Co-Chair Note to DNCC Rules Committee Members

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Dear DNC Member,

We wanted to share with you a letter that was sent this morning to the Convention Rules Committee by its Co-Chairs, Bishop Leah D. Daughtry and Governor Tim Walz.

Yours,

Jason
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Jason Rae (he/him/his)

Secretary

Democratic National Committee

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July 17, 2024

Members of the Rules Committee: 

We look forward to our first meeting on Friday, July 19, as we work to meet our collective responsibility to set the rules for the Democratic National Convention, which will allow us to adopt the strongest national party platform in history and to nominate Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates who will beat Donald Trump this fall.  

We write to share several key updates about Friday’s agenda and the Rules Committee’s responsibilities moving forward. 

1. We will focus on how the Convention will operate.

2. We will be discussing proposed final Convention Rules, but we will not be adopting those Rules on Friday.

3. We will not be implementing a rushed virtual voting process, though we will begin our important consideration of how a virtual voting process would work. 

4. As Rules Committee Co-Chairs, we have confirmed with the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic National Convention that no virtual voting will begin before August 1. 

Our discussion on Friday of how the Convention will operate will include discussion of a virtual voting element, which will end before the in-person Convention. We will elaborate on the reasoning below as to why a virtual vote is the wisest approach, and will explain how a virtual vote would work.  And while we are proposing to again incorporate virtual elements this cycle, we will also share what the Democratic Party’s devoted volunteers, activists, leaders, and elected officials who comprise our 4,700 delegates can expect in-person at our 2024 Convention in Chicago.  

We believe a virtual element is the wisest approach because it ensures ballot access in the states that we need to win in November and avoids potential risks if there is delay in the process. We know that the Republican Party and its affiliated groups, like Project 2025 author The Heritage Foundation, plan on filing all conceivable legal challenges to the Democratic Party’s nominees.  Having enough time to finalize our nominees and make sure they are on ballots around the country is critical. That is the driving reason for conducting a virtual voting process.    

The Democratic Party has been working to address the shifting landscape of ballot access deadlines for months.  Earlier this year, Ohio departed from a longstanding tradition of altering, as a matter of course, its filing deadlines to accommodate major party convention schedules. Ultimately, after a concerted push by Governor DeWine and Ohio Democrats, the Ohio state legislature yielded and enacted legislation to postpone the state’s ballot deadline from August 7 to early September.  Because there was insufficient legislative support to have that law take effect immediately, it does not take effect until September 1.  Unless Democratic nominees for President and Vice President are selected and certified to Ohio by August 7, we are likely to face litigation about the efficacy of our filings.  

The challenges we face with ballot access deadlines do not stop with Ohio.  Ballot access paperwork must be filed in the State of Washington on August 20, the second day of the in-person Convention.  Deadlines in Montana and Oklahoma follow the next day, with California on August 22 and many states, including Virginia, on August 23.  These filings involve notarized signatures from the candidates and party officials, and often must be filed in hard copy.  We cannot and should not allow these timing complications to jeopardize whether the Democratic ticket appears on the ballot in must-win states.  

So, on Friday, we will propose a framework for how best to proceed.  Next week, we will follow up with a second meeting to consider and adopt specific rules for that purpose.  No matter what may be reported, our goal is not to fast-track.  Our goals are to uphold our tradition of transparency, our commitment to an effective nominating process that delivers a nominee on all state ballots, and ultimately to set our nominees on a path to victory in November.  

None of this will be rushed.  Unlike our nation’s other major political party, our rules are set in public meetings, anchored in the Party’s charter and its traditions.  That will continue in the 2024 cycle, as it must with so much at stake.

Sincerely,

Bishop Leah D. Daughtry Governor Tim Walz

Co-Chairs, Democratic National Convention Rules Committee