The rise and fall of superdelegates
Ballotpedia's scope changes periodically, and this article type is no longer actively created or maintained. If you would like to help our coverage grow, consider donating to Ballotpedia.
 Date: November 8, 2016 |
Winner: Donald Trump (R) Hillary Clinton (D) • Jill Stein (G) • Gary Johnson (L) • Vice presidential candidates |
Important dates • Nominating process • Ballotpedia's 2016 Battleground Poll • Polls • Debates • Presidential election by state • Ratings and scorecards |
2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016 Have you subscribed yet?
Join the hundreds of thousands of readers trusting Ballotpedia to keep them up to date with the latest political news. Sign up for the Daily Brew.
|
This article covering the 2016 presidential election was written outside the scope of Ballotpedia's encyclopedic coverage and does not fall under our neutrality policy or style guidelines. It is preserved as it was originally written. For our encyclopedic coverage of the 2016 election, click here.
July 28, 2016
By Emily Aubert
Philadelphia— While the Democratic National Convention this year will be remembered first for its history-making nomination of Hillary Clinton for president, the behind-the-scenes effort to radically alter the party’s nominating process could leave an equally important mark on the future of the Democratic Party.
On Monday, the delegates approved a resolution to establish a unity reform commission with nine members appointed by Clinton and seven by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Tasked with increasing the transparency and inclusivity of the Democratic presidential primary process, the commission will recommend how to streamline caucus procedures, implement same-day voter registration, and minimize the role of the superdelegate system.
This resolution was critical to forging a fragile accord between Clinton and Sanders supporters on the Rules Committee prior to the convention’s start. It also served as an acknowledgment that some members of the party felt the superdelegate system was undemocratic—a narrative buttressed by reports that hundreds of superdelegates were backing Clinton months before a single primary or caucus was held.
Although they came under increased scrutiny this election cycle, superdelegates have existed for more than 30 years. They were the product of President Jimmy Carter's unsuccessful 1980 bid for a second term in the White House, where he lost by more than 400 electoral votes to Ronald Reagan. Party leaders wanted the ability to respond to the rise of an unelectable candidate without having to compete with local party activists to gain a spot as a voting delegate.
The superdelegate system was born.
Sent to the national convention as automatic delegates, superdelegates are not required to express a presidential preference for a certain candidate or even publicly disclose who they plan to support. They are members of the Democratic National Committee and Congress, governors, and other party leaders, including former presidents and vice presidents.
Initial opposition to the superdelegate system was driven by concerns that it would lack gender diversity. The charge that superdelegates could disenfranchise the electorate cropped up throughout the mid-1980s and 1990s, although superdelegates, as a whole, have never voted against the presidential candidate leading in the popular vote.
This year, superdelegates accounted for approximately 15 percent of the vote at the convention. That was too much for many Sanders supporters who believed that the senator was not given a level playing field in the primary process against Clinton, a favorite among party leaders. They decided that reform of the superdelegate system would become a central goal of their efforts on the Rules Committee.
Written into the charter of the unity reform commission, then, is the resolution to recommend that the two-thirds of superdelegates who are not members of Congress, governors, or other distinguished party leaders be required to cast their vote proportionate to the results of the primary or caucus in their state.
While such a plan will not eliminate superdelegates entirely, it reduces the likelihood that a superdelegate's vote could ever determine the outcome of the primary election over the vote of the electorate.
The exact form this change will take will be known by January 1, 2018, when the committee is due to release its report to the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee for consideration.
See also
