Less than three months before the Democratic National Convention comes to Chicago, the event is already losing a significant portion of its celebratory luster as national Democrats on Tuesday said they plan to virtually nominate President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris before the convention to comply with ballot access laws in the crucial swing state of Ohio.
Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee, said Tuesday that state delegations will convene virtually before Ohio’s Aug. 7 deadline for presidential candidates to be certified for that state’s ballot.
The Ohio deadline is 12 days before the DNC is scheduled to open its doors on Aug. 19 at the United Center and McCormick Place for its quadrennial convention, leading up to what was to have been the traditional roll call of the states and the celebratory renomination of the president.
The new virtual nomination, a remote process used to nominate Biden during the COVID-19 attendance-restricted 2020 convention, will be held after meetings of the DNC’s rules and bylaws committee to implement the change. The committee’s vote is scheduled for June 4.
The decision to move ahead with the nomination came after Republican state lawmakers in Ohio repeatedly failed to shift the ballot access date, as has been done in the past for both parties. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine had called the Republican-dominated legislature into special session to address the issue, but Democrats said GOP state lawmakers have sought to attach restrictions making it harder to advance citizen-driven initiatives onto the state ballot.
Former President Donald Trump’s ballot access in Ohio was not in jeopardy since his anticipated nomination is set for the July 15-18 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, well in advance of the Ohio ballot deadline.
“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree. But when the time has come for action, they have failed to act every time, so Democrats will land this plane on our own,” Harrison said in a statement.
“Through a virtual roll call, we will ensure that Republicans can’t chip away at our democracy through incompetence or partisan tricks and that Ohioans can exercise their right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice,” Harrison said.
