DNC says virtual roll call to nominate Biden will happen in August
The Democratic National Committee has determined that a virtual roll call vote to formally nominate President Biden as the party's nominee will happen in August, according to a letter sent Wednesday by the heads of the convention rules committee.
The letter, obtained first by CBS News, and sent by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Leah Daughtry, who lead the rules committee, says they have confirmed with the DNC and the Democratic National Convention that "no voting will begin before August 1." They add that the vote is set to happen before the in-person Democratic National Convention that starts Aug. 19.
"None of this will be rushed. Unlike our nation's other major political party, our rules are set in public meetings, anchored in the Party's charter and its traditions. That will continue in the 2024 cycle, as it must with so much at stake," they write.
The letter was sent to the 186 members of the convention rules committee on Wednesday, a group of Democratic convention delegates who will take part in the next formal step of setting a date to start the virtual roll call, and who will also be voting in the roll call, which could last multiple days.
DNC Chair Jamie Harrison posted Tuesday that they want the vote to happen by Aug. 5, to comply with an Aug. 7 deadline for candidate certification in Ohio. In late May, the DNC announced a move to a virtual roll call because of that deadline.
In June, Ohio passed a bill to move its deadline from Aug. 7 to Sept. 1. But because that law technically does not take effect until Sept. 1, the DNC said they are keeping their timeline of a pre-convention virtual roll call in place due to concern of litigation. Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose suggested earlier this month that Sept. 1 deadline to certify a candidate would stand.
"Because of how this was done [in Ohio], because of the comments that were made ... I don't trust them in Ohio to do this. But that's not the only reason for it. We need to get these things done," Walz said when asked at a Wednesday Biden-Harris campaign campaign press conference in Milwaukee.
Walz added that other states have ballot access deadlines later in August, starting with Washington on the second day of the in-person convention.
The timing of this letter comes as a group of congressional Democrats urged the DNC to cancel the virtual vote, which is seen by some Democrats as a way to curtail "legitimate debate" about Mr. Biden's place on the Democratic ticket.
"No matter what may be reported, our goal is not to fast-track. Our goals are to uphold our tradition of transparency, our commitment to an effective nominating process that delivers a nominee on all state ballots, and ultimately to set our nominees on a path to victory in November," Daughtry and Walz write.
Several Democratic leaders applied political pressure to kickstart the letter.
On Tuesday, Walz called Biden campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon to express concerns about what the Minnesotan was hearing involving the rules committee process, leading to Wednesday's letter, according to a source directly familiar with the call. Walz, who is in his second term as governor after serving six terms as a member of the U.S. House, also has national influence as the chair of the Democratic Governors Association.
Both congressional Democratic leaders, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, pushed the DNC privately to delay the timeline, according to sources familiar.
The Wednesday letter from Daughtry and Walz reaffirms the roll call vote will remain virtual, saying that avoiding potential litigation and meeting state ballot deadlines "is the driving reason for conducting a virtual voting process."
A Tuesday letter sent to the rules convention committee by three former DNC chairs also backed up the virtual vote.
Daughtry and Walz write that the upcoming convention rules committee meeting on Friday will focus on how the convention will operate and discuss final rules for the convention but will not start the implementation of a "rushed virtual voting process, though we will begin our important consideration of how a virtual voting process would work."
"We will elaborate on the reasoning below as to why a virtual vote is the wisest approach, and will explain how a virtual vote would work," they write.
The letter says the convention rules committee will hold a second meeting next week to adopt rules of a virtual roll call.
Hunter Woodall, Alan He and Ellis Kim contributed reporting.