No, California didn't skip DNC votes for Kamala Harris

What is the claim?  

A video from the ongoing Democratic National Convention (DNC) is being used to claim delegates from the home states of U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and vice presidential nominee Tim Walz "passed" their turn to endorse the duo. The 30-second video shows a delegate from California at the DNC saying, "Mr. Secretary, the great state of California passes at this time." 

The video, captioned "BREAKING: Kamala's Home State Of California PASSES On Assigning Delegates To Her," was shared by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on X (formerly Twitter) and garnered around 2,700 shares, 13,000 likes, and over 1 million views. Similar claims featuring the video can be seen here, here, and here.

Screenshots of the claim on social media. (Source: X / Modified by Logically Facts)

However, we found the video to be taken out of context. The viral video is taken from a "ceremonial roll call" held at the DNC on August 20, 2024, to officially nominate Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as the Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates, respectively. California initially passed their turn to vote but ultimately cast their vote at the end, according to a convention tradition.  

What we found  

A keyword search led us to the livestream of the second day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on its official YouTube channel (archived here). In the longer version of the "ceremonial roll call" we saw that from the 1:23:00 mark, the U.S. states were called in alphabetical order to affirm their endorsement of Harris and running mate Walz. California and Minnesota, the home states of Harris and Walz, respectively, pass their turn at the 1:30:39 mark and at the 1:53:50 mark. 

At the end of the roll call later in the video, both states ultimately cast their votes in favor of Harris and Walz. At the 2:37:02 mark, California Governor Gavin Newsom says, "I've had the privilege for over 20 years to see that future taking shape with a star in an Alameda courtroom by the name of Kamala Harris. I saw that star fighting for criminal justice, racial justice, social justice." He goes on to say, "So Democrats and independents, it’s time for us to do the right thing, and that is to elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States of America.”

At the 2:36:18 mark, U.S. Senator Tina Smith can be heard saying, "I'm Tina Smith from the great state of Minnesota, the home of the next Vice President of the United States, Tim Walz. Minnesota, we deliver 81 votes for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz."

In the livestream, Alabama, which should have been the first state to start, also passed its turn to Delaware, incumbent President Joe Biden's home state, to kickstart the roll call.

 

Multiple media outlets have reported on the tradition of skipping the home state of the presidential nominee during the roll call vote at the national convention and saving it for last. According to NBC Chicago (archived here), "traditional roll calls have a home state provide the final votes needed to secure a majority." 

Media outlets like USA Today and WUSA also covered this tradition from the DNC's roll call on August 20, 2024, and reported that California and Minnesota ultimately did cast their votes for Harris and Walz.

The verdict 

California and Minnesota delegates at the DNC initially passed on voting for Harris and Walz, following convention tradition to let nominees' home states close the roll call. Despite them doing so later, an edited video is being used to claim they didn't cast votes.