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During the DNC roll call vote in which each state cast its votes for the presidential nominee at the Democratic National Convention on August 18, Delaware chose to pass. Why?
Delaware Didn’t Vote in Alphabetical Order Because It’s Biden’s Home State
Delaware chose to “pass” during the live roll call because it is Joe Biden’s home state.
CNN reported that Delaware passed because the state wants to be the final vote for Biden. This actually isn’t unusual for the DNC roll call vote.
Governor John Carney and Senator Tom Carper were representing Delaware during the roll call.
When Delaware passed, many people were confused and wondered why on Twitter.
Delaware passes? You can pass?
No other states were expected to pass.
As was expected, Delaware returned at the end of the roll call to cast the final vote for Biden’s nomination.
Once Delaware finally voted, people returned to Twitter to share that they finally understood what had happened.
Ohhhhhhh! Delaware passed to be last. #DemConvention
Delaware is back – I knew that pass was a fake out
Biden appeared in a short video after the roll call was complete to accept the official nomination.
Sanders Stayed on the Ballot to Influence the Platform
Viewers of the roll call also thought it was unusual that Bernie Sanders was also on the ballot, receiving votes and two nominations.
Despite endorsing Biden in April, Sanders kept his name on the ballots and kept his delegates. But this wasn’t because he is still trying to get the nomination. He wanted to keep his delegates to influence the party platform.
When Sanders first suspended his campaign, he said in his live stream that it was difficult and painful, but “the path toward victory is virtually impossible.” He said he would stay on the ballot for upcoming races so he could use his delegates to influence the party platform. In his announcement last week, he said: “While Vice President Joe Biden will be the nominee, we must continue to assemble as many delegates as possible where we will be able to exert significant influence over the party platform.”
Sanders made the announcement during a live stream with supporters from his Vermont home, The New York Post reported.
You can watch the live stream conversation where the announcement was made below:
Andrew Yang tweeted tonight about how surreal it was to watch Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez nominate Sanders because, he said, “This convention could definitely have used more AOC.”
Watching Bernie get nominated by AOC is like seeing a parallel world. This convention could definitely have used more AOC.
Ocasio-Cortez was asked by the DNC to second Sanders’ nomination as part of the DNC procedures. On Twitter, Ocasio-Cortez called out NBC News for a previous tweet that implied her nominating speech was unusual, which it was not. Although she had endorsed Sanders during the primary, after he stepped down in April she said that she would definitely be voting for Biden, MarketWatch reported at the time.
Biden became the official nominee once the roll call was completed. Having obtained the most delegates, he was declared the winner.
Biden has 2,687 delegates total, compared to Sanders’ 1,073 delegates, The New York Times reported. The delegate lead was far enough to ensure that Biden would have an uncontested convention. This year’s convention was less dramatic and controversial in many ways than the convention in 2016. The roll call, being held virtually, was also faster than usual.
Biden is now officially the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.
If you want to read more about what happened during the 2016 Convention, see Heavy’s story below.
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