The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has outlined the remote work and voting process for delegates at this year’s convention in Milwaukee, with voting for the party’s presidential nominee slated to take place over a nearly two-week period.
This year’s convention, which is slated for next month, will be held mostly virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with live broadcasts from Milwaukee and other satellite cities to highlight the party’s nomination of its presidential and vice presidential candidates.
DNC Secretary Jason Rae wrote to delegates on Friday and outlined the process for this year’s convention, noting that the planning committee “concluded that state delegations should not plan to travel to Milwaukee and official convention business will be conducted remotely.”
Delegates to this year’s convention will vote remotely using a system the planning committee crafted that allows them to cast their ballots via email, with unique identifiers for security. The DNC secretary said his office plans to certify each delegate.
The party said delegates will be able to fill out the forms electronically, with no need for a printer or physical copy. They will then submit their completed ballots to their state parties, which are traditionally responsible for collecting completed ballots at conventions, Rae noted.
The window for voting will begin Aug. 3 and will close Aug. 15, when the state delegation chairs are asked to submit their final tallies to the DNC secretary. That means the party will know the tally of votes for its nominee before the four-day convention formally kicks off on Aug. 17.
The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee took steps to move some of the convention’s business online and grant more authority earlier this year to the planning committee, passing a resolution in May to allow the panel to “make the necessary changes to the format, size, date or other aspects in order to conduct a safe convention.”
The convention was originally slated for mid-July but was postponed due to the pandemic.
“If a delegate has technical issues or does not have internet access, alternate methods of voting are available. For states electing convention delegates after the voting has begun, the DNCC Tech team will work with the State Party to determine the best way to distribute and collect ballots and votes,” Rae wrote Friday, referring to the planning committee.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is set to officially accept the party’s nomination at the convention in Milwaukee, and the planning committee has been given broad authority over everything from “adjusting the convention format to dealing with crowd size.”