud and issues of eligibility and/or election commission violations have been investigated and resolved? Who would cry for McCain? Would we get publicity?

Ron Paul is an honest person, yes, and in a dirty business. The future is uncertain, and voters aren't so very high minded.

[ToryNotion]

Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice. Goldwater.

[Zeeder]

Voting against the pubic wishes is the wrong way to show Ron Paul as a honest person. Do that and he will NEVER win the general election. Why no one fucing gets this I don't know????[edit for quote] The ONLY option we have now to win is 3rd party or Independent.

And what exactly are the "pubic wishes". Sounds a little on the disgusting side.



Seriously, so far the pubLIC has clearly decided NOT TO VOTE. So if we were to listen to their wishes, we wouldn't even have a president. And of the people that have in fact voted, they'd prefer democrats. Did you see the turnout last night? Obama got more votes than all three Republicans combined.
So going by your logic, We shouldn't even have a republican party. We are ruled by a vast minority of people. If a minority of the minority, ie: Ron paul supporters, can take over the convention................what is the difference?

[Banana]

Reminder: Someone in Deepthroat's did cite laws in Georgia showing that delegates indeed are statutory bound.

Suspending the rules, IMO, doesn't create goodwill.

Much better to storm the convention and chain the nominee to Paul's message. Paul doesn't need nomination to win.

[bucfish]

Remember the Convention is a long way away

[joemiller]

Reminder: Someone in Deepthroat's did cite laws in Georgia showing that delegates indeed are statutory bound.

While not directly on point, the following paragraph should put in perspective the reluctance of the Supremer Court to get involved in the governance of private political organizations as opposed to state organs.

http://electionlawblog.org/archives/01018 7.html

What gives? Didn't the Supreme Court declare a "one person, one vote" principle back in the 1960s requiring the equal weighting of votes? And shouldn't this render most of these party rules unconstitutional? The short answer is no. Although most of the deviations from "one person, one vote" would be unconstitutional if a state put them to work in the general election for president, party primaries and caucuses are different. Aside from some really egregious no-nos, such as weighting candidate delegate strength according to the race of their supporters, courts are likely to stay out of disputes over the rules for choosing the parties' presidential nominees.

[bulloncoins]

Voting against the pubic wishes is the wrong way to show Ron Paul as a honest person. Do that and he will NEVER win the general election. Why no one fucing gets this I don't know???? [edit for quote] The ONLY option we have now to win is 3rd party or Independent.

Bring your McCain supporters out that we may know them.........

That's what I thought. Not even one McCain sign at my precinct yesterday. The only people who were elected delegates were Paul's and Huckleberry's and Huck has now "offically" pulled out. None of them McCain supporters. None.

The doors were just as open to those who have to use the process just like we did to get out delegates.

It is called a "Revolution" ,remember. Revolutions are not pretty.

[clintontj72]

The state parties that bind delegates for 1 or more rounds of voting would probably just kick you out on the spot and replace you with an alternate delegate of their choosing. I doubt that as a private organization that the there is any state laws governing a private party. I'm pretty sure that the private organization has rules to 'deal' with members of their private organization who break the rules...most likely da boot!

[Melissa]

Voting against the pubic wishes is the wrong way to show Ron Paul as a honest person. Do that and he will NEVER win the general election. Why no one fucing gets this I don't know???? [edit for quote] The ONLY option we have now to win is 3rd party or Independent.

wow I think it is you my friend who is clueless go see how many delegates Lincoln had when he walked into the convention or Garfield, dont really think you have a clue how this works or you would be out becoming a delegate and not yelling on a forum