(Feb. 11, 2016 16:45 EST)– It appears there is more to the delegate system than meets the eye when calculating who may win the democratic nomination for president in this year’s primary election cycle between Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
If the brouhaha following Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary is any indication, the Democratic Party’s delegate system has got some voters in an uproar.
Mathematically speaking, there are any number of ways primary state election results can be used to determine the delegate distribution as well as the projected overall standing the candidate may have down the campaign road.
It gets interesting when the superdelegates are taken into consideration, especially when many of which have already pledged their support for Hillary Clinton.
The idea that many delegates have already been spoken for by way of the super-delegate system appears very undemocratic at best. However, when one steps back and reviews the big picture, it is highly unlikely that the democratic party’s super-delegates will cast their final votes against the will of the people’s popular vote.
The effects, however, of the super-delegate system have already made an impact just days after Tuesday’s primary in NH. Even though the projections and tabulations are mere statistical calculations, they can influence the course of people’s attitudes about voting.
This does not play too well with votes who already have the words “rigged-system” at the tips of their tongues mostly due to Sanders’ campaign rhetoric on economic and societal inequality.
How the super-delegate system effects the primary election process during this cycle has yet to be seen. In any case, given how Sanders’ supports already have “rigged-systems” of government processes on their minds, it is expected any election discrepancies will be watched very closely.
superdelegate
A “superdelegate” or an “unpledged delegate” is a delegate to the Democratic National Convention or Republican National Convention that is seated automatically, based on their status as current (Republican and Democratic) or former (Democratic only) party leader or elected official. Other superdelegates are chosen during the primary season. Democratic superdelegates are free to support any candidate for the nomination. This contrasts with convention delegates that are selected based on the party primaries and caucuses in each U.S. state, in which voters choose among candidates for the party’s presidential nomination.
(Source: wikipedia, Accessed Feb. 11, 2016 16:45 EST)
Terms:
Brouhaha
[broo-hah-hah, broo-hah-hah, broo-hah-hah]
noun
1. excited public interest, discussion, or the like, as the clamor attending some sensational event; hullabaloo:
Delegate
noun
1. a person designated to act for or represent another or others; deputy; representative, as in a political convention.
2. A delegate is someone who communicates the ideas of or acts on behalf of an organization at a meeting or conference between organizations of the same level.
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