Democrats will vote on Kamala Harris’ nomination in the US on Thursday.

Democratic Party delegates will begin voting this Thursday virtually to make the official Kamala Harris as her candidate for the White House, a nomination that the vice president has guaranteed given that she has no rival who opposes her, while gaining more support and coming out better positioned in recent polls in key states.

Under rules set by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), voting will begin at 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (3 p.m. CET) on August 1 and end at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (12 a.m. CET on August 5).

Instead of crowning their nominee at the party’s Aug. 19-22 national convention in Chicago, Democrats adopted the unusual nomination system because Ohio state rules set Aug. 7 as the deadline to register candidates for the ballot.

Current President Joe Biden won the Democratic primaries and captured almost all of the party’s 3,900 delegates, but on July 21 he dropped out of the race after weeks of criticism from within his own ranks for his disastrous performance in the debate with his rival, former Republican President Donald Trump.

Inew situation

The announcement that she was ending her candidacy shortly before the party convention, something unprecedented in the history of the United States, raised many questions about the next steps, but Harris quickly won the support of the delegates who had pledged to vote for Biden.

According to the DNC, Kamala Harris’ inclusion on the nomination ballot has the support of 99% of the party’s delegates, while no other candidate has reached the 300-signature threshold to participate.

Kamala Harris: Who will be her running mate?

According to several American media outlets, Harris hopes to appear alongside her number two for the first time on August 6 at a rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Traditionally, the profile of the vice president seeks to appeal to voters who do not feel so close to the presidential candidate. In the case of Kamala Harris, a black woman from California, analysts expect her to choose a white man from another state in the country, especially from a region considered “swing” or who can provide a voter profile that creates a winning coalition.

More support for Harris

For now, the latest polls indicate that Harris is closing the gap in key states, where Trump was clearly leading when his rival was Biden.

In addition, his arrival in the presidential race encouraged the registration of Latino voters, especially young voters, in states considered key to winning the November election, the Voto Latino organization reported on Wednesday.

Since July 21, when President Joe Biden withdrew from the election campaign and endorsed Harris to be the Democratic Party candidate, the Voto Latino organization has seen an unprecedented increase of 221% in Hispanic voter registration in five states, a record in voter registration.

The UAW, the largest auto union in the U.S. and a strong presence in several key states in the November election, said its executive council voted Wednesday to back Harris.

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