A group of delegates to the GOP convention in Cleveland want to change the rules to let delegates, rather than Donald Trump, pick the #2 on the GOP ticket in November.
BuzzFeed reports on a series of proposals to make it easier for delegates to reject Trump’s selection as running mate. The motions will be presented to the rules committee ahead of next week’s convention.
Here’s the gist of the proposed changes regarding choosing the vice presidential nominee:
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Deleting the clause in rule 40(a) which says that if there is only one candidate for VP, a “a motion to nominate for such office by acclamation shall be in order and no calling of the roll with respect to such office shall be required.”
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Adding a clause in rule 40(b) that would require the candidate for the VP nomination to have support from a majority of delegates from three or more states — a lower threshhold than eight.
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Attempting to minimize the amount of influence the presidential nominee has in this process, by adding the following sentence: “The preference of any candidate seeking nomination for president of the United States shall have no bearing upon the submission of names for nomination for vice president of the United States nor the recording of votes for the same.”
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Adding a new clause that calls for multiple rounds of voting if a VP candidate doesn’t reach â…” on the first round: “If no vice– presidential candidate shall have received a two-thirds in the first round of balloting, the chairman of the convention shall direct the roll of the states be called again and shall repeat the calling of the roll until a candidate shall have received a majority of the votes entitled to be cast in the convention in the subsequent roll of the states.”
