<P> The Democratic Party uses pledged delegates and superdelegates . A candidate for the Democratic nomination must win a majority of combined delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention . </P> <P> Pledged delegates are elected or chosen at the state or local level, with the understanding that they will support a particular candidate at the convention . Pledged delegates are, however, not actually bound to vote for that candidate, thus the candidates are allowed to periodically review the list of delegates and eliminate any of those they feel would not be supportive . Currently there are 4,051 pledged delegates . </P> <P> Of the 4,765 total Democratic delegates, 714 are superdelegates, which are usually Democratic members of Congress, Governors, former Presidents, and other party leaders and elected officials . They are not required to indicate preference for a candidate . </P> <P> The Democratic Party uses a proportional representation to determine how many delegates each candidate is awarded in each state . For example, a candidate who wins 40% of a state's vote in the primary election will win 40% of that state's delegates . However, a candidate must win at least 15% of the primary vote in order to receive any delegates . There is no process to win superdelegates, since they can vote for whomever they please . A candidate needs to win a simple majority of total delegates to earn the Democratic nomination . </P>

Where are delegates to the national convention selected