Rantings of a New Yorker

Did you know that Hillary Clinton already has over 180 delegates pledged to vote for her in the national primaries next summer?  Most people don’t.  It’s because many Americans don’t fully understand the election process, including the concept of a “Superdelegate.”  Most of these Superdelegates come from states where primaries haven’t even been held yet.

Superdelegates were first introduced during the 1970s as appointments in the Democratic party.    These Superdelegates attend the presidential nominating convention in the summer and are not bound by the decisions of party primaries or the caucuses.  They are elected officeholders and party officials.  There are currently 796 Superdelegates, comprised of all the Democratic members of the US Congress, members of the Democratic National Committee and various elected officials like governors.  The total number of delegates, including Superdelegates, is 4,049, with Superdelegates comprising about 20% of delegates.  Candidates need 2,025 to win the nomination.

This, essentially, means that a country of more than 300 million people have no say in who is the nominee for the Democratic party.  4,049 people are the ones that get to make that decision.  Worse yet, even though the Republican Party does not have Superdelegates, states that vote a certain way are rewarded with more delegates, while those that don’t have their delegates taken away.

Kamarck sees the super-delegates as a “sort of safety valve” so that, for instance, “if the convention’s platform committee is adopting something that would be really detrimental in the general election,” the party leaders can take steps to prevent that from happening.

The use of Superdelegates, however, is still better than the pre-1970s situation.  Only party leaders decided who would receive the nomination, whereas today, about 20% get to decide.

One begins to wonder why the hell we even bother to vote if our vote doesn’t count.  We might as well wait until the actual election to vote, but then you have the problem that is the electoral college, which is another can of worms that many want to see reformed.  However, eliminating the electoral college would end up creating an election based on popular vote, which many also complain is not a good idea due to the fact that so many Americans are uninformed and easily swayed.

The law should be changed so that Superdelegates cannot announce whom they are supporting until the primaries actually happen in their respective states, thus eliminating any undue influence that they may have upon voting.  We also need to return civics classes to America’s high schools so the general population is informed about what is happening and might just join the many reformers out there demanding a change for the better in deciding who receives the nomination.

Oddly enough, the system seems to work and most people never complain about how the system is exactly run, however, in the end, we still seem to end up being forced to choose between a Giant Douche or a Turd Sandwich.