GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It’s been quite the process leading up to the MIGOP convention in Grand Rapids on March 2.
For starters, Michigan has 2 planned GOP conventions— one held by ousted party chair, Kristina Karamo in Detroit, the other by current chair, Pete Hoekstra in Grand Rapids.
Then Michigan moved its primary vote up to the week before Super Tuesday— a move Michigan Democrats were able to accommodate, but not the MIGOP due to rules of the Republican National Party.
RELATED: How does Michigan's Primary impact Super Tuesday?
“The Republicans were forced to come up with some kind of compromise, so they didn't lose their voting power once the Democrats moved theirs up to February,” John Sellek, Political Strategist with Harbor Strategies explained.
And so a hybrid plan was born.
To avoid losing any of their 55 delegates, they decided to have both a primary and then a caucus convention in the same week.
Voters who took to the polls on February 27 for the party might be in for a surprise, though—
“It's probably disconcerting to go there and find out that that vote [Tuesday] didn't carry the same weight,” Sellek said, talking about the difference between the Democrat and Republican tickets.
Tuesday's vote decided how 16 delegates would be split, whereas Saturday's convention puts 39 delegates up for grabs.
“You'd have to be part of the party and show up on Saturday at this special event for your vote to count [with] the rest.” Sellek told us.
Convention delegates are split evenly among the state's 13 congressional districts and the voting pool is made up of Republican state lawmakers and elected delegates from each county.
Then it's up to a simple majority vote in each district, the selected delegates heading to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, WI in July.
But —even then— the nomination process isn't wrapped up.
“The final stamp of approval, so to speak, from each party won't happen until we get to those conventions in August,” Sellek said.
FOX 17 has been examining developments within the Republican party in our state and nationwide.
DEVELOPING IN WEST MICHIGAN: Ottawa County Commissioners vote to fire Administrator John Gibbs
Explore what we've found, plus results and expert analysis as this election cycle develops by downloading the FOX 17 app.
