American Bar Association

 

 

ADOPTED BY THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES
February 1982

 

BE IT RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association recommends that:

(1) Procedures for the selection of delegates to national party conventions should be formulated by the national political parties and should not be controlled and regulated by state or federal legislation;
(2) subject to such standards as each national party may specify, the political parties of individual states should be permitted as much freedom as possible to shape the procedures by which their national convention delegates are selected;
(3) the respective national parties permit state parties to select national convention
delegates in a variety of ways, as may be appropriate to the demographic, geographic, and other circumstances of particular states, including caucuses and conventions as alternatives to delegate selection primaries, while continuing to offer party members an opportunity to participate fully in the delegate selection process;
(4) the respective national parties grant ex officio status as voting delegates to Governors, U.S. Senators, U.S. Representatives and such other elected officials of their parties as they may deem appropriate; and
(5) the respective national parties shorten the periods they establish for the selection of delegates to their national conventions, shift the periods for delegate selection closer to the dates of the national conventions, and limit the number of days on which primaries are conducted.