As soon as this Thursday, delegates in the Democratic Party will hold a virtual vote to select their new nominee. Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to run unopposed. Here's more on what it means and how the vote will work:
Who gets to vote?
The nearly 4,000 pledged delegates allocated during the Democratic primary process will be voting on the nomination.
Do Biden's delegates automatically go to Harris?
The vast majority of the party's delegates were pledged to President Biden before he dropped out and endorsed Harris. These delegates weren't automatically assigned to Harris, but within the 48 hours of her campaign launch, an overwhelming majority of the delegates said they would back her.
Is anyone challenging Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination?
Under DNC rules, Harris' presidential campaign — and anyone seeking to challenge her — would need to file paperwork with the DNC and obtain digital signatures from at least 300 delegates, with no more than 50 from a single state, by July 30 at 6 p.m. ET.
It's unlikely that a challenger will meet that threshold to contest Harris' nomination, and at this point she is the presumptive nominee. No notable Democrats who could challenge her have stepped forward; instead, the most likely figures quickly backed Harris. In the days since Mr. Biden dropped out and endorsed her, Harris has won endorsements from over 3,000 of the 4,000 pledged delegates. The number of delegate votes she would need to secure the nomination is 1,976.
How will the DNC's virtual roll call work?
The committee's rules established that if it's just Harris who qualifies, the party would hold a roll call vote virtually as soon as Aug. 1, and not in person at its mid-August convention in Chicago. Delegates will be notified at least 24 hours before the roll call vote, and will vote through an online platform run by the DNC.
Once the roll call begins, each of the voting delegates will receive a personalized and watermarked form to cast their vote. The DNC will then tally the votes and share the full results after the roll call is closed.
The DNC also says there will be an outbound phone-based campaign to inform the thousands of delegates about the timing of the process.
"Each roll call form has a range of security features to establish the authenticity and accuracy of each vote. Clear instructions and technical support will be provided to delegates," the DNC has said.
The process for the virtual roll call and the gathering of delegate signatures will largely mirror the process used in 2020, during the pandemic.
If Harris does have a qualified challenger, Democratic Convention Chair Minyon Moore said the party would delay the roll call vote until Aug. 3, in order to allow candidates to make their pitch to delegates. The virtual roll call allows for multiple rounds of voting if neither Harris nor a challenger reaches the majority threshold of 1,976 pledged delegates on the first ballot.
Automatic delegates or "superdelegates," such as Democratic governors, members of Congress and former presidents, also have a vote in the signature threshold and the roll call process. But their vote will not count in the first round of the roll call process, unless a single nominee wins majority support of the pledged delegates.
It is unclear if the roll call will be livestreamed or accessible to the public.
Will Harris and her running mate be nominated at the same time?
While the DNC has said that option is possible, the vice presidential candidate does not have to be nominated at the same time as the presidential nominee. Harris must pick a running mate by Aug. 7 to comply with Ohio's current ballot deadline, which remains in effect. Harris' team is planning to finish the vetting of the VP field and expects her to pick her running mate by that date, according to a source familiar with the plans.
Once Harris makes her pick, Moore will declare her choice the nominee. There is no vote on the vice presidential pick. At the in-person convention in Chicago, there will be ceremonial votes for Harris and her running mate, but the ticket will have been established by then.
Why is the DNC holding an early virtual roll call vote before the convention?
In May, the DNC made a push for a virtual process because of Ohio's Aug. 7 deadline for major parties to submit the names of their certified candidates for the November ballot.
While Ohio Republicans passed a law to push that deadline to Sept. 1, it will not go into effect until then. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, says Ohio would honor that Sept. 1 deadline. But the DNC and members say the possibility of legal challenges by other outside groups, such as the conservative Heritage Foundation, creates unnecessary risk.
"If we take chances with state processes and deadlines, Republican groups could make the argument to challenge Democratic votes on the post-election side, arguing that our nominee should never have been on the ballot in the first place," said DNC outside counsel Pat Moore.
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