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According to new plans outlined by the Democratic National Committee, the party is implementing plans to hold their convention via teleconference. The DNC has introduced a plan to allow for these changes to the normal procedure in light of the current public health reality. However, depending on how the situation changes as the convention draws near, the DNC could pivot back to a normal convention.
On Tuesday, the DNC will meet via telephone to discuss the upcoming rule changes. This will allow them to make the new rules official, in order to “safeguard the ability of all validly-elected Convention delegates to participate in the Convention in person or by means that allow for appropriate social distancing.”
Pandemics are hard to predict, and the DNC’s convention won’t be until August, thanks to delay in the DNC’s schedule. That’s a long time for the situation to change dramatically with regards to public health. The committee still wants to be able to hold a virtual convention if the public health situation calls for it.
As such, any resolutions taken up will be out of an abundance of caution. Many states have already begun rolling back some lockdown measures for the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some activities likely won’t resume until a vaccine for the disease is made widely available. Sporting events, live music concerts, and, of course, conventions, remain unlikely to occur for the foreseeable future.
On May 3, DNC Chairman Tom Perez told reporters he was confident that the convention could still occur in-person. “We’re not going to put our public health head in the sand, but I’m optimistic that we can do so because we’ve put it off for five weeks”. Concerns about privacy while holding sensitive information on something like an HP NAS storage server have made the often-hacked DNC wary of an online convention.
The COVID-19 pandemic, and the ensuing economic devastation, are foregrounding an election year. Democrats are expected to nominate Joe Biden as their candidate to run against incumbent Republican president Donald Trump. Trump’s presidency has contained sharply divisive politics. There’s not much political middle ground left in the US.
In spite of this sharp divide, critics on Biden’s left accuse him of being too moderate. Meanwhile, proponents of the candidate say his message is about bringing the country together. They contend this would balm a severely wounded America.
