What this step means for the election going forward
Submitted by Angelina Reyes, LWVFNUC Co-President
The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonpartisan organization that encourages its members and our communities to be informed on issues that impact their lives. We do not support, endorse nor oppose candidates or political parties.
League members are political. The League strives and works to increase understanding of major public policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy in an open and effective manner to meet the needs of those we serve, both members and our public.
LWV of Fremont, Newark and Union City as well as the Eden Area League and four other Leagues belong to the Alameda County Council LWV. Members are kept informed via the California State League under the umbrella of the LWV of the United States.
LWV of the United States, as a member organization of the National Task Force on Election Crises, released the following statement on the Democratic party replacing its presumptive presidential nominee:
“While a major party’s presumptive nominee withdrawing his presidential candidacy is an extraordinary occurrence, rules and procedures are in place to respond to this development.
“Americans can be confident that this situation falls well within existing rules and that their election system continues to allow for a free and fair election.
“A political party has control over how to choose its nominee in accordance with the party’s own governing rules. When a presumptive nominee withdraws before their party makes its nomination official, the party will follow its own rules and procedures to choose an official nominee (typically, but not necessarily, in person at the party’s nominating convention).”
There are no constitutional or statutory provisions but there is strong legal and historical precedent for party control according to the Task Force. It further explains that before Election Day, political parties principally have control over the process and the rules vary depending on when the candidate dies, steps down or becomes incapacitated as well as whether the political party convention was held.
U.S. political parties operate within political norms and election procedures. We anticipate that their priority is putting the voters at the center of our presidential selection process. Our political parties operate as an important safeguard to ensure a rules-based process, should a presidential candidate who voters choose in the primary and convention process die, step down or otherwise become incapacitated.
In this instance, of President J. Biden, the Democratic Party will determine its path forward, and its delegates will vote to approve a nominee at or before the Democratic National Convention in August.
Additionally, state ballot access laws are no obstacle to the party choosing a nominee other than President Biden. States have not yet printed ballots for the general election, and state laws across the country provide for the candidate chosen by the Democratic Party at or before the convention to appear on ballots this November irrespective of whether that nominee is the same individual as the party’s presumptive nominee based on the results of the party’s presidential preference primaries.
Voters should feel confident that political parties and states have rules in place that anticipate such contingencies.
Just a few days ago, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, Ph.D.,
issued the following statement regarding changes to potential presidential nominees:
“The announcement that President Biden has withdrawn from the presidential election does not alter California’s processes for administering the November 5, 2024, General Election. The State Elections Code requires each political party qualified to participate in the election to notify the Secretary of State of its nominees for President and Vice President of the United States on or before Thursday, August 22, 2024. The Secretary of State must subsequently transmit a certified list of candidates to counties by August 29, 2024.”
All registered voters in Alameda County will receive vote-by-mail ballots. The last day to register to vote is October 21, 2024. Early voting begins on October 7, 2024. Ballots must be postmarked by November 5, 2024, and received by November 12, 2024.
