Democrats Begin Hasty Online Roll Call to Officially Nominate Kamala Harris

The Democratic National Convention (DNC) began its virtual roll call on Thursday to officially nominate Vice President Kamala Harris, preempting its convention later in August.

The expeditious vote — to be completed by Monday — underscores the speed at which Democrats moved to coronate Harris, who received exactly zero presidential primary votes in her political career.

Harris dropped out of the 2020 presidential race before the Iowa caucuses and did not enter the race in 2024 until President Joe Biden endorsed her. Speculation suggests Biden endorsed Harris out of revenge for party bosses threatening to oust him from the race with the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.

Harris is the only candidate eligible to receive votes after the party closed the qualifying process Tuesday, the Associated Press reported:

Delegates to the Democratic National Convention will officially select their nominee for president in a process that begins Thursday. But unlike in past years, they won’t do so in the raucous party atmosphere of the convention floor or even during the convention itself. Instead, they’ll quietly fill out electronic ballots in the comfort of their homes, offices or vacation spots more than two weeks before the first delegate steps foot inside Chicago’s United Center.

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Under new procedures adopted by the convention’s rules committee in late July, candidates had until July 27 to declare their intent to seek the presidential nomination and until Tuesday night to submit the 300 delegate signatures required to qualify for the roll call vote. According to a DNC statement, Harris submitted signatures from 3,923 delegates, about 84% of the full delegation and 99% of delegates who signed a petition.