You shouldn’t expect to see a balloon fall, at least for now.

The delegates to the Democratic National Convention begin a formal process of selecting their presidential nominee on Thursday. They won’t be doing it in the boisterous party atmosphere on the convention floor, or even at the convention. They will instead quietly fill out electronic votes in their offices, homes or vacation destinations more than two weeks prior to the first delegate stepping foot into Chicago’s United Center.

After the deadline of Tuesday night, only Vice President Kamala Harris is eligible to vote.

The process, which officials of the Democratic National Committee have dubbed “virtual” roll call, will allow Harris claim the nomination on Monday, only 15 days after Joe Biden announced that he would not run for a second term due to widespread concerns in the party about his ability to beat Republican nominee Donald Trump.

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How will the virtual process operate?

Nearly 4,700 delegates are expected to cast their votes using a method of electronic voting that the party claims is similar to the one used in 2020 to count virtual roll call ballots, when the COVID-19 epidemic forced the party’s official business to be conducted remotely.

According to new rules adopted by the convention’s rules committee late in July, candidates were given until the 27th of July to declare their intention to run for president and until the night of Tuesday to collect the signatures needed to qualify for a roll call vote. A DNC statement said that Harris had submitted 3,923 signatures, which is about 84% the total delegation, and 99% for those who signed a “petition”.

The vote for Harris will be accounted as “present” if it is cast by someone else.

The voting will begin on Thursday at 9 am, when the first delegates are expected to receive their votes. The voting will begin on Thursday at 9 a.m. ET and end Monday at 6 pm. ET.

Who can vote?

The pledged delegates will cast their ballots through the state primaries and caucuses, as well as over 700 other delegates who are automatically delegated by virtue of their elected office or position in a party. This includes incumbent governors, U.S. Senators and Representatives, former Presidents and DNC Members.

Superdelegates are these automatic delegates. They have been the subject of intense debate in the party over the years, despite the fact that they were not selected through a formal process. Superdelegates, historically, have always backed the candidate who has the most pledged delegates.

The party adopted reforms after the 2016 elections that limited superdelegates’ voting rights to the second and following ballots. Superdelegates can vote on the first round of voting if they have either won the majority of pledged delegate through the primary or caucus, like Biden, or if they have submitted signatures from a majority total of delegates, like Harris.

What will be the outcome?

The DNC did not provide details about how or when results of the vote by roll call will be announced. The voting period ends on Monday, at 6 pm. The party has not stated whether they will release the results earlier, if final results become available before ET.

The party has not said if they will announce a final count or just a running tally. The DNC has also not stated if it would provide a breakdown of the votes by state.

What about the vice-president nominee?

The new convention rules permit Harris to nominate her choice for vice-president once she has officially won the nomination. At that point, the convention chair will declare the candidate as vice-presidential nominee.

Harris stated Tuesday that she has not yet made a decision about her No. 2. Next week, she and whoever she chooses will travel to seven states, including Pennsylvania Arizona and North Carolina.

Why does this happen before the convention?

DNC officials announced in May that a virtual vote would be conducted to remove a possible obstacle in Ohio’s election process. The deadline for Ohio to submit a ballot for the general election is August 7, two weeks after the Democratic convention.

The deadline was modified in the past presidential election year to accommodate conventions held late in the summer by both parties. This year, state Republicans planned to enforce it, and one GOP legislator called the scheduling problem “a Democratic issue.”

The Republican-controlled legislature did eventually make the change at the behest of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed the bill, but it won’t take effect until August 31. DNC officials cited concerns that Ohio Republicans might still attempt to block their candidate’s inclusion on the ballot, despite the fix. They decided to proceed with the virtual roll call.

What about speeches and balloons

Roll call was also conducted virtually at the 2020 convention, but this process included remote video presentations by every state and territory.

The official voting this year will not include a similar live presentation. Party officials have announced that a ceremonial vote will be held during the convention. This mimics the tradition of state delegations making their votes known from the convention floor.