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Posted: 2019-06-06T16:00:05Z | Updated: 2019-06-06T16:18:21Z

There has been a severe lack of diversity among moderators of primary debates in presidential races over the last couple of decades, according to a new report.

An analysis released Thursday from Times Up a group formed amid the Me Too movement against sexual harassment looked at 132 primary debates in presidential races from 1996 through 2016.

In 44% of the debates (or 58 debates), there were no female moderators. And in nearly three-quarters of the debates (73%, or 96 debates), the moderators were all white. Only 1 in 5 debates (26 of them) had at least one black moderator, and 11% had at least one Latinx one.

And 86% of debates (114 debates total) had no women of color on their moderating panels.

Debate moderators have enormous power, and they need to better represent todays voters, Jennifer Klein, the chief strategy and policy officer at Times Up, said in a news release. The group noted that debate moderators often determine which questions are asked of candidates and which issues get lifted up as important in an election.

Last week, the Democratic National Committee announced new requirements for its primary debates, committing to having at least one woman and one person of color (sometimes the same person) as moderator at each of its primary debates for the 2020 presidential election.

In the crowded 2020 presidential race, there are more than 20 Democratic candidates , including several women and people of color the most diverse group in a presidential race ever.