US elections 2008

What is a superdelegate?

by Barbara Giudice

Article published on the 2008-05-12 Latest update 2008-06-16 15:04 TU

Obama supporters in Chicago
(Photo: Reuters)

At the Democratic National Convention (DNC) delegates from the states get to vote on the party's presidential candidate. But they are not alone. Party officials and members elected to public office also have a vote as superdelegates. The superdelegates are a fairly recent addition to the Democratic Party rulebook. 

Following the 1968 presidential election, party liberals lobbied for greater participation of the rank and file in the selection of delegates to the party convention.

A commission set up under the leadership of the future 1972 presidential candidate, George McGovern, led to a wider use of the primary.

In both the 1972 and 1974 presidential elections the number of states using the primary and caucus system increased. But ahead of the 1984 elections the Democratic Party decided to create the superdelegates in an attempt to give party leaders a larger say in a process that had already become dominated by the popular vote in primaries and caucuses.

Liberal critics say that the superdelegate system has weighed the process in favour of party officials and taken the say away from the rank and file.

Constance Borde, superdelegate for Democrats Abroad France, says superdelegates this year have felt that they had been thrust into the limelight with a responsibility they did not necessarily want - to determine the nomination. 

"I don't think anybody who gets elected to the DNC even realises that they are superdelegates," Borde says. "We know that we have a vote, but our vote never really counts because usually by the time you get to Super Tuesday ... the nominee has been decided on and, whatever way people in the DNC vote, it doesn't make any difference."

Professor Bruce Cain of Berkeley University says the experience of this primary/caucus season could mean reform of the nomination process on the Democratic side by early next year. 

"There are a lot of people who think it's not a wise idea to have the nomination in the hands of party and elected officials [the superdelegates] and unmoored to anything that happens in the primaries and the caucuses," Cain says. 

Many superdelegates, whose collective vote has been a determining factor in the run-up to the convention this year, waited to see which way the popular vote was going before committing, rather than holding out until the convention.

Under Democratic rules, superdelegates, even after committing to a candidate, are free to change their votes on the convention floor.