You've never seen a convention roll call like this — with calamari

2020’s roll call vote for the Democratic presidential nominee was an entirely new experience. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, states got to nominate Vice President Joe Biden from their home turf, and it was an opportunity to see the best of the country.

Termed the “Roll Call Across America,” people from Alabama to Puerto Rico to Washington and, of course, Delaware. cast their votes for Joe Biden.

Several of Biden’s one-time primary opponents were there, with former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg casting the votes for Indiana. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), along with Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, gave the Minnesota delegation votes to Biden.

In Alabama, where Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell called for the restoration of the Voting Rights Act, a cause Biden has championed.

Fred Guttenberg, who became a gun control activist after his daughter was killed in the Parkland shootings in Florida, delivered the votes for that state.

Speaking in front of Biden’s childhood home, complete with a “Scranton Loves Joe” lawn sign in the background, Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) cast Pennsylvania’s votes.

Maine’s first openly gay African American to serve in the Maine House, State Rep. Craig Hickman, stood outside his farm — his “American dream” — and nominated Biden.

In Utah — a state that leans Republican — a delegate stood outside the statehouse and reminded Trump that his state sends every registered voter a ballot, which they can return by mail.

Khizr Khan, the Pakistani-American Gold Star father who Trump targeted after his speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, cast the votes for Virginia. As he did, he spoke sorrowfully of the death of Heather Heyer, killed in Khan’s home city of Charlottesville.

And in South Carolina, Jaime Harrison, who is challenging GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham in an increasingly tight race, cast votes for Biden.

The last state, as is traditional, was Biden’s home state of Delaware. There, from a train station, of course, Democratic Sen. Tom Carper and Gov. John Carney cast their votes for Biden, who served as that state’s United States Senator for 36 years.

The liveliest state, however, had to be Rhode Island, which declared itself the “Calamari Comeback State,” complete with a giant plate of fried squid.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.