American political parties usually make a big deal out of nominating presidential candidates, but not this year. Democrats reportedly plan to nominate President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for Zoom project cbs newsahead of the convention scheduled for late August.
The virtual nomination is the product of a partisan feud among Ohio lawmakers who failed to reach a deal to put the sitting president on the ballot this fall. Ohio’s deadline to certify ballots is currently August 7, meaning that if Biden waits to clinch the nomination before the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19-22, he will not appear there on the state ballot.
“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree with that. But when action needs to be taken, they fail to take action every time, so the Democrats are going to land this plane on their own ,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Jamie Harrison said in a statement to CBS. “Through virtual roll call, we will ensure that Republicans do not undermine our democracy through incompetence or partisan subterfuge and that Ohioans can exercise their right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice.”
For now, the nomination is purely a formality, as President Biden has been widely expected to be the 2024 nominee for some time. However, a Zoom nomination would be a repeat of 2020, when Biden and Harris were virtually selected as the Democratic nominee due to pandemic restrictions.
CBS reports that the Chicago convention will still be held in late August, albeit with virtual nominations. The incident exposed deep divisions within the Ohio Legislature, which has failed to quickly resolve Biden’s vote problems. Republicans introduced a bill to push back Ohio’s deadline but also introduced a provision that would ban foreign donations for a ballot initiative that Democrats rejected.
Ultimately, the decision to “let’s do it over Zoom” is a modern solution that represents the times. While we no longer have to do things over Zoom like we did in 2020, the first time this happened to Biden and Harris, it’s a convenient compromise that’s still happening with alarming regularity in America four years later .
