The Biden campaign said the Democratic National Committee intends to go ahead with its plan to conduct a virtual vote ahead of the convention in August.
President Joe Biden is expected to secure the 2024 presidential nomination through a virtual vote held in the coming weeks, ahead of the Democratic National Convention in August.
Quentin Fulks, President Biden’s principal deputy campaign manager, confirmed on July 16 that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) will move forward with the plan as previously scheduled and organize a virtual roll call before the convention.
“I think the answer here is very simple,” Mr. Fulks said during a news conference in Milwaukee addressing the decision. “There have been virtual roll calls in previous presidential elections.”
The plans to nominate President Biden ahead of the Aug. 19 convention predates his June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump. Following the debate, some lawmakers called on President Biden to drop out of the race.
The exact date of the roll call has not been released by the DNC.
The DNC did not respond to a request for comment by The Epoch Times.
The plan to nominate the president ahead of the convention stemmed from an Ohio law that requires all candidates to be legally certified by Aug. 7 in order to qualify for ballot access. With the DNC convention not beginning until Aug. 19, under the law, President Biden would have been kept off the November ballot in the state.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine called a rare special session to address the issue in late May.
On May 31, Ohio’s Legislature approved a measure to temporarily extend the certification deadline so that President Biden would be eligible for the November ballot. Despite the temporary fix granting the president Ohio ballot access, the DNC said at the time that it will still hold the early virtual roll call.
Questions Over Necessity
During the news conference, Mr. Fulks blamed Ohio Republicans for playing games, referring to the rule change.
“We have an obligation to make sure, as we have said, to stand by fair and free elections and make sure that the process runs as smoothly as possible,” he said.
