It took well into the afternoon but the main show of the DFL convention -- voting on a a gubernatorial pick -- has begun.
The process includes distributing ballots, counting the results, reporting the results and then doing it again. During breaks between balloting, candidates and their diplomats will work the delegates in every way possible to sway their votes.
It can be laborious and estimates are that it will take about an hour for the process for each ballot.
Here's how the ballots will go:
Candidates who get less than 4 percent of the vote will be dropped after the first ballot. On each following ballot, the drop-off percent will be raised by 4 percent. That means in the second vote, any candidate below 8 percent is out.
If the drop-off rule eliminates all but one candidate, then the top two vote-getters become the remaining candidates.
A candidate must get 60 percent of the votes to win the party endorsement.
Each gubernatorial campaign is allowed to have three watchers observe the ballot counting. Given how many candidates are in the governor's race, the number of watcher may equal or even out number the officials doing the counting.
