What’s a half of a delegate?

From Yahoo News: Clinton lends herself $6.4M as Obama’s lead grows

Obama was 184.5 delegates shy of the 2,025 needed to secure the Democratic nomination, his campaign finally steadying after missteps fiercely exploited by the never-say-die Clinton.

I was a little puzzled by this half a delegate thing.  It turns this “brilliant” idea is a way of allowing more people to attend the convention without increasing the number of votes.  This is done primarily for U.S. Territories and the group Democrats Abroad.

It’s another strange quirk in the Democratic Primary process that’s really only come to light now that every vote is important.

From the Huffington Post: Clinton Adds a Half Delegate

The Democrats Abroad, a group sanctioned by the national party, has confounded delegate counters, graphic artists and political journalists since it awarded Clinton 1.5 delegates from its global primary last week. How do you explain that Clinton has 1,276.5 delegates?

Explain no more. Clinton picked up a half superdelegate on Wednesday, increasing her overall total to 1,277.

The anomaly happened because the Democrats Abroad will send 22 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, each with a half vote. The system is designed to enable the group to send more people to the convention, without inflating its voting power.

UPDATE: The DNC is going to seat all Michigan and Florida delegates but they only get half a vote.  So, if a Michigan superdelegate endorses a candidate, it’s only worth half.