New Jersey
Joe Biden’s withdrawal from election won’t impact NJ ballot deadline, say officials
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A look back at Joe Biden’s career
Joe Biden started his political career in 1970, first as a Republican. He became a lifelong Democrat when he won his Senate seat two years later.
President Joe Biden’s decision to not seek reelection should not impact New Jersey’s November ballot, say state election officials.
New Jersey’s deadline to prepare the official general election ballot for printing is Sept. 2 — 11 days after the Democratic National Convention ends.
The DNC is scheduled for Aug. 19 to Aug. 22, where the Democratic party will nominate its presidential candidate to face former President Donald Trump in November’s general election.
Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be the leading candidate to replace Biden as the Democratic Party’s nominee. Harris on Sunday said she will seek the 2024 Democratic nomination after Biden stepped aside and endorsed her candidacy.
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Biden’s withdrawal from the race won’t affect NJ ballot deadline
The state deadlines are based on the national conventions, Bergen County Clerk John Hogan said. “We expect a nominee will be picked out of those three days,” Hogan said. “It’s more than enough time and won’t affect the deadlines.”
The deadline for publication of notice of mail-in ballot availability by the state’s county clerks is Sept. 10, which is 55 days before Election Day. Mail-in ballots will begin to be mailed beginning on Sept. 21.
Hogan said special elections in past years caused by vacancies due to death have created tight deadlines, but Bergen County and other clerks were able to deliver.
“We will deliver on the election, but right now everything is still on schedule,” he said. “I don’t see any upset to this at all, when we get the name, we’ll print the ballots with the guidelines.”
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Biden announced on social media on Sunday that he would not be running for re-election following a poor presidential debate performance and weeks of mounting pressure from Democrats urging him to withdraw from the election.
More details are expected this week when Biden said he will speak to the country about his decision. After the announcement, he quickly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the presidential nominee.
Each state has delegates that represent the interests of the voters at the national party conventions. It is up to those individuals to formally cast the support of the state for each candidate. New Jersey has 146 delegates.
If no candidate wins the majority of the roughly 4,000 delegates, then the party’s more than 700 superdelegates, or automatic delegates, will be able to vote at the convention.