It could still be weeks — and a winding journey — before Democrats settle on who will replace President Joe Biden at the top of the 2024 ticket, but state election officials and and legal experts say placing the new candidate on the ballot should be straightforward.

Maryland’s top party officials and their convention delegates took one step closer Monday, pledging their unanimous intention to back Vice President Kamala Harris at their party’s national convention next month.

Once the party decides whether to nominate Harris or another candidate, nothing would change Maryland’s elections calendar, said Jared DeMarinis, administrator of the Maryland State Board of Elections.

Despite Biden’s decision to bow out of his second presidential run, election ballots don’t get printed until after the convention’s leaders notify Maryland who they’ve selected as their nominees, DeMarinis said.

But so far no convention votes have been cast, and Democrats and democracy watchdogs are still gaming out the what-ifs of what’s next.

Before any of the delegates can vote for Harris, Biden must release them, Democratic Party Chair Ken Ulman said. Ulman, who also serves as a member of the Rules Committee for the Democratic National Convention, said he wasn’t immediately certain when Biden would do so, but once he does, the delegates are free to choose any qualified candidate.

The Maryland Democratic Party’s virtual consensus Monday sent an “important signal,” he said, that the delegation has unified around Harris.

A committee will meet later this week to lay out rules for the convention, he said, but the intention is still to have a virtual vote prior to the convention in Chicago, which runs Aug. 19-22. He explained the urgency is needed because the Republican Party has threatened lawsuits to keep the Democratic nominee off the ballot in some states, such as Ohio, and moving up the vote may prevent that.

Voters worried about what’s next should stay more engaged not less, said Jay Young, a senior director of voting and democracy at Common Cause, who oversees national elections for the government transparency watchdog.

“The situation we’re in right now: the choices that are going to be on the ballot in November are going to be very consequential,” he said.

Young’s nonpartisan team of democracy watchers had been meeting regularly in the days leading up to Biden’s final decision to game out “what-if” scenarios and position themselves to educate voters, quickly swat away disinformation and ensure all voters’ voices are heard in November, he said.

Young said it’s important for voters to understand a key detail of our democratic election process and that nothing “inappropriate” is taking place: A primary election names a candidate to be nominated by the party at the convention, but the convention delegates vote for their party’s nominee. The convention process allows the party some wiggle room to pivot to another candidate, though it has rarely been used.

“President Biden was the leading candidate to be nominated by the Democratic Party; he was not yet the nominee,” Young explained.

“No one’s being disenfranchised, or having their [primary] vote taken away from them,” he said.

Still, Young warned of the many groups that have launched “frivolous” lawsuits against state election boards across the country, including here in Maryland, could try to contest a new presidential nominee. Social media and news reports have made mention of possible lawsuits being filed to contest the switch, and Young and his team are paying attention.

The attorney said such suits are “designed to gum up the works” of elections and make it harder for election officials to do their jobs.

“If people are just doomscrolling on their phone it can feel pretty scary right now,” he said, adding that “fortunately, our democracy is resilient enough to deal with the events of the last 24 hours.”