The long, drawn-out process of choosing presidential nominees can also leave us feeling pretty perplexed. For five months, these candidates go back and forth across the nation in order to collect votes and delegates from each state.
Superdelegates are the big shots of the Democratic Party. They’re the elected officials and party leaders who are automatically superdelegates because of their position. There are 712 superdelegates and 4,762 total counting regular everyday non-super delegates.
Superdelegates are also referred to as unpledged candidates. They’re able to switch allegiance, however, if already pledged. They are even free to vote for a candidate despite results in the state presidential primary or caucus — not good for those feeling the Bern.
One of their functions at the convention, besides generally acting in the best interest of the party, is voting to avoid deadlock when the party is divided. This is probably why many voters are irked about superdelegates making pledges. They have never gone against the popular vote — so far, anyway.
The superdelegate system’s first appearance was after the 1980 election, which was the disaster between President Jimmy Carter and Sen. Ted Kennedy that helped Ronald Reagan walk away with the election. Democrats thought an institutional last-resort would do better against any more rebellious candidates.
At this column’s deadline, Hillary Clinton had 1,756 delegates, including 469 superdelegates; and Bernie Sanders had 1,037, including 31 superdelegates, per Bloomberg.
Dems will have a total of 4,765 delegates and 2,382 will be needed to win the nomination. Superdelegates to date obviously favor Clinton. But if Sanders wins the popular vote, her superdelegates will switch allegiances. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work.
There are, of course, plenty of people opposed to the superdelegate system because it’s seen by many as undemocratic. A petition by RootsAction.org demands that all superdelegates represent their constituents at the Democratic National Convention.
Washington’s primary will be May 24. Sanders beat Clinton 73 to 27 percent at the state’s caucus, and he received 74 delegates to her 27. So it appears Sanders will have the winning vote from us.
“The pledged delegates that the candidates have now are determined based on ‘Districts,’ but not congressional districts, or counties, but by weird map-blobs that are defined by the Democratic Party,” Matt Baume complains in The Stranger.
“Then the unallocated delegates are assigned in June based on the caucus, and those delegates are determined by congressional district, but they only match the caucus outcomes if the blob-delegates attend a particular meeting. This is a totally logical system that is easy for everyone to understand and participate in, right?”
The Democratic National Committee holds its presidential nominating convention beginning July 25 at The Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
“The paradox of a strong system of superdelegates in the 2016 primary season is that a significant section of the Democratic Party, which has them, wishes it didn’t, while the leadership of the Republican Party, which doesn’t have them, may well wish it did,” writes New York Times’ Emma Roller.
Republicans have the unpledged delegate (sometimes called the superdelegate), but there are only three per state — a state chairperson and two district committee members. Party rules also dictate these delegates vote for the winner of the popular vote in their state.
Republicans also have three types of delegates: congressional district; at-large (10 per state); and Republican National Committee members (three per state/territories, and closest to a Democrat superdelegate).
Republicans use three types of systems for allocating votes — proportional, winner-take-all, and hybrid (parts of either of the other two, unpledged).
With hope to avoid a repeat of the 2012 presidential race, where Rick Santorum held Mitt Romney back, Republicans changed the rules to allow a front-runner to win the race quickly. Enter Donald Trump.
In order to win, a Republican candidate must win 1,237 out of 2,472 delegates at the convention. The Republican National Committee holds its 2016 convention beginning July 18 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Your vote is tremendously important this year, so please get out and vote.
— Marylin Olds is an opinion columnist. Questions and comments are always welcome at marylin.olds@gmail.com.
