PRESS
RELEASE from Republican National Committee
April 12, 2013
RNC Statement
on Changes to Rules of the Republican Party
LOS ANGELES, CA—RNC
Chairman Reince Priebus released the following statement regarding
rules of the Republican Party as voted on at the RNC Spring
Meeting in
Los Angeles, CA:
"During
the general session at the RNC Spring Meeting, the membership
overwhelmingly voted to empower the state parties and grassroots in the
selection of delegates,” said Chairman Reince Priebus. “We all agree
the grassroots are the center of this party and are vital to winning
elections. This change makes clear that the grassroots will pick their
delegates and that presidential candidates can neither veto delegates
nor unseat delegates. This was a win for both delegates and candidates
by unifying our party behind this delegate allocation process.”
Rule
16 as passed at convention resolved a perceived problem recognized by
many in the 2012 primary process that candidates may have won a
statewide vote in which delegates were bound to a specific candidate
and then had to come back and win the delegates at another contest
which sometimes didn’t reflect the results of statewide presidential
preference elections.
Today's
amendment clarifies that bound delegates must vote in accordance with
state party rules and state law – in other words, delegates cannot
claim to support one candidate when elected at the state level and then
change their loyalty to someone else later. This rule also ensures that
the delegate could not be removed for failing to vote as bound and made
clear a presidential candidate cannot veto delegates.
Another
proposed amendment to Rule 16 did not pass, which would have reinstated
the practice of so-called "beauty contests" in which states hold
non-binding primaries, conventions, or caucuses where there is a
presidential preference vote.
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