The Democratic Superdelegate Mess
Tova Andrea Wang, The Century Foundation
As has been widely fretted over in the press, it is possible that the Democratic nomination race is so close that it will be determined by 800 “superdelegates.” What makes this troubling beyond the principles of popular democracy at stake is that the whole superdelegate process is utterly lacking in transparency.
Unlike regular delegates, who are selected through a popular vote and bound to a candidate accordingly, superdelegates are not voted on by anyone but other party insiders (except to the extent that with respect to the ones that are elected officials, they have attained their positions through their own elections). They are complete free agents who may back any candidate they wish, whenever they wish, from before the beginning of the process to the convention. And while some of them are well known governors, senators, and former presidents, a great many of them are little known local elected officials, state and local party members, and other myriad people who have been helpful to the party’s cause in some way or another. (The same could be said, by the way, of delegates who are voted in through the caucus system—they are are often local party activists and ultimately are free to “realign” their allegiances.)
If the intentions of the superdelegates are a mystery, so is how and why some of these people were chosen to be superdelegates. It is clear that, under Democratic National Convention rules, major elected officials are automatically superdelegates. The selection of the rest, however, is murky. Superdelegates can be chosen by state parties in a few different ways. It is hard to tell if any of the superdelegates are being given the responsibility to cast such a critical vote in who our presidential nominees are because they have some superior insight into who would make the best president or would fare best in a general election, or if it is for some other, more pedestrian reason. A few superdelegates have business ties to the candidates. Already, it is clear that the two candidates are “wooing” these lesser known superdelegates through all sorts of means.
It would be incredibly unfortunate if, in a year in which we have seen historic turnout and enthusiasm for the voting process, the nominee ended up being chosen by insiders with no public accountability. For many it would be downright disillusioning. [more]