When Vice President Kamala Harris received her party’s presidential nomination in a “virtual roll call” on August 6 – 13 days before the Democratic National Convention, which begins in Chicago on Monday – it revealed the futility of this elaborate and extremely expensive quadrennial tradition.

The event has now become as outdated as powdered wigs and the town crier.

When the first national party convention was held in the United States, it was for a reason. About 155 delegates from 18 of the then 24 states met in a large tavern in Baltimore on December 13, 1831, and unanimously elected Henry Clay as the Republican candidate for president for the following year. Although he lost, a successful tradition was born.

For more than a century, a party’s candidate was elected at a party congress. Also very important, but less conspicuous, was the adoption of party manifestos.

Over time, that changed. The state presidential primaries held since the early 20th century were often little more than political beauty contests with little practical impact. But they reached their peak in 1960, when John F. Kennedy used the primaries to demonstrate to the city bosses who controlled the Democratic Party machine that his Catholicism was no obstacle to victory in November.

In the early 1970s, a wave of populism shifted power from the smoke-filled chambers of convention history to the system of primaries and caucuses. When little-known former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter used this system to emerge from nowhere and secure the Democratic nomination in 1976, the paradigm changed once and for all. Whoever could win enough delegates in these early elections secured the nomination.

From then on, the party conventions were little more than coronation ceremonies with which voters confirmed their decisions from the primaries.

In addition, presidential candidates began to ignore their party’s electoral platform, which degenerated into a political Happy Meal and became irrelevant.

The last of the suspense dissipated when candidates announced their running mates days and sometimes weeks before their conventions. (Trump’s selection of JD Vance at the opening of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July is a rare exception.)

Robert Shrum: Party conventions still spark election campaigns, create stars and change history

With the last bit of drama snatched away, what’s left? A four-day infomercial in which Washington stars, Hollywood types and everyday people are herded on and off the stage in a mashup that resembles a political version of “America’s Got Talent.”

But there is still the balloon toss. Democrats and Republicans alike cling to this tradition. They want to see their candidates appear together, arms raised in unity, waving, with their families by their sides, as a cascade of colorful balloons slowly descends.

The price of this orgy of partisan excess is enormous. Open Secrets estimates that the Republican party in Milwaukee cost $65.7 million last month. When all the bills are added up, the larger Democratic convention in Chicago could cost even more.

Why not put a stop to this waste of time and money? Instead, focus on a single day to mark the official start of the fall campaign. Hold it right after Labor Day, when the summer holidays are over and Americans are finally getting serious about voting. It could even be a multi-city event, with the candidate in one place, the running mate in another, and various other well-known figures hosting high-profile events in key swing states.

That would cost a fraction of the week-long conventions. The tens of millions of dollars saved could instead be used for voter registration drives, advertising, and Election Day campaigning, things that can make all the difference in which candidate wins.

There might still be balloons there. You have to have balloons.