Bernie Sanders Wins the Nevada Caucus

04/04/2016

By Tom Cahill

After the Clark County Democratic Convention, Bernie Sanders has flipped his close Nevada caucus loss to a win at the convention stage. The Sanders campaign pulled out a victory in Nevada’s most populous county at this weekend’s convention at the Cashman Center in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Sun reporter Megan Messerly confirmed the final delegate count, showing Sanders had flipped Clark County in his favor.

The other most populous county, Washoe County, ended with 1050 delegates for Sanders and 833 for Clinton. It is unclear at this time exactly how many more delegates Bernie Sanders has picked up, as the final results will not be decided until the state convention in May.

The Clark County Democratic Convention was full of controversy from the beginning. But to give the full context of the controversy, it’s important to understand how the convention process works.

Delegates come in three forms:

Elected delegates, which were selected at precinct caucuses.
Alternate delegates, which were also named at the precinct caucuses,
And unelected alternate delegates, who can become official delegates in the event a precinct’s elected delegates or alternate delegates don’t show.

The Credentials Committee for the Clark County Democratic Convention determines who exactly qualifies as a bona fide delegate in the event an unelected alternate steps in to become an official delegate. The committee is made up of four members appointed by Clark County Democratic Party Chair Chris Miller, with two representatives for Hillary Clinton and two representatives for Bernie Sanders in the interest of fairness.