[shhrubbery!]

IRC I read that one or two states had closed candidate qualifying for the ballot. Does this mean Biden won’t be a replacement?

Excellent point.

And in those states that enable "early voting," what happens if HIllary is forced to drop out of the race?

Would early voters then be given a 2nd chance at voting for Hillary's replacement? I doubt it ... although you never know. If the Dems took the matter to court, I think we know how an Obama-appointed judge would decide such a case.

In NJ we had a Dem-sympathizing judge allow retired Senator Frank Lautenberg to replace corrupt Senator Robert Torricelli on the general election ballot. This was after Torricelli was forced to withdraw from the race. (Iirc Torricelli had just been indicted on corruption charges.)

The judge allowed the replacement name on the ballot, even though it was already too late, according to NJ State law.

[morphing libertarian]

I like the way the judge assumed the democrats owed it to the public to run someone.

[Reily]

I don’t think Shriver had any problem with ballot access when he replaced Eggleston.(I could be wrong, it was 44 years !) However this is the top of ticket could be interesting, but as long she is breathing and conscious she will be on the ticket.

[Publius]

On November 8, you won't be voting for president, but for electors pledged to a party's candidates for president and vice president. The relationship between electors and their party's national committee is a private one. In the event something happens, the party's national committee can change the nominees by sending registered letters to their electors informing them of the change. This can be done all the way to December 19, the day that the Electoral College votes in its respective state capitals.

It doesn't matter what it says on a ballot line because you are still voting for electors pledged to a party's candidates for president and vice president. Therefore, if Hillary were to leave the race and be replaced by the DNC, the following would happen. First, electors in the 50 states and DC would get their registered notification letters. Second, in those states where the ballot deadlines were still open, the DNC would file to change the ballot lines. Third, in those states where the ballot deadlines had closed, the DNC's radio and TV ads would say, "Vote for the Clinton/Kaine ballot line so that your vote can really be for the Biden/Kaine ticket."

Note that we have some precedent. In 1872, the Democratic presidential nominee died right after the election. The DNC notified its electors by mail that there had been a change of ticket, and Democratic electors voted for the new ticket in December. It was just a formality because Grant and the Republicans had won in a landslide.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

You think you vote for president? You don’t - you vote for a slate of Electors who are committed to vote for your candidate for POTUS. Therefore, the only issue is that the Dems might have to get their voters to vote for “Hillary” as a figurehead. But they still face the issue of campaigning for those electors - and thus they have to convince their voters that the electors will vote for someone the voters like.