Story highlights Sally Kohn: In 1982, the Democratic Party adopted superdelegates, who today control 15% of the final nomination process

Democratic Party superdelegates exist to preserve the power and influence of the Democratic Party's elite, says Kohn

The GOP also has superdelegates, but they vote in line with primary results, and Dem superdelegates don't have to, she says

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Sally Kohn is an activist, columnist and television commentator. Follow her on Twitter: @sallykohn. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) You might think, from their title, that superdelegates are better than regular delegates.

Actually, they're worse.

The process for presidential elections in the United States is governed by the Constitution. Primary elections, however, are not. They are controlled by the political parties themselves. In fact, until the 1820s, members of Congress chose the presidential nominee for each party. That elitist system started to buckle with the advent of national conventions, though delegates were still selected through state and local convention processes controlled by the parties.

It wasn't until the mid-1900s that parties embraced primary elections as part of the process for deciding on presidential candidates. But to ensure that the voters themselves didn't have all the power, in 1982 the Democratic Party adopted what are called superdelegates, who today control 15% of the final nomination process.

Sally Kohn

The Republican Party has superdelegates, too, but they have a lot less power. GOP superdelegates are only about 7% of the nominating vote, and according to Republican convention rules, superdelegates must vote in accordance with their state primary outcomes.

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