LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – With the New Hampshire Republican primary loss behind her, presidential candidate Nikki Haley says that she’s in it for the “long haul,” adding that there are many more states left to go and she has no plans to drop out of the race.

In New Hampshire, undeclared voters were able to vote in the primary for either political party in an “open” primary and, according to many media reports, a majority of them voted for Haley.

Michigan Democrats can vote in the Republican primary.

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 Although Michigan is a “closed” primary, all voters have to do is to vote in the primary election is to request the party ballot of their choice to vote for the candidate they want to vote for.

Yes, it’s really that easy. State election law doesn’t require Michiganders to register with a political party to vote in the primary. And after a primary vote is made, voters don’t have to vote for the same candidate – or even the same party – when they vote in the general election in November.

The Michigan primary voting rules leaves open the opportunity for Democratic shenanigans to happen all over the state in order to give former South Carolina Governor/Ambassador Nikki Haley the possibility of beating Trump in the Michigan Republican primary. After all, President Biden winning the Democratic nomination in the state seems to be a given – so Democrat voters might not see a reason to vote for him at all.

Michigan democrats already planning to vote for Haley.

Already on the social media platform X, there are Democrats talking about doing this. The handle “Some Woman from Michigan,” an LGBTQ+ Democrat in Warren with more than 5,000 followers posted today about voting for Haley and is encouraging others to do the same because “Trump needs to be stopped at any cost.”

 

 

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Matt Grossmann, Michigan State political scientist & Director at the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at MSU, says on X, “Michigan is only 3 days after SC (with a month to go & only caucuses before). MI Dems & Indy’s will be incentivized to vote in Rep. primary.”

Haley campaign reportedly welcoming non-Republican support.

And, in fact, an X post by Allan Smith, a political reporter for NBC News, says that Haley is counting on that kind of support, with her campaign manager sending out information about how they see a path to nomination through open and semi-primaries and turning out independents in states like Michigan.

 

 

But not so fast…

However, in their rush to move up the Michigan presidential primary to February 27th this year, the Democrats have inadvertently left open the opportunity for Republican Party insiders in the state to quash any sort of “operation chaos” event that they might have planned.

The phrase “operation chaos” refers to a strategy that was initiated by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh back in 2008 that had Republicans voting in Democratic primaries by re-registering as Democrats and casting a vote for Hillary Clinton. She had been running against Barack Obama and Limbaugh’s end goal was to keep the primary, and the fighting between the two, going on as long as possible.

Michigan’s elevated primary date might be a roadblock for a Haley win in Michigan.

If Michigan Democrats were to come up with such a strategy to give Nikki Haley a primary win in the state, it would definitely be a longshot because of the new primary date and the results of that change. Because the primary date was moved up, the Michigan Republican Party had to work out a deal with the Republican National Committee (RNC) so that all of their delegates would be counted at the national level.

Because the RNC rules prohibit Michigan from holding their primary before March 1st, in order for the Michigan Republicans to keep their delegates, they had to work out a compromise with the national party.

The solution was to come up with a hybrid primary plan, where, according to Bridge Michigan, allows the Republicans in the state to send all of their delegates to the national convention and not lose any representation. However, it’s not necessarily good for the Republican voters in the state because their votes are diluted by the plan.

Michigan Republican party insiders will choose most of the state’s delegates that go to the national convention.

When presidential nominees are chosen by voters, they are not directly chosen. Instead, voters are really voting for delegates who vote for the candidates. The process is described this way by the Associated Press: “In the context of presidential elections, delegates are individuals who represent their state or community at their party’s presidential nominating convention.”

The explanation goes on to say, “These delegates choose a presidential candidate to represent the national party in the November general election. They also approve the party’s platform and adopt rules governing the party. Delegates tend to be party insiders or activists or early supporters of a particular presidential candidate.”

For the Republicans, nationally, it’s reported that 1,215 delegates are needed for a candidate to become a nominee (out of 2,429) and those delegates will be pledged at their national convention that will be held July 15-18th in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

How many delegates are Michigan Republicans sending to the national convention?

 Michigan will have 55 delegates to send to the Republican National Convention. The problem is that with the new hybrid plan, not all of those delegates are chosen by the voters. In fact, only a minority of the delegates are.

Bridge Michigan reports that the “winner” of the 2024 GOP presidential primary in Michigan would only be guaranteed up to 16 out of those 55 delegates sent to the Republican National Convention. The rest would be chosen by party insiders at 13 district caucuses in the state.

“Most Michigan GOP delegates – 39 of them – would be awarded based on the outcome of separate caucus meetings in each of 13 congressional districts on March 2, where party members selected at county conventions would debate and vote on the potential presidential nominee,” says Bridge Michigan.

So if the Democrats hope to succeed in any sort of “operation chaos” event in the state to propel Haley to victory, they had better recruit some Republican Party insiders to their cause.