After President Biden’s historic announcement earlier today, many people are wondering what will happen next. While no one yet knows for sure, there’s been speculation about the possibility of an open convention or even a “blitz primary.” But the process could turn out to be much quicker and simpler than that.

Before Biden’s withdrawal, the DNC had been planning to have delegates vote through a pre-convention virtual roll call. This was originally intended to address the Ohio’s early deadline for ballot access, but became unnecessary once the state changed its law to accommodate the Democratic Party’s relatively late convention (August 19-22). The DNC was nevertheless planning to conduct this virtual roll call — at first in July, before pushing it back to early August under pressure. It offered some pretty flimsy legal justifications, when the real reason appeared to be running out the clock on those seeking to replace Biden as the nominee.

Now that Biden’s out, it’s unclear whether the DNC will still proceed with the virtual roll call, according to Politico (which reports that it didn’t immediately receive an answer to this question from the DNC). The legal reasons for having this pre-convention vote are still flimsy. But with Democratic leaders and delegates quickly falling in line behind Vice President Harris, there are practical reasons why the party might want to proceed in that fashion.

Having a virtual roll call in early August would avoid a contested convention, with all the risks that entails. If Harris’s nomination is a done deal by then, it will allow for the convention to be a more scripted event celebrating the nominee, as has become the norm. It would also avoid a public intra-party fight, for which I suspect few Democrats have an appetite after the last few weeks.

So while an open convention would undoubtedly be entertaining to watch, I doubt we’ll see that. It’s possible that delegates will vote to nominate Harris before the convention even begins.