Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Pennsylvania Primary


The delegate allocation rules in the Pennsylvania primary require that, unless one candidate exceeds the other's vote total by 15% or more, the 188 delegates are divided evenly. The result, and one really has to believe, the intention, of the rule is to empower the super-delegates and to disempower the voters. The voters are unable to give any advantage to the candidate they prefer. In effect, the delegation is voted by the super-delegates and the voters are left only with a veto.

However the circumstances in which the voters' veto could be used are in elections so one-sided that there is really no contest. That is, the voters' votes only matter in elections in which they don't matter. Welcome to Pennsylvania.

These are the rules for choosing the candidate of a party that styles itself the Democratic Party.

2 comments:

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