Note: the spreadsheet on which this entry is based is updated as official results become available and as I have time to update it. Therefore, the total shown might not agree with the title of this article. If the net skew flips toward Clinton I will create a new blog entry on this topic.

This will be a very ‘Joe Friday’-like post. Just the facts (with a bit of opinion at the end).

In every state primary there will by necessity be a slight difference in the ratio of votes received by each candidate to the ratio of delegates allotted. It’s basic math.

Take a four delegate district where candidate A gets 80,000 votes and candidate B gets 70,000 votes. Unless we are going to start slicing delegates up into pieces, it’s impossible to hand out the delegates in such a way that the delegate allotment reflects the will of the voters with absolute precision.

In theory, these should even out from state to state. But for whatever reason, they haven’t. The delegate allotments have skewed by 12 toward Senator Clinton. In other words, Hillary Clinton has received 12 bonus delegates over the course of the primaries at the direct expense of Barack Obama.

If you add in Florida, that number actually jumps to about 13.5.

Here are the details if you want to have a look: clicky

There could be a number of factors at work here: disproportionate increases in turnout, gerrymandered districts, random chance, or a structural bias against certain demographics.

Whatever it is, I hope the Democrats figure it out and find a solution for 2012.