Claim: During the Democratic National Convention, presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s home state of California passed instead of voting to confirm her as the party’s official nominee for the presidential election.
Fact: It is tradition for home states to pass their turn and instead vote to confirm at the end of the roll call. Additionally, Harris was already voted and confirmed as the official nominee during a virtual roll call on 5 August 2024.
On 20 August 2024, a user on X (formerly Twitter) posted a clip from the Democratic National Convention (DNC). During the clip secretary of the DNC Jason Rae can be heard asking California how they vote, to which California responds, “Mr. Secretary the great state of California passes at this time.”
The post is captioned, “JUST IN: California PASSES on casting their delegate votes for Kamala Harris 👀”.
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention or DNC is a series of presidential nominating conventions held by the United States Democratic Party before a presidential election. Its purpose is to officially nominate a candidate for president and vice president, and establish the party platform.
In the United States, the election for president is preceded by a selection of delegates to represent voters, who in turn vote to select their party’s official presidential nominee. Delegates are elected officials chosen either during the primary elections or via a party caucus.
The 2024 DNC was held from 19 to 22 August 2024, during which a ceremonial roll call occurred and led to the nomination of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as the official Democratic candidates for the 2024 US presidential election.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check confirmed that the viral clip of California passing on the vote is authentic as seen in the C-SPAN recording of the DNC roll call from minute 08:23 – 08:49. However, while the clip is authentic, it lacks context. California did pass on their vote to confirm Kamala Harris, but the gesture is ceremonial and historic in nature. Typically, the home state of the presidential candidate passes on the vote and is called upon again to vote at the very end of the ceremony, as a sign of respect. In this year’s roll call, three states passed on the vote: Alabama, Minnesota, and California. Alabama passed the vote so the roll call could start with the state of Delaware, out of respect for the current President of the United States Joseph Biden. Minnesota also passed to close out the vote with California as it is the home state of the Vice President nominee, Tim Walz. By allowing the home states of the nominee to go last, those states are allowed to cinch the final number of necessary votes to officially nominate the candidate. This is a long-running electoral tradition.
The complete video on C-SPAN also included the moment California was asked to vote once more, at the 1:14:49 mark. In this clip, Governor Gavin Newsom can be heard stating: “California we proudly cast our 482 votes for the next president Kamala Harris”.
Additionally, it is important to note that the vote at the DNC event was ceremonial as Kamala Harris had already been officially nominated during a virtual roll call on 5 August 2024.
This claim was also recently fact-checked by other news outlets, including Reuters Fact Check and USA Today Fact Check.
Thus, the viral post is misleading due to a lack of context on procedural traditions.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the claim was posted on Facebook here, here, and here.
Conclusion: While the state of California did initially pass on its vote during the DNC roll call to nominate Kamala Harris as the party’s presidential nominee, it was due to procedural tradition, and not dissatisfaction with the nominee. California later closed out the roll call by being the last state to vote and nominate Harris in line with tradition.
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com
Cover Image Credit: C-SPAN