Colorado’s state delegation to the Democratic National Convention is out of compliance with the national party’s requirement that delegates represent an equitable number of minorities, genders and other communities, party officials said today.
The national party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, in a phone conference this afternoon, said that Colorado and six other states were out of compliance. The committee said its staff was working with the states and that the states must meet the percentages.
“We have a gender imbalance in our delegation, and we’re working on it right now,” said Pat Waak, chairwoman of the state Democratic Party. “I think we’re off by one female. Once you correct that balance, there’s a bit of domino effect on the alternates.”
Waak said the state party wasn’t notified of the disparity until last week. She said she expected to have the balance restored by Friday.
The solution will involve selecting a man within the 12 at-large delegates and swapping him with a female alternate, Waak said. She said the representation of presidential candidates would not be affected.
Ultimately, supplying an alternate and correcting the gender disparity could result in one of the current alternates loosing his spot to the convention.
Waak said it is not uncommon for states to fall out of compliance of the equal-distribution requirement.
