Fact-checking claims about the Nevada convention chaos

Some of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ supporters are furious over the results of Nevada’s state Democratic Party convention in Las Vegas.

PolitiFact Nevada, which was at the convention, dug into what Sanders supporters are so mad about and found their claims lacking.

Sanders supporters loudly protested both during and after the convention, where Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton officially claimed a 20-15 delegate advantage. Sanders supporters have accused the state Democratic Party of various crimes including ignoring attempts to change the rules, rigging the process in favor of Clinton and disqualifying several dozen delegates that supported Sanders.

Campaign manager Jeff Weaver reiterated those concerns during a May 18 interview on CNN.

"There was a horrendous breakdown, where the leadership there in Nevada hijacked the process on the floor, created a tremendous amount of angst among people who were there attending the convention, who were supporters of Sen. Sanders, by ignoring the regular procedure and ramming through what they wanted to do," he said.

PolitiFact Nevada rated Weaver’s claim False. Read the full fact-check for all the details.

There’s little disagreement that the convention was chaotic. Additionally, Caucuses and delegate math can be incredibly confusing, and the arcane party structures don’t reflect how most people assume presidential selection works.

But there’s no clear evidence the state party "hijacked" the process or ignored "regular procedure."

For example, there were no last-minute rule changes sprung on convention-goers — the rules had been publicly available weeks in advance, largely unchanged for three presidential cycles, and given to both campaigns. And while the board received a handful of petitions to change the convention rules, not all of them met the requirement to have signatures by 20 percent of convention goers. (PolitiFact Nevada’s full report goes into this in much more detail.)

The howls of unfairness and corruption can’t change the simple fact that Clinton’s supporters simply turned out in larger numbers and helped her solidify her delegate lead in Nevada.

https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/91e9a0a6-9ede-4af5-9750-b697d81427be