News Release

Will Democrats’ Unity Commission Abolish “Undemocratic” Superdelegates?

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The final meeting of the Democratic Party’s Unity Reform Commission is set to convene on Friday (Dec. 8) in Washington, where activists will push for the elimination of all superdelegates.

At the Democratic National Convention last year, the 712 superdelegates were 15 percent of the total voting delegates. Several hundred superdelegates publicly lined up behind Hillary Clinton before a single vote was cast in a primary or caucus.

While party officials have proposed reducing the number of superdelegates for the 2020 national convention, the new report “Autopsy: The Democratic Party in Crisis” warns that allowing any remaining superdelegates “would still represent a barrier to a democratic Democratic National Convention.” The report concludes: “The superdelegate system, by its very nature, undermines the vital precept of one person, one vote. The voting power of all superdelegates must end.”

PIA GALLEGOS, [in D.C.] pia at gallegoslaw.com
Gallegos, a civil rights attorney and Democratic Party ward chair based in Albuquerque, is the author of the Autopsy report’s “Democracy and the Party” section.

She said today: “Democrats want to see more democracy in the party. … The Democrats on the ground, those walking door to door, don’t want their vote for the Democratic presidential candidate diluted by the non-representative votes of entrenched Democratic Party leadership and political self-interest.

“Superdelegates are mainly present and former elected Democratic officials and DNC leaders who automatically become delegates to the national convention with the power to cast a nomination vote for whichever candidate they wish, regardless of the results of any primaries or caucuses.

“The only fully democratic outcome of the meeting of the Unity Reform Commission is for the Commission to recommend to go from 712 superdelegates to zero superdelegates.”

Gallegos added: “The system of superdelegates lends itself to manipulation of the nomination process. In the last primary presidential campaign, by mid-November 2015, fully 11 weeks before any state primary or caucus, Hillary Clinton had already gained a commitment of support from 50 percent of all superdelegates.”

KAREN BERNAL, nekochan99 at hotmail.com, @karenbernal5
Bernal chairs the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party. She wrote the section on social movements in the Autopsy report and co-wrote the section on the future of the Democratic Party.

The final meeting of the Democratic Party’s Unity Reform Commission is set to convene on Friday (Dec. 8) in Washington, where activists will push for the elimination of all superdelegates.

At the Democratic National Convention last year, the 712 superdelegates were 15 percent of the total voting delegates. Several hundred superdelegates publicly lined up behind Hillary Clinton before a single vote was cast in a primary or caucus.

While party officials have proposed reducing the number of superdelegates for the 2020 national convention, the new report “Autopsy: The Democratic Party in Crisis” warns that allowing any remaining superdelegates “would still represent a barrier to a democratic Democratic National Convention.” The report concludes: “The superdelegate system, by its very nature, undermines the vital precept of one person, one vote. The voting power of all superdelegates must end.”

PIA GALLEGOS, [in D.C.] pia at gallegoslaw.com
Gallegos, a civil rights attorney and Democratic Party ward chair based in Albuquerque, is the author of the Autopsy report’s “Democracy and the Party” section.

She said today: “Democrats want to see more democracy in the party. … The Democrats on the ground, those walking door to door, don’t want their vote for the Democratic presidential candidate diluted by the non-representative votes of entrenched Democratic Party leadership and political self-interest.

“Superdelegates are mainly present and former elected Democratic officials and DNC leaders who automatically become delegates to the national convention with the power to cast a nomination vote for whichever candidate they wish, regardless of the results of any primaries or caucuses.

“The only fully democratic outcome of the meeting of the Unity Reform Commission is for the Commission to recommend to go from 712 superdelegates to zero superdelegates.”

Gallegos added: “The system of superdelegates lends itself to manipulation of the nomination process. In the last primary presidential campaign, by mid-November 2015, fully 11 weeks before any state primary or caucus, Hillary Clinton had already gained a commitment of support from 50 percent of all superdelegates.”

KAREN BERNAL, [in D.C.] nekochan99 at hotmail.com, @karenbernal5
Bernal chairs the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party. She wrote the section on social movements in the Autopsy report and co-wrote the section on the future of the Democratic Party.