The highlight of the major conventions of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party is the election of the presidential candidate. This year, however, the Democrats are preparing to officially nominate the current president, Joe Biden, as a candidate, electronically and in advance to meet the necessary deadlines so that his name can be on the ballots in Ohio, as he has acknowledged. the match. The nomination at the Democratic National Convention, which takes place in Chicago from August 19 to 22, would be reduced to one representation.
The Secretary of State of Ohio, Republican Frank LaRose, responsible for compliance with electoral legislation, warned last week that he would not compromise with the deadlines in a letter sent to the president of the Ohio Democratic Party and that he himself disseminated in the social networks. Ohio law states that parties must certify which candidate they have proclaimed at least 90 days before the Nov. 5 election date. That deadline is August 7.
The state legislature is processing a reform to modify the deadline, but the Republicans have included in it a veto on foreign financing of votes held in the State that the Democrats reject. The processing of the rule is stuck. Last week, the Ohio legislature went into recess without passing it. The state governor, Republican Mike DeWine, called a new session for this week, but there are no guarantees that the rule will go ahead. A tweak to the regulations is the usual solution for this type of situation. This same month, the Alabama House of Representatives, under Republican control, unanimously approved a legal modification to reduce the notice with which the candidate must be appointed from 82 to 74 days.
Faced with the blockade, the Democratic Party is studying this unusual and unprecedented solution: that the formal and official nomination of the candidate be carried out through remote votes of the delegates elected in the primaries before the convention. Although the candidates of both parties (Donald Trump on the part of the Republicans and Joe Biden on the part of the Democrats) are nominated, the official vote and proclamation, followed by the nominee’s speech, is the climax of the convention and its reason for being. . The Democratic National Convention in Chicago would remain a political staging.
“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree,” said the president of the Democratic National Committee, Jaime Harrison, in a statement sent to local media. “But when it comes time to act, they have failed every time, so Democrats will figure it out on our own. “Through a virtual roll call vote, we will ensure that Republicans cannot undermine our democracy through incompetence or partisan trickery and that Ohioans can exercise their right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice,” he added. .
The Democratic Party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee will meet on June 4 to vote on a resolution that clears the way for the virtual event. If it goes ahead, the resolution must then be approved by the Democratic National Committee. There is currently no date for this virtual vote, which should be before August 7 and which would be avoided if the electoral reform being processed in Ohio finally goes ahead. The Republicans have no problems because their convention is held from July 15 to 18, within the established deadline.
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The two parties held their conventions electronically in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. So voting was done remotely, but as part of the convention. The situation is different because there would be voting and nomination, first, and convention, later. It is likely that the delegates would vote again in Chicago, but it would be a coincidence, because the official proclamation of the candidate would have already occurred previously.
Ohio is a State of almost 12 million inhabitants that for a long time served as a national reference and in which the candidate who won in the country as a whole usually won. However, he has opted for the Republican side. In the 2020 elections, despite Biden’s victory in the country as a whole, Trump achieved an eight-point difference in his favor in Ohio. He obtained 3.15 million votes (53.2%) compared to 2.68 million (45.2%) for the current president. He has 17 votes in the Electoral College of the delegates who elect president and in which 270 votes are needed to win. Whoever wins in the State takes the 17 votes.
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