How the three-tier Texas political convention system works

Democrats:

228 Democratic delegates statewide

Hidalgo County had seven of the 126 delegates statewide awarded by popular vote on March 4. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took almost three-fourths of the county's vote, giving her the majority of the county's delegates and leaving a smaller slice of the pie to rival Barack Obama. The number of election-based delegates allocated to the county - seven in this case - is determined by previous voter turnout in gubernatorial elections.

Any Democratic voter could attend his precinct's convention after the polls for the primary election closed March 4. During caucusing at those precinct-level conventions, 1,344 Hidalgo County precinct delegates were chosen to attend the countywide convention Saturday.

The numbers of supporters of Clinton versus Obama who turned out for the precinct caucuses determined the allotment each received from the county's pool of 1,344 precinct delegates.

The county convention narrows the 1,344 down to 113 who will attend the Texas Democratic Party's convention in Austin on June 6-7. As with the precinct-level caucusing, the candidate with the most supporters at the county convention will receive the majority of the delegates heading to the state convention.

At the state-level convention, 67 delegates from across Texas will be divvied up between Clinton and Obama based on the number of supporters each candidate has there. Delegates are allowed to change their candidate selection between the precinct convention and the state-level convention.

Delegates selected at the state convention will attend the national convention Aug. 25-27 in Denver and cast their final vote for the Democratic presidential nominee, who will advance to the November general election.

Republicans:

140 delegates statewide

GOP members who attended the Texas Senate District 20 convention on Saturday selected 49 delegates to represent the county at the state-level Republican convention June 12-14 in Houston.

Each congressional district will receive three delegates plus one electoral college delegate at the state convention to attend the national convention Sept. 1-4 in St. Paul, Minn.

No delegates are pledged to a candidate until the state convention. Delegates are not allocated based on presidential candidate support at the precinct caucuses and local conventions, unlike the allocation process for the Democrats.