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A group of Democratic delegates are pledging to take a fight over election reforms all the way to the floor of the party's convention in Philadelphia next week.
The push to eliminate superdelegates — the party officials who can cast their vote for any candidate — comes as the Rules Committee is expected to meet Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.
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"We're going to go in and we're going to call on the Rules Committee to do the right thing," Diane Russell, a state representative from Maine, said during a press conference ahead of the meeting. "Then we're going to take our fight to the convention floor."
Aaron Regunberg, a Rhode Island state representative and a member of the Rules Committee, said he'll offer an amendment during Saturday's meeting to eliminate superdelegates.
The amendment is backed by 52 other members of the Rules Committee and, according to Regunberg, would "abolish superdelegates in all future presidential nominating contests," meaning it wouldn't impact the 2016 election.
Reforming the rules on superdelegates is also backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders
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But Regunberg is still short of the majority support it would need to be adopted by the 187-member Rules Committee on Saturday. Instead, supporters are focused on forcing a "minority report" — requiring the support of 25 percent of the committee — which would pave the way for a potential vote on the convention floor next week.
Regunberg warned that even when superdelegates don't impact who will be the party's nominee, they help promote criticism that "the system is rigged."
"If we want to bring our party together and unite against the hate-filled campaign of Donald Trump
Donald John TrumpFederal judge shoots down Texas proclamation allowing one ballot drop-off location per county Nine people who attended Trump rally in Minnesota contracted coronavirus Schiff: If Trump wanted more infections 'would he be doing anything different?' MORE, if we want the Democratic Party to leave Philadelphia at the end of this week as fired up and ready to fight as possible I can think of no better step we can take than eliminating this anti-Democratic structure," he added.