The Democratic National Committee on Saturday will elect a new chairman in balloting that could go multiple rounds and is governed by clearly defined procedures.
The DNC on Friday detailed a schedule during an afternoon conference call that calls for the marquee contest, the chairman’s race, to be decided first before voting for lower offices, including finance chairman and a collection of vice chairmen. To win, candidates must secure the support of 50 percent plus one of the 442 eligible voting DNC members who cast ballots during each round of balloting.
If there isn’t a winner after round one, all eight candidates appear on the ballot in round two unless any choose to withdraw. If the leading vote getter still fails to reach 222 votes, a third round would be held, but the candidate with the fewest votes in round two would drop off. Subsequent rounds of balloting, if necessary, would be conducted similarly until there is a winner.
The chairman’s race, highly contested among the front-runners, Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Tom Perez, the former labor secretary under President Barack Obama. There are eight candidates, including dark horse Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind.
Each candidate for chairman is permitted four nominating speeches that can take up a total of 10 minutes. One of those speeches may be delivered by the candidate if he or she chooses. The party is prepared to conduct both paper and electronic voting; a determination will be made by party leaders on how to proceed depending on circumstances.
“This is a great moment for the party,” interim DNC Chairman Donna Brazile told reporters, previewing the Democratic Party’s winter meeting on Friday and Saturday in Atlanta. “The future is now.”
Among the DNC rules’ interesting quirks is a requirement that the down-ballot positions, including three at-large vice chairmen, a vice chairmen for civic engagement, treasurer and secretary, be equally distributed among men and women. That rule will dictate who is considered for some of these posts, as the down-ballot elections are decided.
