DNC backs virtual vote for Biden, while outside groups brief delegates on other scenarios

President Biden is expected to be formally nominated by the Democratic Party early this year. virtual naming vote between August 1 and 7, the Democratic National Committee confirmed Friday.

At the same time, some outside groups have reached out to delegates curious about what would happen if Mr. Biden… decided to resignsuch as an open convention. Biden and his campaign have repeatedly stressed that there are no plans to drop out of the race.

The DNC convention rules committee met virtually on Friday and confirmed that the vote would not take place before Aug. 1 or after Aug. 7. The committee said DNC leadership would set a final date after a second committee meeting next week, sometime before July 26, and that the rules of the virtual roll call would be adopted then.

Congressional committee leaders and DNC staff provided more details about the virtual role call that was held announced in Maybut has recently criticized by some Democrats as a way to expedite Biden’s nomination amid intense criticism over whether he should remain the party’s nominee.

DNC Chairman Jamie Harrison reiterated his support for the Biden-Harris ticket during Friday’s meeting, telling members: “Thanks to each and every one of you, we will re-nominate President Biden and Vice President (Kamala) Harris.”

The DNC argued Friday that an early virtual roll call is necessary to avoid litigation in Ohio, which requires major parties to have a presidential candidate on the ballot within 90 days of a presidential election. This year, that date falls on Aug. 7.

Ohio has passed legislation to move the date to Sept. 1, but Democrats say they still fear Republicans will keep Biden off the ballot in the state since that legislation has not yet taken effect. The campaign says early virtual roll call voting will allow Democrats to meet similar deadlines in other states.

“My goal as an attorney is to make sure that we address and avoid unnecessary legal risks down the road. And that’s why we need a virtual nomination process. And that’s why the smartest and most prudent thing to do is to get that process done in a timely manner so that we can file a certified nomination in Ohio no later than August 7,” said Dana Remus, a former White House lawyer who is advising the DNC on the process.

When a delegate asked how another candidate could possibly challenge Biden in a virtual vote, committee co-chair Leah Daughtry said that “any challenger would have to have the verified support of hundreds of delegates.”

“Such a challenge has never occurred in the past half-century of competitive primaries. But those rules are still in effect today, just as they were yesterday, and just as they have been in countless presidential election cycles,” Daughtry added.

DNC officials said Friday that the virtual vote is expected to be similar to that of delegates in 2020, during the pandemic. They added that members will be given 24 hours’ notice before the virtual voting window opens.

A Democratic presidential candidate needs a majority of pledged delegates, more than 1,900, on the first ballot to secure the nomination. Mr. Biden currently has nearly 3,900 pledged delegates.

DNC Party Affairs and Delegate Selection Director Veronica Martinez added that the virtual vote will show Mr. Biden “as the presumptive and only qualified nominee,” but that there would be an option for delegates to indicate their own preference for president. She added that this is the same as the voting for the 2020 virtual roll call.

Some organizations have reached out to delegates to inform them about how an open convention would proceed and what would happen to the roll call vote if Biden were to leave office.

Two groups unaffiliated with the DNC that formed in recent weeks — Delegates are Democracy and Welcome Party — held a webinar Friday with DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee member Elaine Karmack as a special guest to answer questions from delegates and other listeners. Delegates are Democracy founder Chris Dempsey explained that the group’s work is intended to inform the nominating process and does not advocate for Mr. Biden to leave the race.

“You can understand the reasons why it’s not being talked about (by the DNC). They don’t want to get this out there and undermine the president,” he added. “We’re trying to bridge that gap, which is an understandable gap, but it leaves us all worse off if we don’t address it.”

Mr. Dempsey said more than 50 DNC delegates were present and listened to the call on Friday, many of them first-time attendees. He added that most he spoke to supported Mr. Biden but wanted more information “if the president drops out of the race.”

“This is a group of people who, when they were first nominated as representatives, thought they were going to a party, a celebration,” Dempsey said. “And now they have the weight of democracy on their shoulders.”

According to multiple delegates and DNC members, some delegates who joined the DNC received calls from the Biden campaign. Some asked if they still planned to support Biden, while others asked if they had questions about the convention.

A spokesperson for the Democratic National Convention said communicating with delegates is “a routine part of convention activities” and that the convention committee has been in contact with state parties and delegations since 2023. They added that the convention’s political team has held more than 150 one-on-one meetings with state delegate leaders since April.

A DNC delegate from Nevada said she and other colleagues also received a call from unsuccessful Democratic candidate Marianne Williamson’s “Open the Convention” group asking if they needed help filing a notice with the DNC that they would no longer vote for Mr. Biden and request an open convention. The delegate said all the delegates she knows who have received such a call have declined the offer.

“We look forward to working with you to ensure your voice is heard at the next convention,” an automated voicemail message on the Open the Convention hotline reads.

CBS News has reached out to Open the Convention for comment.