When it comes to questions about ballots in the presidential race, there are two key points to keep in mind. One is that ballots aren't printed until after both conventions have concluded and the second...
"Biden was not the official nominee. There was no official nominee for the Democrats," says author and UK election law specialist Joshua Douglas.
Though pundits may jump ahead to calling the presumptive nominee the nominee, it's not official — on the Democratic or Republican side — until the formal convention process selects its candidates. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has suggested there could be legal challenges to the printing of ballots without Biden's name.
"There's really just no legal argument here. Every state says the nominee that comes out of the convention is the person that they put on the ballot. They're not there was no nominee, and there is no nominee until the convention," Douglas explains.
While the UK professor says a candidate choosing to step aside this late in the process is new, the rules are still clear, and they're being followed.
There have been instances in the past where it was unknown who would emerge as the nominee from a convention. As for what's currently taking place as Harris works to gather enough support, Douglas says it's all in keeping with the rules of the party and any comparisons to Trump's attempt to overturn a lawful election in 2020 are disingenuous.
"It's really irresponsible for some people I've heard suggest this is some kind of coup or some kind of anti-democratic situation, perhaps trying to equate it to January 6," he says. "It's nothing of the sort. This is exactly how the process is supposed to play out under the rules of the Democratic Party."
