Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden (left) has selected Senator Kamala Harris (right) as his running mate.
President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek reelection won’t affect ballot preparations in Arizona, because the president was not yet the official Democratic candidate in the state.
Democratic voters overwhelmingly picked Biden in Arizona’s presidential preference election in March, but Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said those voters were actually voting to send delegates backing Biden to the Democratic National Convention.
“So in a nutshell, the presidential preference election is about delegates to a convention,” Fontes said. “It's not about nominating the candidate. That happens at the Convention itself.”
Fontes said the Arizona Democratic Party must name its electors — who will vote for the candidate selected by DNC delegates if Democrats win Arizona’s presidential election in November — by Aug. 9, over a week before the DNC will actually take place.
“Which means the electors for the Democratic Party won’t know exactly who their nominee is until the end of the convention,” Fontes said.
That’s legal under Arizona law, Fontes added.
“It sounds a little Byzantine and a little wonky, but that's how our system works,” Fontes said.
Fontes said the general election ballot will include the presidential and vice presidential candidates and the electors selected by the state party.
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