Non-partisan post: UMass Lowell poll director gives thoughts on Superdelegates
My disclaimer, Josh is a friend of mine. He runs the Center for Public Opinion at the school. This is from his Facebook feed:
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I have heard a lot of criticism of the superdelegate system used in the Democratic primary nominating process today. The democratic norms of the United States have evolved tremendously over time. When the country was founded, we didn't vote for Senators and we didn't really vote for Presidents either. Furthermore, most adults were not permitted to vote. We have seen a lot of democratic (small d, as in more democracy) movements, but there are also numerous parts of our system that aren't "fair," if by fair, we mean, more democratic. It's not really fair that Iowa and New Hampshire get to go first, that these two small states, nearly devoid of racial and ethnic diversity, get more influence. It's not fair that in some states, they use a caucus -- a system that has turnout rates that are high if they get above 17% of registered voters. It's not fair that Independents in some states are disenfranchised by a closed primary system, or that citizens without IDs will be disenfranchised, or that if you want to vote, you need to register 2 or 3 or 4 weeks before the election. All kinds of people who want to vote in the upcoming weeks will be unable to for structural/institutional reasons, not because they are not engaged by the process.
So yes, I think it's important to have a conversation about the evolving nature of the primary process and whether we should get rid of superdelegates. But if you are ranting about this and only this because it advantages your candidate, then it's time for a reality check. There are a lot of parts of our democracy that are not fair, and I think that most of them are much much bigger than superdelegates in creating disenfranchisement. So, here's the history of the the New Hampshire primary and a bit about the McGovern-Fraser Commission, which were a YUGE movement to democratize primaries in this country, led by the Democratic party. I'm not saying the Superdelegate system shouldn't be reformed. Personally, I think it's elitist and stupid. But, let's understand where we came from a little before we start arguing about where we should be going.
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The link within his post goes to:
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/fixgov/posts/2016/02/05-new-hampshire-primary-kamarck?cid=00900015020089101US0001-02102
= new reply since forum marked as read
