[Mpls] Minneapolis DFL Convention Turnout

[Tim Bonham]

>I'm curious as to how the determination is made that the city DFL
>convention is going to consist of 3,333 delegates elected from the
>precincts.  In other words: why that number and not, say, 1,000, or even
>500?
         The number is calculated by a formula giving 1 delegate for every 
25 DFL votes in that precinct in the most recent election.
         So there were 4443 delegate spots available before the precinct 
caucuses.  Attendees there filled 3303 (not 3333) of them, so that became 
the maximum number of delegates for the city convention.

This formula is a standard one, that has been used statewide for many years 
to allocate DFL delegate spots to precincts.

At the City DFL Central Committee meeting last December, there was an 
attempt to change this to 1 delegate per 50 votes, and another to base this 
on votes for City candidates, not President, etc.  Both of these would 
likely have resulted in a reduced number of delegate spots.  (Both had some 
support from City DFL officers, the ones who had to actually put on these 
conventions.)  But the central committee voted to stay with the 1 per 25 
formula, and thus create the largest democratic convention in the world.

Tim Bonham, Ward 12, Standish-Ericsson