Democrats eye virtual roll call for Biden in first week of August

The plan for a virtual roll call was unveiled in May but has received fresh scrutiny after the June 27 presidential debate with Donald Trump. Some Democrats have criticized the process as rushed — or suggested it should be scrapped altogether in favor of a traditional roll call of the states at the party convention in Chicago that starts Aug. 19.

The co-chairs of a panel overseeing convention rules assured members Wednesday that the virtual voting will not start before Aug. 1. And later Wednesday, one of the co-chairs — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — said the virtual roll call would probably need to be done by Aug. 7.

The committee has a previously scheduled meeting Friday at which it is expected to start discussing rules for the virtual roll call but not adopt them.

“This meeting was scheduled for many months, the one on Friday, and it was never meant to be the virtual roll call,” Walz told reporters Wednesday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. “It’ll be setting out the agenda as a rules committee moving forward.”

The intraparty debate about Biden’s candidacy is clashing with a nomination process that had already become complicated.

The DNC initially announced the plan for a virtual roll call as a workaround for a scheduling conflict with the ballot certification deadline in Ohio. State lawmakers then passed a law temporarily changing the deadline to accommodate Democrats, but the DNC said it still wanted to hold a virtual roll call because it did not trust Ohio GOP leaders to see the new timeline through.

In Congress, Rep. Jared Huffman (Calif.) had been circulating a draft letter among fellow Democrats arguing against the virtual roll call in July, saying there is “no legal justification for this extraordinary and unprecedented action.”

After the DNC said Wednesday that it would not hold the virtual roll call before Aug. 1, Huffman dropped the effort. A spokesperson said he was “glad to see that the pressure has worked and the [DNC] will not rush through this virtual process.”

Three Biden-aligned party elders sent an email to rules committee members Tuesday insisting that the virtual roll call should move forward — and be done by Aug. 7.

Walz said Wednesday that the virtual voting should probably be wrapped up by Aug. 15, though a spokesperson later clarified that he meant Aug. 7. That is the original date of the ballot certification deadline in Ohio, which DNC officials believe they still need to meet to avoid potential litigation.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (Tex.), the first House Democrat who publicly asked Biden to leave the race, said Wednesday that the DNC should ditch the virtual roll call altogether and nominate the presidential ticket as usual at the in-person convention in Chicago.

“Fast-forwarding the nomination process is no way to convince the many unconvinced voters in the growing number of battleground states,” Doggett said in a statement.

In a letter to the rules committee Wednesday, the co-chairs — Walz and Leah Daughtry — insisted they were approaching the virtual roll call in a deliberative fashion.

“None of this will be rushed,” the letter said. “Unlike our nation’s other major political party, our rules are set in public meetings, anchored in the Party’s charter and its traditions.”

Biden’s campaign expressed frustration with the focus on the virtual roll call while holding a news conference with Walz to criticize the GOP convention.

“The Republicans are lying to the American people about virtually every single issue that impacts their lives and we’re caught up in process stories,” said Quentin Fulks, Biden’s principal deputy campaign manager.