February 7 Update on Delegate Allocations & Candidate Average Vote
When we last wrote to Central Committee members and candidates seeking DFL endorsement, we shared that the statewide votes by precinct for the 2024 election had not been published by the Minnesota Secretary of State in the format that Minnesota DFL Party Affairs uses to calculate delegate numbers across the state. As of today, February 7, that is still the state of affairs for data statewide.
However, after consulting Party Affairs, we have learned that state DFL rules do not require any certain dataset or party office to calculate delegate numbers. Therefore, we as a local city DFL unit were given the green light to calculate and publish our own delegate numbers using the same calculation that is used by Party Affairs. These calculations use the vote results from precincts only in Minneapolis, which have been certified by the Board of Election here in Minneapolis.
How are delegate allocations calculated?
The first number to know is Candidate Average Vote (CAV). That is the numerical average of the last five statewide elections, with the average number of votes for the DFL nominee. In years where results overlap two election years, there is a ranking of contests. In 2025, the CAV averages the elections of Minnesota Governor (2022), Minnesota Attorney General (2022), Minnesota Secretary of State (2022), U.S. President (2024), and U.S. Senate (2024). For example, Ward 1 Precinct 1 had a CAV of 658.4. CAV numbers are not rounded, and there being five contests, the result always has one decimal space.
The CAV number is the basis for calculating delegates. This is a measure of how many DFL voters are in a certain geography. The more DFL voters, the more proportional delegates.
With that CAV number, the Minnesota DFL uses the same method of calculating delegates as the U.S. Constitution uses for calculating U.S. House seats. For those unfamiliar, the first calculation is a simple division of the number of seats (435 for U.S. House, 800 for City, and 400 for each Ward). Then the whole number is set aside. So, for example, if a precinct has 4.25 delegates calculated, we set aside 4, the whole number. Then the sum of these whole numbers is compared to the original number of seats. For example, 395 is 5 less than 400 for a ward. The final step is to allocate the remaining seats to those geographies (in this case precincts) with the highest remainder. Going back to our example, if there were two precincts, one calculated to 4.25 and one calculated to 3.99, then the second would get the one remaining delegate and both precincts would be 4 whole delegates. There also is a requirement that each precinct elect at least two delegates to follow equal division by gender identity. That factors this year into City delegates, where one precinct went from 0 to 2 delegates and that reduced the remaining delegates to allocate.
What are the next steps?
The preliminary delegate allocations and math have been shared with Central Committee members and candidates seeking DFL endorsement. There will be a period of comment and any possible corrections. Finally, the Central Committee will adopt final numbers in mid-March at a meeting where the Committee will also approve the first round of expenses for caucus and convention.