Democrats plan to formally renominate President Joe Biden in a virtual roll call vote during the first week of August, before the party’s national convention, despite protests from some Democrats who want more time for the party to consider alternative nominees.
The plan was formally announced in a letter to Democratic National Committee members sent Wednesday morning, which comes after weeks of internal struggle about whether to stick with Biden after a weak debate performance.
Parties typically nominate their presidential standard bearers during live roll call votes at their national conventions, which are often a highlight of the events.But Democrats have been planning for the unusual pre-convention virtual roll call to avoid potential litigation in Ohio, they say.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the co-chair of the Democratic National Convention’s Rules Committee, told reporters Wednesday that the early nomination has nothing to do with Biden's debate performance last month or doubts about his ability to defeat former President Donald Trump.
“This meeting was scheduled for many months, the one on Friday, and it was never meant to be the virtual roll call. It will be setting out the agenda as the Rules Committee moving forward,” Walz said, referring to the committee's upcoming first meeting.
Virtual voting will not start until after Aug. 1, Walz said, and will need to be concluded by Aug. 7 to avoid potential legal issues under an Ohio law that set that date as the deadline for parties to submit candidates' names for the November ballot.
Ohio officials, however, say the deadline issue has already been fixed, thanks to legislation passed earlier this summer.
“The issue is resolved in Ohio, and Democrat proxies know that and should stop trying to scapegoat Ohio for their own party’s dysfunction,” said Ben Kindel, a spokesperson for Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican.
But Democrats say they do not trust the Republicans who run Ohio to follow through. They're worried about last-minute dirty tricks to try to kick Biden off the ballot. LaRose seemed unwilling to bend when the deadline was first raised as an issue, and has a track record of being aggressive in disputes with Democrats.
The Ohio law amending the deadline will not go into effect until Sept. 1. So the original Aug. 7 deadline will still be on the books when that date comes and goes, providing a potential opening for litigation.
Biden-allied Democrats note Ohio’s secretary of state previously said the issue needed to be resolved by early May in order for him to be able to put Biden’s name on the ballot, but the Legislature did not ultimately pass the legislation until late May.
"We believe a virtual element is the wisest approach because it ensures ballot access ... and avoids potential risks if there is delay in the process," Walz and his Rules Committee co-chair, Bishop Leah Daughtry, wrote in the letter to DNC members.
"We know that the Republican Party and its affiliated groups ... plan on filing all conceivable legal challenges to the Democratic Party’s nominees," they continued. "Unless Democratic nominees for President and Vice President are selected and certified to Ohio by August 7, we are likely to face litigation about the efficacy of our filings."
Democrats chose an unusually late date for this year's convention, which is set to kick off in Chicago on Aug. 19. And in the letter, Walz and Daughtry said that timing raises potential conflicts in several other states, such as Washington and Virginia, which have deadlines for parties to submit the names of their nominees during the convention window.
The Rules Committees co-chairs tried to reassure DNC members that they do not want a “a rushed virtual voting process" and will use Friday's meeting to explain why they feel a virtual roll call vote is necessary and how it would work, but will not formalize any rules right away.
“If Biden was 10 points ahead, we would still be doing this because we had to deal with the Ohio situation," said one Democrat familiar with the Rules Committee process, who requested anonymity to speak candidly. “Nothing has changed.”
One delegate who said they received a call from the Biden campaign Monday afternoon, though, recounted the Biden campaign saying an earlier, late July virtual vote was "still the goal." The campaign official asked the delegate, who is an at-large delegate who is not pledged, if they were "ready for your experience as a pledged Biden delegate," the person recounted.
Democrats skeptical of Biden's physical and political health accuse the party of using the Ohio issue as a pretext to lock in the president's renomination.
“There is no legal justification for this extraordinary and unprecedented action which would effectively accelerate the nomination process by nearly a month,” read a draft letter signed by more than 20 House Democrats that has been circulating on Capitol Hill. “[S]tifling debate and prematurely shutting down any possible change in the Democratic ticket through an unnecessary and unprecedented ‘virtual roll call’ in the days ahead is a terrible idea.”
But those House critics decided not to send the letter, according to a spokesperson for Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., who had been leading the effort, in light of the formal announcement of the DNC's plans.
Activists are still planning a demonstration Friday at the DNC’s headquarters in Washington to protest the virtual roll call vote and push for a new nominee.
Democratic Party rules make it virtually impossible to replace the nominee unless they choose to step aside.
And Biden is in firm control of the party apparatuses, including the committees that write its rules, as is typical for whichever party controls the White House.
He won 99% of the pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention during this year's presidential primaries, when he ran essentially unopposed. And key party committees and leadership posts are stacked with hand-picked Biden allies who are chosen in part for loyalty to the president.
