A commission set up to help reform the Democratic presidential nominating process has voted to restrict the number of superdelegates as part of a slew of changes.

The Democratic Party’s Unity Reform Commission is recommending cutting the number of superdelegates by about 400, equal to a 60 percent reduction. Many of the remaining superdelegates would see their vote tied to the results in their state.


The commission is also suggesting that absentee voting be required as an option for presidential caucus participants. It is calling for automatic voter registration and same-day voter registration. And it wants to mandate public reporting of raw vote totals from caucus states.

The recommendations will now go to the Democratic National Committee’s rules and bylaws committee, and then likely to the full 447-member Democratic National Committee for consideration sometime next year, where it will need two-thirds support to pass.

“It’s not going to be about 447 people, it’s going to be about millions of people and how they pick up this challenge and this path,” said Larry Cohen, the former president of the Communication Workers of America who was appointed to this commission by 2016 candidate Bernie Sanders.

Made up of 21 appointees named by Hillary Clinton, Sanders and DNC chair Tom Perez, the commission was created as a result of an agreement between the Sanders and Clinton campaigns during last year’s Democratic National Convention as a way to overhaul the nominating process following the contentious 2016 primary.

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While the members didn’t had differences of opinion — Nina Turner, the head of "Our Revolution," the progressive group that emerged from Sanders' campaign, wanted to get rid of superdelegates entirely— they ultimately adopted their recommendations unanimously.

“This was a real victory for people who wanted reform in the party,” said Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ 2016 campaign manager, saying it transferred power from insiders to the grass roots. “This party isn’t going to win against unless it reforms.”

Lucy Flores, a former Nevada state legislator and another Sanders appointee, said DNC members on the Unity and Reform Commission gave the Sanders wing of the party reassurances the recommendations would be taken seriously.

If the DNC ignores the commission’s recommendations, Flores said, “That gives us a lot of leverage to go back to the them and say, ‘What happened to all this unity?”

The closing remarks from commission members were full of paeans to what they called a newly unified Democratic Party, ready to make gains in 2018 and combat President Donald Trump. But Weaver slipped in a reminder that clashes between Sanders’ wing of the party and the establishment might not be over.

“Many of you I’ve opposed before," he joked, "and I’m sure I will someday oppose again.”

