Unit Rule

The so-called unit rule was one of two controversial nominating rules used for years by the Democratic Party but never embraced by the Republicans. The other was the two-thirds rule, which required a two-thirds majority for nomination as president or vice president.

The unit rule enabled a national party convention delegation to cast all of its votes as the majority wished, regardless of minority objections. The rule prevailed from the earliest Democratic conventions until the turbulent 1968 Chicago convention rejected it. The party subsequently prohibited the unit rule in all phases of party activity. (See Presidential selection reforms.)

Not all states followed the unit rule. It was most popular in the South, which until the mid-twentieth century tended to be heavily Democratic. Along with the two-thirds rule, which the party dropped in 1936, the unit rule enhanced the power of the South in choosing party nominees. Although they were less populous than some of the northern industrial states, southern states could deliver—or withhold—crucial blocs of convention votes.

By the time of the 1968 convention, only about a fifth of the states, mostly border and southern states, still used the unit rule. They made up the core of opposition to the motion to abolish the rule, which won 1,351.25 votes to 1,209.

In effect, the unit rule created winner-take-all possibilities, especially in caucus states. With the rule eliminated, it still remained possible for caucus and primary winners in certain states to take all of the [Page p488]delegates by a simple majority victory. The Democratic Party, however, later banned all types of winner-take-all contests.