Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Roll Call update

WE'VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com

It looks like we'll have a public, complete, roll call later today:

Each state at tonight's session of the Democratic National Convention will announce the results of its delegate tally during a roll call that has been the source of much speculation and controversy this week.

Convention committee CEO Leah D. Daughtry said the roll call will take place as it has in previous conventions, despite speculations that a compromise between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton might result in a departure from the usual process.

"The roll call is guided by the rules of the party," Daughtry said at this morning's convention press briefing. "It will proceed just as the rules dictate. Every state and every delegate will have the opportunity to vote. Everyone will be represented. Everyone will have their votes counted."

The roll call will begin with each state announcing its delegate vote totals for the two Democratic candidates after a series nominating and seconding speeches for Clinton and Obama, Daughtry said. - Rocky Mountain News
Each state is actually voting earlier today, by paper ballot, and the results will then be announced during the roll call. My guess is this is just to save time - given how jammed the floor was last night - it would be very difficult for the large delegations to successfully get all their votes recorded correctly. We also believe that the original individual votes will be available - so we'll be able to see how all the pledged and superdelegates actually voted.

Update - 2:00 pm

Jenny Greenleaf has noted (see comments for her full information):
I can't imagine that there wouldn't be a full roll call--this is where the states get to have their moment in the spotlight.
However, here at DCW, we never implied that the roll call would go person by person, and the AP indicates that there is not certainty about who will be calling out their votes tonight.
With the convention balloting just hours away, delegates still were waiting to hear which states would participate in the roll call before it was cut off in unanimous support for Obama. The abbreviated vote was the result of a deal between Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton so that some of her backers could express their support without dragging out a divided process.

State delegation chairs were simply instructed in a joint letter from Clinton and Obama advisers to distribute ballots to delegates Wednesday morning and return them no later than 4 p.m., when voting is scheduled to get under way.