A Democratic National Committee panel voted on Wednesday in favor of limiting the power of superdelegates to decide the party’s presidential nominee, according to multiple reports.
The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee voted 27-1 to approve in principle a rule change that would prevent superdelegates — influential members of the party whose support of a candidate carries extra weight regardless of how their state or district votes in the primary process — from taking part in the first nominating ballot at contested conventions, per Politico and NPR.
Under the proposed measure, superdelegates would only be permitted to vote if the candidate had amassed enough pledged delegates beforehand, Politico reported.
The DNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
The full DNC will consider the amendment in August after it is ratified by the Rules and Bylaws Committee in July, Politico added.
Supporters of former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., argued that the superdelegate system helped eventual nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016. Superdelegates make up 30 percent of the party’s 2,382 total delegates, which caused Sanders’ supporters to complain they did not form a true representation of the party’s base.
