A Voter's View: Why Don't We Count?
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Stephen W. Simpson, Ph.D | DivineCaroline.com
April 02, 2008
For the second time in less than ten years, a candidate might win an election with fewer votes than his or, ahem, her opponent. I understand how our election process makes this possible. What I don’t understand is why we sit still for it.
I know that the United States is a republic and not a pure democracy. I understand the rules by which the Democratic National Committee (DNC) governs its presidential primaries. I can tell you as much as you want to know about superdelegates and why the DNC has them. Yet, I’m still left with a nagging question.
Why don’t we just count votes?
If Hillary Clinton wins Pennsylvania and there is no presumptive Democratic nominee by June, she could win the nomination even though Barack Obama has more delegates based on the votes of the American people. Twenty percent of the delegates at the convention are “superdelegates.” Superdelegates are Democratic governors, members of Congress, and former elected officials that can vote for whomever they darn well please. Since Obama is the new kid on the block and the Clintons became a force in Democratic politics a few minutes after the last dinosaur died, you get one guess at who has more superdelegates in her pocket.
The candidate with the majority of delegates will win the party nomination.
I don’t understand why voters and the media don’t make more of a stink about this. Why doesn’t it bother people that the DNC gives so few so much power? I might understand if this sort of thing had never happened before and we were all caught off guard. But it has happened before, eight short years ago.
Do you think the super-delegate system is fair?
