Democrats to adopt rules for limited or virtual convention

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is set to pass rules Tuesday allowing delegates to cast their vote for the party’s nominee by mail, allowing for the possibility of a remote or limited in-person convention this summer.

A DNC official confirmed to The Hill that the changes are set to be passed at a remote meeting of the DNC’s rules and bylaws committee on Tuesday, the first sign that the DNC is moving towards alternate plans for this summer’s convention. News of the rule changes was first reported in The Washington Post.

“This resolution provides our team with increased flexibility to adjust our plans, ensure that every delegate is able to accomplish their official business without putting their own health at risk, and enables us to chart the most appropriate course forward as we work to launch our nominee to victory in November,” the convention’s chief executive, Joe Solomonese, told the Post.

Democratic officials previously announced in April that the DNC’s nominating convention would be pushed to Aug. 17, six weeks after its original planned date, due to the outbreak. The party’s primary has largely concluded following the withdrawal of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in early April, leaving former Vice President Joe Biden (D) as the party’s presumptive nominee.

The Republican National Committee (RNC), by comparison, has shown no indications of altering its plans for a large nominating convention in late August as well. The RNC initially planned for the convention to be held weeks after the DNC’s convention due to the 2020 Olympic Summer Games, which have since been pushed to 2021.

“The president wants to go full steam ahead,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel told the newspaper on Sunday. “We are full steam ahead for in person, in Charlotte.”