Last night, John Oliver dissected the American presidential primary process and came to a conclusion that many voters have already reached: the presidential primaries are confusing and often times undemocratic.
In the chaos of the 2016 primary, voters are learning about such processes as “contested conventions,” “caucuses,” “delegates” or “Rules Committees.”
While learning about all these convoluted practices, voters are also finding out that sometimes their vote doesn’t count as much as they thought.
“This patchwork of convoluted systems would be annoying enough” Oliver says, “but each party has its own way of potentially putting its thumb on the scale.”
Democrats have superdelegates, Republicans have unbound delegates and understanding the rules surrounding them only adds another layer of confusion to an already perplexing cake.
So what's the solution to this "undemocratic" system? As Oliver sees it, “It would clearly behoove both parties to take a long hard look" at the way votes are being counted. Oliver explains that the two parties "actually got lucky this time,” since the likely nominees also happen to be the candidates with the most popular votes.
What happens if in 2020 Party leaders choose the presidential nominees instead of popular votes? Oliver thinks the RNC and DNC shouldn’t wait another four years to find out.
Check out the full Last Week Tonight segment above.
In the chaos of the 2016 primary, voters are learning about such processes as “contested conventions,” “caucuses,” “delegates” or “Rules Committees.”
While learning about all these convoluted practices, voters are also finding out that sometimes their vote doesn’t count as much as they thought.
“This patchwork of convoluted systems would be annoying enough” Oliver says, “but each party has its own way of potentially putting its thumb on the scale.”
Democrats have superdelegates, Republicans have unbound delegates and understanding the rules surrounding them only adds another layer of confusion to an already perplexing cake.
So what's the solution to this "undemocratic" system? As Oliver sees it, “It would clearly behoove both parties to take a long hard look" at the way votes are being counted. Oliver explains that the two parties "actually got lucky this time,” since the likely nominees also happen to be the candidates with the most popular votes.
What happens if in 2020 Party leaders choose the presidential nominees instead of popular votes? Oliver thinks the RNC and DNC shouldn’t wait another four years to find out.
Check out the full Last Week Tonight segment above.