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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Democratic Party Pushed to End Superdelegates

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Monday, July 25, 2016   

PHILADELPHIA – The Democratic National Convention's Rules Committee on Saturday rejected the petitions of 600,000 people calling for an end to superdelegates.

A formal amendment to the party's charter was submitted last week.

According to Rhode Island state Rep. Aaron Regunberg, who serves on the committee, the amendment has more than enough cosponsors for a minority report, so they will now press for a full vote on the convention floor.

"It's really about making sure that the processes and structures of our party reflect our core values," he says.

Superdelegates are appointed by party leaders and vote for whomever they choose, regardless of who wins the presidential primary in their state.

The result in several states this year was a division of delegates that didn't accurately represent the distribution of votes between the candidates.

Although the superdelegates may not tip the balance at the convention, Regunberg says the process creates suspicion among the voters.

"The mere existence of this system creates a perception among a whole lot of our party's base that the political system is rigged in some ways," he explains.

Originally set at 14 percent of all delegates in 1984, over time their numbers grew and by 2008 a full 20 percent of all convention delegates were superdelegates.

And Regunberg notes that the superdelegates have been increasingly unrepresentative of the diversity of the party as a whole.

"They skew whiter, they skew more male and they skew older than the pledged delegates, to say nothing of our party's voters," he points out.

A vote to approve the amendment could eliminate superdelegates in future presidential primaries, but would not change the delegate count at this year's convention.







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