In spite of the fact that Vice President Joe Biden has yet to answer the call to enter into the 2016 presidential race, he will still be allowed to participate in the first Democratic presidential primary debate next month, even if he declares his candidacy on the very same day.

On Monday, CNN released its lenient eligibility criteria, which gives the vice president leverage to join the Democratic presidential debate on Oct. 13. The rules simply require all of the candidates to have achieved an average of 1 percent in three polls that are recognized by CNN and were released between Aug. 1 and Oct. 10.

That means that Biden, who averages about 5 percent in national polls, would just need to file or promise to file his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission by Oct. 13, in order to join the debate.

"I think it's the right thing to do. Given everything that's going on, no one wants to be accused of trying to keep any candidate off the stage. This ensures that no one is," former Democratic National Committee (DNC) communications director Mo Elleithee said, according to Politico. "Can you imagine any scenario where Biden announces his candidacy and is not allowed on that stage? It would more or less invalidate the debate if he announced and wasn't on stage."

So far, the official Democratic contenders -- Lincoln Chafee, Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley, Bernie Sanders and Jim Webb -- have been invited to the first DNC-sanctioned debate at the Wynn Las Vegas, reports CNN.

The two-hour primetime debate will be moderated by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, while chief political correspondent Dana Bash and CNN en Español anchor Juan Carlos Lopez will ask additional questions. Meanwhile, anchor Don Lemon will present questions to the candidates submitted through Facebook.

The debate will air live at 9 p.m. ET on CNN, CNN en Español, CNN International and via stream on CNNgo. It will also be hosted by Facebook. The CNN debate will mark the first of six scheduled presidential debates among the Democratic candidates.