Superdelegates

Mr. Casual

Do these count and why.. It's seems like a shame.. how does this seem fair?

LaserWolf

The parties are allowed to pick whom ever they choose, how ever they want to. For years it was done mostly in "smoke filled back rooms". About 64 or so they started putting the conventions on TV. In 68 they started to hold primaries and caucuses.

Each state gets to decide, primary, caucus, straw poll. Each state gets to decide Do all the delegates go to the winner, or do they get divided up amongst all the candidates. Each state can also choose to have the party loyalist pick delegates who are free to do as they please. An ex-mayor, or a state legislator, might want to go to the convention and feel they can wield power. Some states say their delegates have to vote for the person they are aligned with. Other states say you can change your vote and vote for who ever you want.

It's not fair, because it is not meant to be a democratic election. That happens in November. This is just a nominating process that some people get to participate in and others, like me, do not.

kidinquisitive

(Following is from Wikipedia, bold is my emphasis. Could it be that the Republicans are actually more democratic in this regard than the Democrats? Yikes.)

Superdelegates are delegates to a presidential nominating convention in the United States who are not bound by the decisions of party primaries or caucuses. [/b]Superdelegates are elected officeholders and party officials.

Superdelegates were first appointed in the 1970s, after control of the nomination process in the Democratic Party effectively moved out of the hands of party officials into the primary and caucus process. The aim was to accord some say in the process to people who had been playing roles in the party before the election year.

A conservative estimate of the voting power of a superdelegate amounts to one superdelegate vote equaling 153,636 regular votes[/b] based on 2004 federal voter turnout. Percentage wise, this means that 0.000007% of the voting population has 19.6% voting power in the 2008 Democratic Primary.[/b]

The Republican Party does not have superdelegates. There are 123 delegates, members of the Republican National Committee, however it constitutes a much smaller portion of the vote.

kidinquisitive

It's not fair, because it is not meant to be a democratic election. That happens in November. This is just a nominating process that some people get to participate in and others, like me, do not.

I think it's safe to say a majority of the public has failed to realize this and would have an issue with it if it became widespread knowledge. I think the common assumption is that the people decide who the candidate is. Not that it's a big secret, but the superdelegate system is not empasized in the media or in the education system.