This week has brought another victory for opponents to superdelegates, Democratic leaders and elected officials who make up about 15% of the total vote for the Democratic presidential nominee.
We previously reported how Maine had said “no” to superdelegates and abolished them from their state caucus process starting in 2020, instead allocating them between the candidates according to the popular vote of the state and essentially rendering them meaningless.
Well, add Alaska to that win column as well because this past week they’ve adopted a formal resolution to do much the same! Much like the resolution in Maine, Alaska’s resolution also calls for Alaska to invite other states to do the same and to fight for the removal of superdelegates at a national level.
There are some key differences between the resolutions, though. While the Maine resolution is binding and will force superdelegates to vote with the people, the Alaska resolution is at the moment completely nonbinding. While that sucks to a certain degree, it’s still an important first step and may lead to something more permanent the next time around.
When asked about the decision, Jake Hamburg, communications director for the Alaskan Democratic Party said:
“This year especially, we’ve seen a lot of concern about superdelegates and the weight they’re given in the party, and some people would really like the delegation to reflect the will and the vote of the people.”
This spells good news for Bernie Sanders supporters, as it means Bernie will be able to take a few more delegates away from Hillary Clinton; although, the number will still be rather insignificant to the big picture of the primary. What is far more important is the implications of this in future elections.
State superdelegate Kim Metcalfe had previously gone on the record saying she would not cast her vote for Sanders regardless of what the popular vote in her state said. Sanders, by the way, won the state with a landslide 81% of the vote.
It seems the populous had a different idea. If you aren’t going to support the will of the people, the people will just cast you aside. Let’s hope more states will come to the same conclusion in the conventions to come. Superdelegates are a well-intentioned but outdated and unneeded part of the primary process that only serve to cripple our democratic process.
Check out this video explaining superdelegates:
Featured image by James Brooks via Flickr, available under a Creative Commons 2.0 license.
