Full DNC Bars Superdelegates From the First Ballot Unless a Candidate Has a Pledged-Delegate Majority, by Acclamation

At the DNC summer meeting on Saturday, the full DNC “barred the superdelegates from voting on the first ballot” for president unless a candidate has already secured a majority using only pledged delegates, beginning with the 2020 process. The group affected was “about 700” automatic, unpledged party leaders, elected officials and activists. Former chair Don Fowler, who led the opposition, “moved to vote by acclimation instead of a ballot vote” (CNN’s spelling), so these sources give no vote count. VTDigger: superdelegates keep their power to support any candidate but will “largely be blocked from participating in the first ballot.”

What the rule does

It changes when automatic delegates may vote, not how many there are. The December 2017 commission package had been broader; the Rules and Bylaws Committee narrowed it in June 2018 (see the research note).

Reading, labelled

Sanders called the decision “an important step forward.” Middlebury political scientist Matthew Dickinson told VTDigger the party was “clearly reacting to both the loss in 2016 by the nominee” and Sanders supporters’ complaints. That is one academic’s inference, quoted, not a party statement.

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• 2017-12-09–dnc-unity-reform-commission-votes-to-cut-first-ballot-superdelegates