NYT OP: Superdelegates, Clarify Your Role

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/20/opinion/superdelegates-clarify-your-role.html?_r=0

Even after Bernie Sanders’s overwhelming popular victory in New Hampshire on Feb. 9, some of his supporters began fretting about a new menace to his candidacy: “superdelegates” who — at least in theory — could deliver the nomination to Hillary Clinton in July’s convention.

Superdelegates are party bigwigs — 712 Democratic leaders, legislators, governors and the like. They can vote for any candidate at the nominating convention, regardless of whether that candidate won the popular vote. These unpledged delegates make up 30 percent of the 2,382 delegates whose votes are needed to win the nomination, and could thus make all the difference.

==SNIP==

In the New Hampshire primary last week, which Mrs. Clinton lost by 22 percentage points, Mr. Sanders won 15 of the state’s 24 pledged delegates, and Mrs. Clinton won nine. But because she has the support of six of the state’s eight unpledged superdelegates, including Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Gov. Maggie Hassan, she is virtually tied with Mr. Sanders in the New Hampshire delegate count.

==SNIP==

Still, this issue presents the party with an important opportunity. By better explaining the role of superdelegates, and publicly acknowledging that the 2016 presidential nomination rightly belongs to the majority vote-getter, Democrats could show new, youthful voters that the party wants their energy and their ideas inside the tent. To these idealistic voters, superdelegate influence reeks of smoke-filled rooms and establishment deals, when in fact they were created to end such maneuverings. That wrong perception doesn’t help Mrs. Clinton.

“We just had a rally here in Las Vegas that was at capacity with a lot of young people who feel like they have a shot at making a difference,” said Erin Bilbray, a Sanders superdelegate. She wants to vote for Mr. Sanders at the convention, but regardless, “I will support the Democratic nominee. It’s a fairness issue. We have got to keep these young people engaged, and to do that, you’ve got to make the system fair, and give no one the perception it’s not.”

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