Democrats will look to hold a virtual vote to make President Joe Biden the party’s nominee in the first week of August, according to the Associated Press. The news comes as Biden has rebuffed calls from some in his party to quit the race after a disastrous first debate performance against Donald Trump.
The Democratic National Convention’s (DNC) rules committee will meet on Friday to discuss its plans, according to a letter sent to members obtained today by the Associated Press, and will finalize them next week. The letter from co-chairs Bishop Leah D. Daughtry and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz states that the virtual vote won’t take place before Aug. 1, but the party is still committed to holding a vote before Aug. 7, which had been Ohio’s filing deadline.
The party announced in May that it would hold an early roll call to ensure Biden would qualify for the ballot in Ohio, but the state has since changed its rules. The Biden campaign insists that the party must operate under Ohio’s initial rules to ensure Republican lawmakers can’t mount legal challenges to keep the president off the ballot.
The letter from Daughtry and Walz comes a day after a contingent of House Democrats wary of swiftly nominating Biden as the party’s pick for reelection circulated another letter raising “serious concerns” about plans for a virtual roll call. Their letter to the Democratic National Committee, which has not yet been sent, says it would be a “terrible idea” to stifle debate about the party’s nominee with the early roll call vote.
The DNC is scheduled for Aug. 19–22 in Chicago.
