Kamala Harris only Democratic candidate to qualify for presidential race

WASHINGTON: Vice President Kamala Harris has sealed her Democratic presidential nomination as she emerged as the only candidate to qualify for virtual roll call votes from the party’s delegates from across the country.

As many as 3,923 delegates from across the country petitioned to put Harris, 59, on the ballot for the Democratic nomination, and she secured the support of 99 per cent of the participating delegates, the Democratic Party announced Tuesday night after the official deadline.

In a joint statement, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Jaime Harrison and the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) Chair Minyon Moore said no other candidate met the threshold of 300 delegate signatures to qualify for the ballot.

The chairs said that voting on the virtual roll call – the process through which Harris will officially become the Democratic nominee – will begin on August 1 and end on August 5.

“Democratic delegates from across the nation made their voices heard, overwhelmingly backing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee. As we prepare to open the voting on our virtual roll call, we move to this final stage of our nomination process with unprecedented momentum and unity across our party,” the chairs said.

“We stand united in our mission to elect a Democratic nominee who has the experience, the wisdom, and the bold determination to lead our country, and we stand united in our mission to defeat Donald Trump once again,” they said.

The electronic roll call will commence at 9:00 am ET on August 1, marking the official beginning of the 2024 Convention. Delegates will receive a secure ballot and support to cast their vote on a rolling basis starting at 9:00 am. The roll call voting period will end at 6:00 pm on August 5, the deadline for delegates to return their ballot.

Because Harris has the verified support of a number of pledged delegates equal to or greater than a majority of all pledged and automatic delegates, the votes of both pledged, and automatic delegates will be counted on the first ballot, it said.

Trailblazer Harris is the first Indian-American and first African American woman to be ever named on a presidential ticket for any major political party in the US.

Former president Barack Obama was the first-ever African American in 2008, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the first woman to be the presidential candidate of a major political party.

Noticeably, all three -- Obama, Clinton and Harris -- are from the Democratic Party, which has ruled the country for 12 of the last 16 years.