Harris has the delegate support to become the Democratic presidential nominee : NPR

The Democratic National Committee is moving ahead with plans to hold a virtual vote in which delegates are expected to name Vice President Harris as the party’s new nominee ahead of next month’s convention.

DNC chairman Jaime Harrison says DNC officials will hold an electronic roll call by Aug. 7. That news comes as the Associated Press reports that Harris has secured enough delegate commitments to lock up the nomination.

The Democratic Party swiftly rallied around Harris following President Biden’s decision to drop his reelection bid and endorse her instead. Harris is currently the only serious contender for the nomination.

A vote by the large California delegate contingent gave Harris the support needed to become the Democratic nominee, which will not be made official until the roll call vote of all the delegates.

On Monday night, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made the motion to endorse the fellow Californian, pointing to Harris’ experience as a prosecutor. Pelosi also spoke to delegates about the importance of California Democrats turning out the vote for her, according to attendees.

How the virtual vote works

The Democratic Party’s rules require candidates to fill out paperwork and gather at least 300 electronic signatures in a short window of time — likely this week — in order to be eligible for the vote. So far, Harris is the only candidate to earn the endorsement of more than 300 delegates. Self-help author Marianne Williamson, who ran in primaries earlier this year and in 2020, has indicated she also would like to be a candidate.

The DNC began developing the virtual vote plan in May, over concerns that waiting for delegates to vote in person at the convention would put the nominee at risk of missing some ballot deadlines in Ohio and other states. The convention begins Aug. 19.

The DNC’s rules committee is set to finalize the plan during a meeting viewable on YouTube on Wednesday afternoon.

The virtual vote ahead of the convention became more important after Biden dropped out of the race this weekend and Republicans threatened legal action, said Minyon Moore, chair of the party’s convention.

“We will not allow technicalities or MAGA extremists to obstruct the electoral process,” Moore said.

Republicans threaten challenges

On Sunday, hours before Biden announced his decision to drop out of the race, House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN that Democrats could have a “real problem” if they tried to replace him as the nominee.

“I think they’ve got legal hurdles in some of these states and it will be litigated I would expect on the ground there and they’ll have to sort through that,” Johnson said.

But after Biden’s announcement, Republicans have appeared to back away from that strategy, instead focusing on the idea that Harris may face hurdles in using Biden’s campaign funds.

Charlie Spies, former counsel to the Republican National Committee and to the chairman of the Federal Election Commission, told NPR that he expects complaints if Harris moves forward with using those funds.

“There’s not a lot of precedent here, but I think they’ve got a legal problem in having Harris use the Biden committee as her campaign committee,” he said.

Other election law experts argue that because Biden and Harris share the campaign committee, there should be no problem.

The head of the FEC told NPR this is a complicated and unprecedented situation and challenges are likely.

Richard Hasen, an expert on election law and professor at UCLA School of Law, says such complaints are unlikely to get a quick response.

“I can tell you that the Federal Election Commission moves very slowly — we’re still getting resolution from some issues from the 2016 campaign — and so I don’t expect that there would be any quick-term resolution of these issues before the election,” he says.

KQED’s Molly Solomon contributed to this report.