End Superdelegates

The Democratic Party is about to hold its national convention—and now is the time to end superdelegates once and for all.

Without a massive change, these insiders could overrule the voices of voters. The party's "superdelegates" system means that insiders could have a voice as loud as the pledged delegates from the District of Columbia, 4 territories, and 24 states combined.

That's why progressive organizations and voters are coming together to demand an end to the superdelegate system. Voters should decide.

The system undermines representative democracy and means that the electorate is not necessarily decisive in determining who will be the Democratic nominees for president and vice president and dilutes the voters’ say over the party’s platform and the rules under which it operates.

The system also undermines the Democratic Party's commitment to gender equity. While the party’s charter rightfully mandates that equal numbers of pledged delegates be male and female, a near super-majority of superdelegates are men.

And while the Democratic Party prides itself on its commitment to racial justice and the racial diversity of its ranks, the superdegelates system appears to skew the party away from appropriate representation of communities of color: Proportionately, approximately 20% fewer of this year’s superdelegates hail from communities of color than was true of the 2008 and 2012 pledged delegate cohorts, or of the voters who supported President Obama in those years’ general elections.

And the system failed to represent young voters. In recent years, America’s younger voters have overwhelmingly supported Democrats.

The party’s own charter lays out broad, noble principles – including fair representation and gender equity. It's time for the delegate system to reflect those principals.

We urge members of the Rules Committee to introduce, demand a vote on, and support language that reflects our shared values – and if needed, issue a minority report in support of such measures to be taken to the floor of the convention. We encourage all delegates who believe that the will of the electorate should reign supreme to support these efforts.