We now know officially the process that will be used to pick the Democratic nominee. The Rules Committee of the Convention (which is a different body than the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic National Committee) formally adopted the rules for the convention in their meeting today.
As an initial point, the rules as a whole have been a work in progress for several months. The decision of President Biden to withdraw required some modifications, but the general concepts were being drafted before this last weekend. Additionally, one factor in the timetable set forth in the rules is the issue of Ohio. While Ohio has passed a statute moving their deadline for certifying a nominee from the current date of August 7, that bill does not take effect until September 1. As such, it is unclear what the deadline in Ohio really is. To be on the safe side, the rules are acting as if August 7 is still the deadline.
The other thing to note is that a good chunk of the concepts in the proposal date back to prior conventions. For a long time, both parties have had rules requiring potential candidates to demonstrate certain levels of support to get their names formally put forward on the convention floor. In the old days, this process involved floor speeches putting the names “in nomination.” As such, the rules were designed to prevent spending all night getting every candidate who had the support of a single delegate placed in nomination. In the past, delegates actually physically signed the pledges of support for the potential candidates with the deadline being shortly before the roll call vote. With COVID in 2020, the party went to a virtual vote with pledges of support being handled electronically.
These concepts are the centerpiece of the current rules for selecting the nominee. As of this point in time, the window has opened up for potential candidates to submit their name to the convention. The deadline for candidates to submit their declaration of candidacy is 6:00 p.m. E.D.T. on Saturday July 27. Besides the declaration of candidacy, the candidates need to submit pledges of support from at least 300 delegates. These delegates must be from at least 6 states. (In other words, candidates need support outside of California.) The pledges of support are due at 6:00 p.m. E.D.T. on Tuesday July 30.
What happens after July 30 depends on how many candidates file. On Sunday, when President Biden withdrew, I thought that multiple candidates would probably consider filing. But the developments of the last seventy-two hours indicate that the other potential candidates have decided that it simply is not possible to put a campaign together from scratch in less than four weeks. As such, it seems more likely than not that only Vice-President Kamala Harris will be filing over the next six days. But until (at least) 6:00 p.m. on Saturday passes, that is speculation based on the current public information.
The rules allow the Chair of the Convention and the Chair of the Democratic National Committee to open voting as early as August 1. The two chairs have to give delegates at least thirty-six hours notice of when voting will begin. No later than the time that voting begins, the two chairs will also notify the delegates when their votes are due. If Vice-President Harris is the only candidate seeking the nomination, the expectation is that balloting will begin on August 1.
If additional candidates file, the rules provide for the two chairs to give the candidates time to campaign to the delegates. But the rules establish a maximum period of five days (i.e. until August 4) which reflects the necessity of completing this process by August 7.
On the first ballot, only pledged delegates get to vote. If no candidate gets a majority, there will be a second round in which only the top candidates are formally in nomination (which does not bar delegetes from voting for somebody else). Automatic delegates can vote in the second round.
Whomever is the presidential nominee then gets to name the Vice-Presidential nominee and that person becomes the official candidate on being selected.
There will still be the roll call vote when the convention formally convenes but that vote is a “ceremonial” vote only.
