It’s not entirely democratic at the convention, even in a typical election cycle. Recall that 15% of the delegates are “unpledged party leaders and elected officials” (superdelegates).
That aside, I don’t think there’s a constitutional issue here with respect to replacing Biden. If Dems decided to select the candidate via musical chairs or Parcheesi, to my knowledge that’s a party matter (though voters would undoubtedly take a dim view of such antics).
It depends on how things are run, but unless there’s a pre-decided consensus choice, multiple ballots would be likely.
And for this choice I’m not entirely sure it’s wrong for party leaders and elected officials to have a vote. It’s not like the Biden delegates were selected at random from the public to represent it in a momentous decision. No one thought the delegates would be anything other than a formality. They were likely selected as a reward for service to Biden or as a favor to some local official.
Same, I actually prefer a party-leadership and elected officials decide process to the primary system we have now. FiveThirtyEight did a series of podcasts about the history of the US primary system and it really brought me around to disliking the way we do it. There’s a reason that almost no other country votes on candidates for party nominations the way we do. Here’s the link: https://fivethirtyeight.com/tag/the-primaries-project/ I recommend listening to all four episodes, but the third in particular was excellent.
2018, right? But there hasn’t been a contested convention since the rule change. Could be quite the circus, for good or ill. Multiple ballots more likely? Guess we’ll see.
There hasn’t been a brokered convention in the modern era of the primary system (post-1968). It would 100% be a circus. Good for TV, probably exciting, almost certainly bad for the party and its candidate. My guess would be that everything would be handled by the prospective nominees before the convention itself to avoid looking like a hot mess in front of the nation.
The West Wing had a brokered convention that went like seven ballots. Was a good episode IIRC.
It’s not entirely democratic at the convention, even in a typical election cycle. Recall that 15% of the delegates are “unpledged party leaders and elected officials” (superdelegates).
That aside, I don’t think there’s a constitutional issue here with respect to replacing Biden. If Dems decided to select the candidate via musical chairs or Parcheesi, to my knowledge that’s a party matter (though voters would undoubtedly take a dim view of such antics).
They changed the superdelegate rules years ago. They don’t get to vote on the first ballot.
It depends on how things are run, but unless there’s a pre-decided consensus choice, multiple ballots would be likely.
And for this choice I’m not entirely sure it’s wrong for party leaders and elected officials to have a vote. It’s not like the Biden delegates were selected at random from the public to represent it in a momentous decision. No one thought the delegates would be anything other than a formality. They were likely selected as a reward for service to Biden or as a favor to some local official.
Same, I actually prefer a party-leadership and elected officials decide process to the primary system we have now. FiveThirtyEight did a series of podcasts about the history of the US primary system and it really brought me around to disliking the way we do it. There’s a reason that almost no other country votes on candidates for party nominations the way we do. Here’s the link: https://fivethirtyeight.com/tag/the-primaries-project/ I recommend listening to all four episodes, but the third in particular was excellent.
2018, right? But there hasn’t been a contested convention since the rule change. Could be quite the circus, for good or ill. Multiple ballots more likely? Guess we’ll see.
There hasn’t been a brokered convention in the modern era of the primary system (post-1968). It would 100% be a circus. Good for TV, probably exciting, almost certainly bad for the party and its candidate. My guess would be that everything would be handled by the prospective nominees before the convention itself to avoid looking like a hot mess in front of the nation.
The West Wing had a brokered convention that went like seven ballots. Was a good episode IIRC.
Agreed. Also, about the West Wing episode. Used to really love that show.