WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats will try to hold a virtual vote to nominate president Joe Biden his party’s nominee in the first week of August, as Biden rejected calls from some in his party to drop out of the race following his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.
The Democratic National Convention’s rules committee will meet Friday to discuss its plans, according to a letter sent to members obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, and will finalize them next week. Letter from co-chairs Bishop Leah D. Daughtry and Governor of Minnesota. Tim Walz states that the virtual vote will not take place before August 1, but that the party is still committed to holding a vote before August 7, which was the filing deadline in Ohio.
“We will not implement a rushed virtual voting process,” Daughtry and Walz wrote, “although we will begin our important consideration of how a virtual voting process would work.”
The party announced in May that it would hold an early roll call vote to ensure Biden qualified for the vote in Ohio, which originally had an Aug. 7 deadline but the state has since changed its rules. Biden’s campaign insists the party must operate under Ohio’s initial rules to ensure Republican lawmakers cannot launch legal challenges to keep the president off the ballot.
Daughtry and Walz’s letter comes a day after a contingent of House Democrats wary of quickly nominating Biden when the party chose reelection, another letter circulated raising “serious concerns” about plans for a virtual roll call vote. Their letter to the Democratic National Committeewhich has not yet been sent, says it would be a “bad idea” to stifle the debate on the party’s candidate with an early roll call vote.
“This could profoundly undermine Democratic morale and unity,” the letter obtained by the AP said.
The Democratic National Convention is scheduled for August 19-22 in Chicago.
