It's about to be official. DNC roll call begins to make Kamala Harris nominee

\WASHINGTON ― It’s about to be official.

Democrats will begin a virtual roll call on Thursday to vote Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s presumptive presidential nominee.

The roll call vote will begin Thursday at 9 a.m. ET. Delegates have until the deadline on Monday, Aug. 5 at 6 p.m. ET to return their ballots.

Harris skyrocketed to the top of the ticket after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race on July 21. Pressure had grown from concerned Democratic leaders that the president could no longer beat his Republican rival, former President Donald Trump.

Less than 30 minutes after he stepped aside, Biden endorsed Harris. The Vice President quickly garnered overwhelming support from leaders in her party and re-energized voters.

Harris accumulated more than enough delegate support to win the nomination within the first 24 hours.

The Democratic National Committee said 3,923 delegates from across the country petitioned to put Harris on the ballot for the Democratic nomination. She secured the support of 99% of participating delegates and 84% of total delegates already submitted a signature to have Harris serve as the Democratic nominee during the petitioning phase.

Last week, the DNC finalized the rules for a virtual nomination roll call ahead of the national convention that's set to begin Aug. 19 in Chicago. They also established guidelines for prospective Democrats who wanted to declare their candidacy, which they had to do by Saturday at 6 p.m.

Those interested also need to collect 300 delegate signatures to qualify, with no more than 50 coming from one state, by Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. ET. The DNC said no other candidate besides Harris met the threshold of 300 delegate signatures to qualify for the ballot.

The DNC voting period is shaping up to be a quick process.

Harris has enough support from pledged delegates — equal to or greater than the majority of all pledged and automatic delegates, the DNC said — that votes will be counted on the first ballot.

Although Harris is set to be the official nominee by the time the Democratic National Convention comes around, she will formally accept the nomination at the convention in Chicago.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DNC virtual roll call begins; Soon Harris will be presidential nominee