Democratic Officials Urge Committee to Nominate Biden Through Virtual Vote

Top Democratic Party officials on Friday urged the Democratic National Convention’s rules committee to choose to nominate President Biden through a virtual roll call vote rather than on the convention floor, as Mr. Biden continues to lose support from Democrats about whether he should be on the ticket at all.

Dana Remus, an outside legal counsel for the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee, said during an online meeting that the “wisest, most prudent” legal course would be for the party to select its nominee before Aug. 7, instead of at the convention, which begins on Aug. 19. Meeting that deadline would ensure that Mr. Biden would appear on the ballot in Ohio, Ms. Remus said, and avoid the possibility of a legal challenge by Republicans in that state to keep him off.

“Unfortunately, at this moment in time, we have to assume that everything about the election process that Republicans and affiliated groups can challenge, they will challenge,” Ms. Remus said. “No matter the strength of their arguments.”

Democratic officials also said the virtual roll call should not happen before Aug. 1. The convention’s rules committee will vote in a meeting next week on whether to conduct a virtual roll call. The date of that meeting has not yet been set, but it will take place next week.

The move to nominate Mr. Biden virtually has generated an unexpected furor over the intricacies of arcane party rules, at a time when many Democratic elected officials, donors and voters have expressed concerns about the viability of his candidacy. Some have worried that the party is trying to nominate Mr. Biden as soon as possible to lock him in as the party’s standard-bearer against former President Donald J. Trump.

On Friday, at least