Subject: RE: Memo from Rules and Bylaws Co-Chairs on Delegate Selection Process
From: "Miranda, Luis" <[email-masked]>
To: Donna Brazile <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2016 08:41:43 -0700

We will have it on Medium and for Twitter soon.

[SigDems]<http://www.democrats.org/>Luis Miranda, Communications Director
Democratic National Committee
202-863-8148 - [email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]> - @MiraLuisDC<https://www.twitter.com/MiraLuisDC>

From: Donna Brazile [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 10:39 AM
To: Miranda, Luis
Subject: Re: Memo from Rules and Bylaws Co-Chairs on Delegate Selection Process

Is it on Twitter?

Sent from Donna's I Pad. Follow me on twitter @donnabrazile

On Apr 25, 2016, at 10:37 AM, Miranda, Luis <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>> wrote:
Friends, ahead of tomorrow's electoral contests I wanted to make sure you saw this memo from this weekend from the Co-Chairs of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee with an update with where we are and how our process works.

TO:                             Interested Parties

FROM:                       Lorraine Miller and Jim Roosevelt, Jr.,

                                    Co-Chairs of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee

REGARDING:           An Overview of the Democratic Delegate Selection Process

DATE:                        April 22, 2016

2016 CYCLE OVERVIEW

Democrats are excited about the 2016 Democratic primary election season, and that's because we have strong candidates who are dedicated to solving the issues that matter most to Americans.  Voters are eager to cast their vote for the next Democratic presidential nominee and participate in the Democratic delegate selection process in their state.  Our process aims to uphold our Party's values of inclusivity, diversity, and transparency.

Here is the Democratic delegate selection process by the numbers:

*         4,765 = total number of Democratic delegates as of today

*         4,051 = total number of pledged Democratic delegates

*         714 = total number of unpledged delegates

*         2,383 = number of delegate votes needed to win the Democratic nomination as of today

*         57 = the number of presidential nominating contests

PROCESS DEVELOPMENT

The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) reviews the Delegate Selection Rules prior to each presidential election year.  While the general structure of the Democratic delegate selection process has been in place since 1972, the Committee, over the course of many public meetings, reflects on the delegate selection process of the previous cycle and updates the Rules accordingly.

The RBC met five times in 2014 in order to finalize the Delegate Selection Rules for the 2016 cycle, which were then shared with the 57 state and territory Democratic parties.  In May of 2015, each party submitted their Delegate Selection Plan to the RBC.  These plans were subsequently reviewed by the Committee to ensure compliance with the DNC's Delegate Selection Rules during the summer of 2015 at three public meetings, attended by press, presidential campaigns, and other interested parties, held on June 26, July 24 and August 27.  In partnership with the RBC, DNC staff, and presidential campaigns, state parties work to implement their Delegate Selection Plans starting in September of 2015 until the process draws to a close.

While state and territory parties are the drivers of their process, the creation and implementation of their Plans are governed by the DNC's Delegate Selection Rules, the Call for the Convention, and the Regulations of the Rules and Bylaws Committee.  These materials provide states and territories with the guidance that ensures fundamental values of the Democratic Party-such as a commitment to diversity and participation of all eligible voters-are upheld throughout this process.  For example, each state and territory party solicits public comment on their Plan for no less than 30 days to allow for input from constituents, making the drafting of the Delegate Selection Plan a democratic process.

Additionally, each state is required to develop and implement an extensive affirmative action and inclusion outreach plan. The state and territory parties as well as presidential campaigns are tasked with conducting widespread outreach and recruitment to encourage Democrats of all backgrounds to run to be delegates.  Our Party believes that our convention should look like America, and state and territory parties and campaigns are responsible for striving to meet that diversity goal.

THE REPUBLICAN DELEGATE SELECTION PROCESS VERSUS THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS

Some stark differences between the Democrats' delegate selection process and the Republican's delegate selection process were mentioned in the previous section, but that's not where the differences end.  Outlined below are some major differences between our process and that of the Republicans:

*         A commitment to diversity and equal representation of men and women

*         The solicitation of input from the public during the creation of a state's Delegate Selection Plan

*         The transparent development of our Rules

*         Proportional allocation of pledged delegates to presidential candidates based on the results of the state's primary or caucus

o   Unlike the Republicans, we do not allow for "winner-take all" outcomes, meaning that the candidate who wins the majority vote in a state does not win all of the state's delegates.

o   Instead, presidential candidates who break threshold, which is 15% in all states, are allocated delegates proportional to the percentage of the vote that they won in the primary or caucus.

o   Delegates must affirm in writing that they are bona fide supporters of the candidates that they are representing in the delegation and are subject to review by each campaign.

o   We believe that this is the fairest way to reflect the intention of Democratic voters and to mirror the results at each step in the delegate selection process in the states.

*         Delegates elected in the states are pledged not bound, meaning that they are required only to represent in good faith those who elected them.

UNPLEDGED DELEGATES

An often discussed feature of the Democratic delegate selection process is the unpledged delegates, also referred to as "superdelegates."  These individuals serve by virtue of the elected office that they hold, and they include:

*         Democratic Governors

*         Democratic Members of Congress

*         Distinguished Party Leaders (such as former presidents and former leaders in the Senate and the House)

*         DNC Members

We ensure these leaders have a voice in our convention, and their existence as a separate group means that interested voters don't have to run against elected officials in order to attend the Democratic National Convention. Unpledged delegates are also distinguished by the fact that they are not pledged to a presidential candidate based on the results of their state's primary or caucus and instead exercise their best judgment when selecting a presidential candidate to support.

Concerns that unpledged delegates may change the outcome of the election are historically unfounded-unpledged delegates have never changed the outcome of an election since unpledged delegates were established over 30 years ago.  Like pledged delegates, unpledged delegate cast one vote, which carries the same weight as the vote of any other delegate.

There have been recent reports of harassment or mistreatment of state parties who are managing the process in their state and unpledged delegates.  This does not reflect the values of this process and our great Party.  State Parties are working year round to elect Democrats at every level and are the foundation of our Party.  Unpledged delegates have been a feature of our process for many decades and will continue to play a role.

We encourage all interested parties, including presidential candidates and members of the press and public, to learn all about their state's process. It is important that our process is open, transparent, and maximizes participation.  Each state plan has undergone a rigorous review process to ensure compliance with our Rules, and changing Rules midway through the cycle would lead to confusion among participants in the delegate selection process, unnecessary costs to state parties, and inconsistent standards for states to abide by.

Our Party spends years preparing for each presidential election cycle, and we believe that our process is designed to best position our Party and our eventual nominee for victory in the general election in November.  We are looking forward to the Democratic National Convention in July where our delegates will cast their vote for the next President of the United States.
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<http://www.democrats.org/>Luis Miranda, Communications Director
Democratic National Committee
202-863-8148 - [email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]> - @MiraLuisDC<https://www.twitter.com/MiraLuisDC>