The Democratic Party has begun the process of formally nominating Kamala Harris as its candidate for the United States presidential elections, less than two weeks after the vice president officially launched her campaign.

Democratic National Convention delegates began officially selecting their nominee for president on Thursday morning in what’s known as a virtual roll call.

Harris, who was thrust into the presidential race last month after President Joe Biden dropped his bid for re-election, is the only candidate being considered in the roll-call vote.

Typically, the roll call is held at the party’s national convention, a large in-person gathering held every four years to select the Democratic presidential nominee.

But this year, Democrats have chosen to use an electronic voting system that is poised to see Harris secure the nomination before the Democratic National Convention later this month in Chicago.

Here’s what you need to know about the process.

How does the roll call work exactly?

The roll call is basically a vote.

Nearly 4,700 delegates are selected to represent states and territories across the US. They typically cast votes at the party convention to choose the presidential nominee based on primary and caucus results.

But this year — as during the last election cycle — the delegates are voting on an online platform set up by the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

On a rolling basis, each delegate is getting a “personalised and watermarked” form to cast their vote, US media outlets have reported.

To win the nomination, Harris needs the support of at least 1,976 delegates. But her ability to clinch the nomination isn’t in doubt, with The Associated Press news agency reporting last month that she had far exceeded that threshold.

Since the vice president had no challengers for the nomination, the electronic voting opened on August 1, as per DNC rules.

How long will the roll call take?

It will last several days, with the vote set to close at 6pm on the US East Coast (22:00 GMT) on Monday.

Why did Democrats choose to hold a virtual vote?

The party had planned to hold a virtual roll call even before President Biden dropped out of the race amid concerns about his age and ability to serve another term in office.

That’s because the state of Ohio had set an August 7 deadline to get on the presidential ballot there.

That date came well before the in-person party convention, set to start on August 19. Democrats feared Republicans could try to keep Biden out of the running if the nomination process had not been completed by the Ohio deadline.

Jaime Harrison, the chairman of the DNC, said in a statement in May that the virtual roll call would “ensure that Republicans can’t chip away at our democracy through incompetence or partisan tricks and that Ohioans can exercise their right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice”.

While Ohio has since moved its registration deadline back, Democrats expressed concern that Republicans could still challenge a candidate who has not been confirmed before August 7.

That’s why they continued with their plans to use the virtual roll call with Harris as the presumptive nominee.

Former President Donald Trump was officially confirmed as the Republican nominee during the party’s in-person convention in July.

Is this the first virtual roll call?

No. The Democratic Party held its first virtual roll call during the last presidential election, in 2020.

That year marked the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and safety restrictions prevented thousands of delegates from convening in the same room, as they had done in the past.

So instead, the delegates broadcast from their home states, some filming outdoors near iconic sites. A representative for Alabama’s delegates, for instance, spoke in front of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, a symbol of the US civil rights movement.

What have Democrats said about the process?

When Biden was still the party’s presumptive nominee, some Democratic lawmakers in Congress had criticised the early roll call.

They questioned whether it was a tactic to force through Biden’s nomination, despite increasing appeals for him to withdraw from the race.

US media outlets reported in mid-July that some Democrats on Capitol Hill circulated a letter arguing there was “no legal justification” for the virtual proceedings because Ohio had moved the August 7 deadline back.

“We respectfully but emphatically request that you cancel any plans for an accelerated ‘virtual roll call’ and further refrain from any extraordinary procedures that could be perceived as curtailing legitimate debate,” the letter read, as reported by Axios.

But with Biden’s exit from the race on July 21, Democrats have coalesced around Harris and dropped their objections to the process.

“Remember that the DNC announced an open process,” Congressman Maxwell Frost of Florida wrote on social media on July 22.

“Just because the VP is such a unifying candidate & getting many endorsements, doesn’t mean this process isn’t open. Anyone can run. When she wins our nomination, it won’t be because she was anointed, it’ll be because she earned it.”

Remember that the DNC announced an open process. Just because the VP is such a unifying candidate & getting many endorsements, doesn’t mean this process isn’t open. Anyone can run. When she wins our nomination, it won’t be because she was anointed, it’ll be because she earned it.

— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) July 22, 2024

What have Republicans said?

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has lambasted the Democratic National Committee for using his state’s ballot deadline “to justify” the early roll call.

In a letter to the DNC chairman, LaRose — Ohio’s chief elections officer — said he had confirmed with the state attorney general “that Ohio law does not require the DNC to conduct a ‘virtual roll call’ prior to [the party’s] scheduled August convention dates”.

“I’m confident that your attorneys are well-aware of this fact, and I suspect your current rhetorical posturing is part of a plan to replace the incumbent president without a contested convention or any kind of democratic process,” he wrote on July 25.

“It’s clever, if not completely antithetical to your party’s relentless finger wagging about threats to democracy, but I ask that you stop using Ohio to justify your course of action.”

He added that, as long as Democrats certify their nominations for president and vice president by September 1, they would appear on Ohio ballots in November.

What about Harris’s vice presidential pick?

Harris has been in the presidential race for less than two weeks at this point. She has not yet picked a vice president to run alongside her on the Democratic ticket.

But US media outlets have reported that her running mate could be announced any day now.

Several names have emerged atop the list of possible vice-presidential nominees, including Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

Harris can still announce her vice presidential pick after the virtual nomination process is complete, according to the revised DNC rules. That person would then be added to her ticket.

So if Harris and her VP are confirmed, what happens at the convention?

Typically, the conventions are where the roll-call votes take place. So what now?

This month’s Democratic convention will still host votes — including a state-by-state roll call — to recognise the party’s presidential and vice-presidential nominees, but they will be “celebratory and ceremonial”, the DNC says on its website.

While the nominees can theoretically be contested, most conventions in recent years have served as a platform to unite party members behind their respective candidates.

The Democratic National Convention will take place over four days, from August 19 to 22, in Chicago, Illinois.