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Democratic Party delegates won’t hold the virtual roll call vote to formalize the party’s presidential nominee until the first week in August, according to a co-chair of the party’s rules committee, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
This announcement came after rumors had spread that the roll call would happen as early as this week.
Walz, who addressed reporters during a press conference meant to highlight Republicans’ record on abortion ahead of Ohio Senator JD Vance’s first speech since being chosen as Donald Trump’s new running-mate, said there is no possibility that the virtual voting would begin before the first day of next month.
The virtual roll call is necessary to ensure that Biden — or another nominee — is formalized on paperwork that must be submitted to various state election officials so the party’s ticket can appear on the Democratic Party ballot line in the November general election.
Walz told reporters that the virtual roll call was being motivated by concerns that an Ohio law which purported to push back the state’s August 7 deadline for nomination paperwork would not be honored by the Republican-controlled state government. Because the Democrats’ quadrennial convention opens on August 19, Biden or another nominee could have been kept off the ballot if the deadline was missed, even though the state’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, signed a law which purported to move the deadline.
“Our job is to set the rules for a convention. This has been done always,” Walz said. He added that the virtual vote would be done “probably by the 15th of August.”
Some Democrats had feared that an earlier scheduled committee meeting this week would be used to force an early roll call and lock Biden in on the ballot, despite widespread discontent with his continued candidacy among the party’s base.
Biden, at 81 years of age, has repeatedly stated that he intends to continue running against Trump. Many in his own party have called for him to withdraw after the debate against Trump, during which he failed to challenge the ex-president on his false statements and repeatedly appeared to lose his train of thought.
The president has blamed his poor performance on illness and fatigue, but it has revived long-simmering doubts over whether he is simply too old to campaign effectively against Trump.
More than a dozen House Democrats and one Democratic Senator have called for his exit from the race, while scores more have privately concluded that Biden cannot win this election and could drag down-ballot candidates down with him.
According to a new poll from the Associated Press, it appears voters agree with that sentiment and want the 46th president to stand down.
The survey, which was conducted from July 11 to July 15, revealed that roughly three of every 10 Democrats said they are either extremely or very confident that Biden still has the mental capability to serve effectively as president. Only 14 per cent of respondents said they are extremely or very confident in Biden’s mental capacity, while 15 percent said they were somewhat confident in the president’s abilities.
A full two-thirds of Democratic respondents — 65 per cent — said Biden should withdraw in favor of someone else. That supermajority of Democratic voters included a full 50 per cent of self-identified Black Democrats, the core of Biden’s political base.
