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Biden will be virtually nominated early to make sure he's on Ohio's ballot

A call that will take place before the formal convention will ensure Biden is nominated ahead of Ohio's Aug. 7 deadline.
President Joe Biden
Posted at 5:12 PM, May 28, 2024

The Democratic National Convention plans to formally nominate Joe Biden as its candidate for president by way of a virtual roll call that will take place before August's in-person convention.

The early move will be to ensure that President Biden is on Ohio's ballot for the general election ahead of the state's Aug. 7 deadline.

The process will be similar to the 2020 nomination, which also took place remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will feature the same state-by-state vote process that the traditional nominating convention uses.

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The DNC will have to vote to change its bylaws on June 4 to allow the early nomination to go forward.

"Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree," DNC chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement. "But when the time has come for action, they have failed to act every time, so Democrats will land this plane on our own. Through a virtual roll call, we will ensure that Republicans can’t chip away at our democracy through incompetence or partisan tricks and that Ohioans can exercise their right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice."

Ohio law requires presidential candidates to be certified 90 days before the general election, which is the earliest state deadline in the country.

Ohio has allowed temporary changes to its deadline for the general election ballot twice before, in 2012 and 2020.

State lawmakers were attending a special session Tuesday in hopes of resolving this year's deadline impasse. Current legislation stalled earlier in May when Republicans attached a measure that would prohibit foreign nationals from donating to ballot campaigns in Ohio.