Worries about a DNC Virtual Roll Call Vote Have Apparently Disappeared

Perhaps because those concerns were never really about a fair process.

For the last few weeks, a conflict was brewing within the Democratic Party. Not the one about whether Joe Biden should be the candidate or not. This one was about how to go about finalizing the choice of candidate.

There are many details about how this came to be, but I’ll try to summarize quickly so you get the gist.

Normally, a party picks their candidate at their national convention. where assigned delegates vote on their choice for the nominee. The delegates choose this based on who wins the primary votes in their states. It’s similar to the Electoral College in this respect, in that the Electors are technically the ones who picks the president, not the voters. The Electors are supposed to vote for the candidate that won the majority vote in the state, and they almost always do. Party delegates operate in a similar way.

Due to ballot deadline concerns, mostly originating from Ohio (you can read about it here, and of course, Google it; there are many stories available), the Democratic National Commitee (DNC) chair, Jamie Harrison, decided to push for an early virtual roll call for the delegates to vote on their choice, which would occur before the Democratic Convention. By doing it this early, it would alleviate any ballot access deadline concerns, and minimize threats of Republican litigation to thwart Democratic ballot intentions.

When Biden was still in the race, this was a growing rift within the party, because the push for a virtual roll call vote before the actual convention was seen as a way to force Biden in as the party’s nominee, against the wishes of a vocal and growing segment of the party. Many prominent commentators and some elected officials—pretty much all the ones that wanted Biden to drop out, including our old favorite, Nate Silver—complained about this and railed on DNC and Harrison for spreading “misinformation”, or even outright lying.