Thread by @EricBermanIN

Ballots for #attorneygeneral began hitting @indgop delegates' mailboxes this week; they're due back July 9, with a winner to be announced the next day. A quick #thread on how this is going to work: 1/

There are four candidates, but it takes a majority, not a plurality, to win. At a live convention, this would mean multiple ballots; the last-place candidate would be eliminated each time until someone has a majority. (That's what happened in 2016, also with 4 candidates.) 2/

To translate that to a mail-in ballot, Republicans are using a ranked-choice ballot. Say the first-ballot results are:

Derek Jeter 396
Larry Walker 304
Barry Bonds 241
Omar Vizquel 209

That's 1,150 votes, so it takes 576 to win. 3/

Since no one has 576, Vizquel is eliminated, and his votes are reallocated to his voters' second choice. Let's say 156 have Bonds as 2nd choice, 3 have Walker, and 50 didn't mark a second choice; they're ride-or-die with Omar. 4/

That makes the 2nd ballot:

Bonds 397
Jeter 396
Walker 309

But since 50 voters chose not to participate in the 2nd ballot, it now takes 553 to win, not 576. Still no winner, so Walker's eliminated and the 3rd ballot will decide it. 5/

The one difference from a live convention: you can't switch your vote. At a live convo, the Walker voters could decide Bonds has the best chance to stop Jeter, and vote for him on the 2nd ballot even though Walker's still in. In the mail vote, you can only go up, not down. 6/end