Public Comment

What a wonderful popular victory in New Hampshire! Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton by 20 percent. Bernie picked up 13 delegates, and Hillary won 9 delegates based on the primary vote.

But unfortunately, that's not the whole story because it ignores the immensely important role of super delegates. In case you are unfamiliar with who super delegates are, they are insiders in the Democratic Party who serve on the National Democratic Committee and are also current and former public officials. Like other delegates, the super delegates will vote on presidential candidates at the National Democratic Party convention in July. But unlike other delegates, super delegates are free to vote for whoever they want regardless of voter preference. These delegates make up at least 20 percent of all delegates. 

Although Bernie won a majority of the pledged delegates, Hillary received six votes from super delegates, which ties her with Bernie. Clearly, Hillary's delegate count certainly does not reflect how the voters actually voted, which favors Bernie overwhelmingly. 

In Iowa, Hillary won, if she actually did win, by only a very slim majority, (49.9 vs. 49.6 percent). But she nevertheless got six additional votes from the super delegates. 

So far, what has been occurring nationally is very discouraging for the Bernie campaign. Hillary's delegate count nationally is about 443 votes compared to about 44 votes for Bernie. The reason for the overwhelming difference is that 394 of the 443 votes came from super delegates. 

It is ironic and even terrifying that the Democratic Party is behaving so very undemocratically. This current arrangement of counting voting delegates is badly in need of repair.