McGovern-Fraser Commission
Encyclopedia
The McGovern-Fraser Commission, formally known as Commission on Party Structure and Delegate Selection was a commission created in response to the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention
. Soon after Richard Nixon
's electoral victory, the 28-member commission was selected by Senator
Fred R. Harris
, who was then the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee
. Senator George McGovern
and later Representative Donald M. Fraser
chaired the commission, which is how the commission received its name. McGovern resigned from the commission in 1971 in order to run for president. He won the first nomination decided under the new rules, but lost the general election to Nixon by a huge margin.
, who could claim to have demonstrated his appeal to voters in the primaries and nominating another, Hubert Humphrey
, who had not entered a single primary. Disgust with the nominating process led Democrats to create a commission that would improve the conditions of how nominees were selected.
The convention approved the establishment of a party committee to examine current rules and make recommendations designed to broaden participation and enable better representation
for minorities and others who were underrepresented. The McGovern-Fraser Commission established open procedures and affirmative action
guidelines for selecting delegate
s. In addition the commission made it so that all delegate selection procedures were required to be open; party
leaders could no longer handpick the convention delegates in secret. The commission recommended that delegates be represented by the proportion of their population in each state. An unforeseen result of these rules was that many states
complied by holding primary election
s to select convention delegates. This created a shift from caucuses to primaries. The Republican Party
’s nomination process was also transformed in this way, as state laws involving primaries usually apply to all parties’ selection of delegates.
Some of the guidelines are as follows:
Other guidelines included that:
Some controversies over the guidelines:
. Prior to the reforms, Democrats
in two-thirds of the states used elite-run state conventions to choose convention delegates. In the post-reform era, over three-quarters of the states use primary elections to choose delegates, and over 80% of convention delegates are selected in these primaries. This is true for Republicans
as well.
Nominating procedures are determined by states, and there are three basic types of primary. The two simplest primary forms are what are referred to as "open" and "closed" primaries. In the open primary, any registered voter may participate regardless of partisan affiliation. This category also includes states that allow same-day party registration. Conversely, in the closed primary, only same-party registered partisans may participate. Modified-open primaries encompass a broad category of voting rules that are neither fully closed nor fully open for all to participate and include primaries where same-party registrants may participate with "independents
," "unenrolled," "unaffiliated," or "undeclared" voters. In the 2000 election
, 35 percent of Democratic primaries and 31 percent of Republican primaries are closed to registered party members: 41 percent percent of Democratic and Republican primaries are open to all registered voters, and the remaining 24 percent and 28 percent of Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively, are characterized by modified-open procedures.
Even before the introduction of the McGovern-Fraser presidential nominating reforms, academics and political practitioners alike wrestled with the questions of nominating procedures, the representativeness of primary electorates, and their implications for democracy. Strong party proponents, worried that primaries dilute party influence over nominations and thus impeded party discipline and effectiveness in governing. Others have contended that the biases inherent in the primary electorates (the overrepresentation of some groups and the under-representation of others) deprive minority groups of their democratic voice.
Beyond the scholarly debates surrounding the direct primary, political parties and their operatives have voiced pragmatic concerns regarding the types of candidates that primaries tend to favor, suggesting that they often produce ideologically extreme candidates who are not always attractive to more moderate, general election voters. The question of representation and the extent to which primary voters reflect the demographic and attitudinal characteristics of nonvoters and rank-and-file partisans generally has been a long-standing concern to students of primary politics. Some scholars conclude that primary voters are demographically unrepresentative of the larger partisan electorate, while others find fewer differences.
1968 Democratic National Convention
The 1968 Democratic National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, from August 26 to August 29, 1968. Because Democratic President Lyndon Johnson had announced he would not seek a second term, the purpose of the convention was to...
. Soon after Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
's electoral victory, the 28-member commission was selected by Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Fred R. Harris
Fred R. Harris
Fred Roy Harris is a former Democratic United States Senator from the state of Oklahoma. He served from 1964 until 1973.-Biography:...
, who was then the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
. Senator George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
and later Representative Donald M. Fraser
Donald M. Fraser
Donald MacKay Fraser is an American politician from Minneapolis, Minnesota.-Early life:Donald Fraser played a critical role in making human rights an important part of U.S. policy. Fraser was born on 20 February 1924 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Everett and Lois Fraser. His parents were émigrés...
chaired the commission, which is how the commission received its name. McGovern resigned from the commission in 1971 in order to run for president. He won the first nomination decided under the new rules, but lost the general election to Nixon by a huge margin.
Purpose
The events at and around the Democratic national convention of 1968 left the party in disarray, unable to support its nominee and divided over matters of both substance and procedure. The 1968 convention was disastrous for the Democrats, as much because of the demonstrations and violent police responses outside the convention hall as because of the convention itself. What took place in Chicago went well beyond party leaders’ ignoring one candidate, Eugene McCarthyEugene McCarthy
Eugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy was an American politician, poet, and a long-time member of the United States Congress from Minnesota. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971.In the 1968 presidential election, McCarthy was the first...
, who could claim to have demonstrated his appeal to voters in the primaries and nominating another, Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
, who had not entered a single primary. Disgust with the nominating process led Democrats to create a commission that would improve the conditions of how nominees were selected.
The convention approved the establishment of a party committee to examine current rules and make recommendations designed to broaden participation and enable better representation
Representation (politics)
In politics, representation describes how some individuals stand in for others or a group of others, for a certain time period. Representation usually refers to representative democracies, where elected officials nominally speak for their constituents in the legislature...
for minorities and others who were underrepresented. The McGovern-Fraser Commission established open procedures and affirmative action
Affirmative action
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
guidelines for selecting delegate
Delegate
A delegate is a person who speaks or acts on behalf of an organization at a meeting or conference between organizations of the same level A delegate is a person who speaks or acts on behalf of an organization (e.g., a government, a charity, an NGO, or a trade union) at a meeting or conference...
s. In addition the commission made it so that all delegate selection procedures were required to be open; party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
leaders could no longer handpick the convention delegates in secret. The commission recommended that delegates be represented by the proportion of their population in each state. An unforeseen result of these rules was that many states
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
complied by holding primary election
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
s to select convention delegates. This created a shift from caucuses to primaries. The Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
’s nomination process was also transformed in this way, as state laws involving primaries usually apply to all parties’ selection of delegates.
The Commission Report
The Commission was mainly concerned with developing rules that would govern the 1972 Democratic convention. The Commission report was written in less than nine months and was divided into two parts, one that recommended 18 guidelines for state parties and the other part recommended steps that were deem ’desirable’ for state parties to take. The report attempted to bring uniformity to the delegate selection process and to give greater influence to those in the past that had a marginal voice, mainly women, blacks and young people (defined as those under 30).Some of the guidelines are as follows:
“The first guideline ordered state parties to “adopt explicit written Party rules governing delegate selection. It was followed by eight “procedural rules and safeguards” which the commission demanded be applied in the delegate selection process. Specifically, the states were henceforth to forbid proxy votingProxy votingProxy voting has two forms: delegable voting and delegated voting, which are procedures for the delegation to another member of a voting body of that member's power to vote in his absence, and/or for the selection of additional representatives, as in the case with transitive proxies...
; forbid the use of the unit rule and related practices such as instructing delegations; require a quorum of not less than 40 percent at all party committee meetings; remove all mandatory assessments of delegates and limit mandatory participation fees to no more than $10; ensure that party meetings in non rural areas were held on uniform dates, at uniform times and in places of easy access; ensure adequate public notice of all party meetings concerned with delegate selection.”
Other guidelines included that:
- State organizations select no more than 10 percent of the delegation by state committee
- State organizations prohibit the ex-officio designation of delegates to the National convention
- State organizations designate the procedures by which slates are prepared and challenged
- State delegate apportionment within states was to be based on a formula giving equal weight to total population and to the Democratic vote in the previous Presidential election
- State organizations to overcome the effects of past discrimination by affirmative steps to encourage representation on the National Convention delegation of minority groups, young people and women in reasonable relationship to their presence in the population of the State
- Petition requirements for delegate candidates be eliminated
- Elimination of restrictions on voter registration such as literacy tests and lengthy residency requirements
- Called for a uniform standard formula for delegate selection across the States
Some controversies over the guidelines:
- The unit rule was very controversial, the committee report defines it as, “a practice by which a majority of a meeting or delegation can bind a dissenting minority to vote in accordance with the wishes of the majority.” Some argue that the abolished unit rule was replaced by a very similar system of proportional representation, which would essentially create the same outcome as the previous unit rule. The proportional representation would create a winner-takes-all system, which would begin at the county level which would allow the majority to override the minorities and send their delegates.
- The quotas were very controversial, some claimed that they were reverse discrimination and that “made it too easy for inexperienced amateurs-not dedicated to the party or to the goal of winning elections- to take over a national convention”
- Some scholars and party leaders claim that the guidelines, particularly those that gave more power to party amateurs, were written in favor of Senator McGovern being nominated as a presidential candidate in 1972.
Effect on presidential primaries
One of the unintended consequences of McGovern-Fraser reforms was an enormous surge in the number of state party presidential primariesUnited States presidential primary
The series of presidential primary elections and caucuses is one of the first steps in the process of electing the President of the United States of America. The primary elections are run by state and local governments, while caucuses are private events run by the political parties...
. Prior to the reforms, Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
in two-thirds of the states used elite-run state conventions to choose convention delegates. In the post-reform era, over three-quarters of the states use primary elections to choose delegates, and over 80% of convention delegates are selected in these primaries. This is true for Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
as well.
Nominating procedures are determined by states, and there are three basic types of primary. The two simplest primary forms are what are referred to as "open" and "closed" primaries. In the open primary, any registered voter may participate regardless of partisan affiliation. This category also includes states that allow same-day party registration. Conversely, in the closed primary, only same-party registered partisans may participate. Modified-open primaries encompass a broad category of voting rules that are neither fully closed nor fully open for all to participate and include primaries where same-party registrants may participate with "independents
Independent (voter)
An independent voter, those who register as an unaffiliated voter in the United States, is a voter of a democratic country who does not align him- or herself with a political party...
," "unenrolled," "unaffiliated," or "undeclared" voters. In the 2000 election
United States presidential election, 2000
The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
, 35 percent of Democratic primaries and 31 percent of Republican primaries are closed to registered party members: 41 percent percent of Democratic and Republican primaries are open to all registered voters, and the remaining 24 percent and 28 percent of Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively, are characterized by modified-open procedures.
Critiques
Any number of authorities criticize the reforms as having created “too much” democracy, or a badly conceived democracy, leaving too much of the nominations decision up to an allegedly uninformed, unrepresented, and/or uninterested electorate.Even before the introduction of the McGovern-Fraser presidential nominating reforms, academics and political practitioners alike wrestled with the questions of nominating procedures, the representativeness of primary electorates, and their implications for democracy. Strong party proponents, worried that primaries dilute party influence over nominations and thus impeded party discipline and effectiveness in governing. Others have contended that the biases inherent in the primary electorates (the overrepresentation of some groups and the under-representation of others) deprive minority groups of their democratic voice.
Beyond the scholarly debates surrounding the direct primary, political parties and their operatives have voiced pragmatic concerns regarding the types of candidates that primaries tend to favor, suggesting that they often produce ideologically extreme candidates who are not always attractive to more moderate, general election voters. The question of representation and the extent to which primary voters reflect the demographic and attitudinal characteristics of nonvoters and rank-and-file partisans generally has been a long-standing concern to students of primary politics. Some scholars conclude that primary voters are demographically unrepresentative of the larger partisan electorate, while others find fewer differences.