2016 Postmortem
Showing Original Post only (View all)Why closed primaries are undemocratic [View all]
The number delegates allotted to a state in the Democratic Party is not based on the number of Democrats or the number of Democratic voters. They are based on:
(a) sum of the vote for the Democratic presidential ticket in the state in the three most recent presidential elections relative to the national Democratic vote in the three most recent elections and;
(b) state electoral vote relative to national electoral vote.
These are weighted equally, so the the number of Democratic delegates per state is based on the overall population of the state, and the number of persons who voted for the Democratic candidate for President. Both of these categories include people across the political spectrum--not just Democrats. For this reason, the votes in closed primaries are weighted more heavily than those that are cast in primaries open to members of all parties and to unaffiliated voters.
This can be added to caucuses and super-delegates as undemocratic aspects of the primary system in need of reform.