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The proposal, a priority of Sanders’ supporters since the Vermont senator’s defeat in a bitterly contested 2016 primary, would prohibit superdelegates — who made up roughly 15 percent of the delegates during the 2016 convention — from voting on the first presidential nominating ballot at a contested national convention.
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During the committee meeting Wednesday, Don Fowler, a former DNC chairman and outspoken critic of the rules change, asked, “For what? Why? … Why vote if you can’t affect the outcome?”
Eliminating superdelegate votes on the first ballot, Fowler said, would only increase the likelihood of a convention going to a second ballot, where superdelegates would have their votes restored — potentially weighing in against the top vote-getter on the first ballot.
He described that scenario as a “great horror” that “this party would have a very difficult time surviving.”
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During the committee meeting Wednesday, Don Fowler, a former DNC chairman and outspoken critic of the rules change, asked, “For what? Why? … Why vote if you can’t affect the outcome?”
Eliminating superdelegate votes on the first ballot, Fowler said, would only increase the likelihood of a convention going to a second ballot, where superdelegates would have their votes restored — potentially weighing in against the top vote-getter on the first ballot.
He described that scenario as a “great horror” that “this party would have a very difficult time surviving.”
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