Don't expect a balloon drop quite yet. How the virtual roll call to nominate Kamala Harris will work

WASHINGTON -- Don't expect a balloon drop, at least not yet.

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.

Vice President Kamala Harris will be the only candidate eligible to receive votes after no other candidate qualified by a Tuesday night deadline.

Dubbed a “virtual roll call” by Democratic National Committee officials, the process will allow Harris to claim the nomination by Monday, just 15 days after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek a second term following widespread concerns within the party over his ability to defeat Republican nominee Donald Trump in November.

How will the virtual process work?

Nearly 4,700 delegates will cast ballots using an electronic voting method the party says is similar to one used to tally virtual roll call votes in the 2020 convention, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the party to conduct much of its official business remotely.

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.

Any vote cast for someone other than Harris in the roll call would be counted as “present.”

Voting will now commence on Thursday, with the first delegates expected to receive their ballots at 9 a.m. ET, and conclude on Monday at 6 p.m. ET.

Who gets to vote?

Among those casting ballots will be pledged delegates selected through state primaries and caucuses as well as more than 700 others who have automatic delegate slots by virtue of the elected office or party positions they hold. These include incumbent governors, U.S. senators and representatives, former presidents and DNC members.

These automatic delegates, known informally as superdelegates, were the subject of much debate within the party for years because of their potential to influence the outcome of a close nomination fight despite not having been selected for their posts through a public process. Historically, however, superdelegates have never backed a candidate for the nomination other than the one who also earned the majority of pledged delegates.

After the 2016 election, the party passed reforms that allowed superdelegates to vote only on the second and subsequent ballots. Party rules do allow superdelegates to vote on the first ballot if a candidate has either won a majority of pledged delegates through the primary and caucus process, like Biden did, or submitted the signatures of a majority of total delegates, as Harris did.

What will the results look like?

The DNC has not provided details on how or when the results of the roll call vote will be released. The voting period closes on Monday at 6 p.m. ET, but the party has not specified whether it will release results earlier if final results are available before then.

It's also unclear whether the party will provide a rolling tally of the votes as they are cast, similar to how the roll call is conducted in person on the convention floor, or if it will release only the final tally. The DNC also has not said if it will provide a state-by-state breakdown.

What about the nominee for vice president?

Once Harris officially wins the nomination, the new convention rules allow her to place the name of her pick for vice president into nomination, at which point the convention chair can declare that candidate as the vice presidential nominee.

Harris said Tuesday she had not yet decided on her No. 2. But she, and whomever she selects, will head out on a seven-state swing of key battlegrounds, including Pennsylvania, Arizona and North Carolina, next week.

Why is this happening before the convention?

DNC officials first indicated in May that they would conduct a virtual roll call to clear a potential hurdle in getting the Democratic nominee on the ballot in Ohio. Ohio’s deadline to file for the general election ballot is Aug. 7, two weeks before Democratic delegates would have crowned the nominee at the convention.

Although the deadline had been modified in previous presidential election years to accommodate late-summer conventions of both parties, this year state Republicans initially planned to enforce the existing deadline, with one GOP lawmaker calling the scheduling bind “ a Democratic problem.”

The Republican-controlled legislature did eventually make the change at the behest of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, but the law does not go into effect until Aug. 31. Citing concerns that Ohio Republicans could still try to block their candidate from getting on the ballot despite the legislative fix, DNC officials decided to move forward with their virtual roll call as originally planned.

What about the speeches and balloons?

The roll call at the 2020 convention was also held virtually, although that process featured remote video presentations from every state and territory.

This year’s official voting will not feature similar real-time presentations. Instead, party officials say that they will hold a ceremonial roll call vote during the convention, mimicking the traditional ritual of state delegations announcing their votes from the convention floor with much fanfare.