The committee chairman said Harris has enough Democratic delegates to become the party’s nominee.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Jaime Harrison said Friday that Vice President Kamala Harris has secured enough Democratic delegate votes to become the party’s presidential nominee.

The online voting process does not close until Monday, but the vote marks the first time she has crossed the threshold of receiving a majority of delegate votes.

Harris is expected to become the first woman of color on a major party’s ticket.

“I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee,” Harris said in a conference call with supporters.

Harrison said “we will unite around Vice President Kamala Harris and demonstrate the strength of our party” at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago later this month.

Democrats have moved forward with a virtual vote to nominate Harris, nearing the end of a tumultuous nominating process that was interrupted by President Joe Biden’s decision not to run for re-election.

Although the Democratic convention in Chicago is more than two weeks away, formal nominations are expected to be completed by August 7. Democratic officials said the accelerated nomination time is necessary because August 7 is the deadline to ensure that candidates appear on the Ohio ballot.

Harris’ endorsement came shortly after Biden dropped out of the race, putting her at the forefront of the campaign to defeat Republican nominee Donald Trump. No other major candidate is challenging Harris for the nomination, and she is the only choice among delegates under party rules, which require pledges of support from at least 300 delegates, with no more than 50 signatures per delegation.

Any delegate who wants to vote for someone other than Harris will be considered “present.”

The Democratic Party still plans to hold a state-by-state roll call during the convention, the traditional way to select candidates, but with online voting, the roll call will be purely ceremonial.

The party insists that it must finalize its nominees before its Aug. 19 convention in Chicago to ensure it can meet Ohio’s voting deadline — but Republicans in the state dispute that.

Ohio lawmakers have since changed the deadline, but the change doesn’t take effect until Sept. 1. Democratic lawyers have warned that waiting until after the initial deadline to finalize a presidential nominee could lead to legal challenges.