President Joe Biden may risk losing ballot access in Ohio if he misses the state’s certification deadline, Ohio secretary of state Frank LaRose warned state Democrats on Tuesday.
On April 5, LaRose’s legal counsel Paul Disantis first made the Ohio Democratic Party aware of a state law requiring political parties to certify their presidential and vice-presidential candidates 90 days before Election Day. That deadline is August 7, and the general election will be held on November 5. Biden won’t be formally nominated until the Democratic National Convention, scheduled to be held in Chicago from August 19 to 22, creating a problem for the incumbent’s eligibility on Ohio’s ballot.
Weeks later, LaRose said neither the Ohio Democratic Party nor the Democratic National Committee have responded to his office’s warning, expressing their “intent to comply with Ohio’s ballot access deadline.” In a follow-up letter sent Tuesday, the state’s top election official urged the party to work with Ohio officials in seeking an alternative solution.
“As it stands today, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee will not be on the Ohio ballot. That is not my choice,” LaRose said in a statement accompanying the letter. “It’s due to a conflict in the law created by the party, and the party has so far offered no legally acceptable remedy.”
Democrats previously offered to submit a “provisional certification” by the statutory deadline. However, the office of Ohio attorney general Dave Yost advised LaRose that provisional certifications cannot be provided for candidates under state law. Nor can the secretary provide a different solution than the one written in law.
Either the state legislature needs to pass a bill that allows Biden’s certification, or the Democratic Party needs to push back its dates for the DNC so Biden can be nominated on or before August 7.
Ohio lawmakers have already proposed legislation to change the state’s certification deadline to 74 days before November 5. If the bill passes, the new deadline would fall on August 23, one day after the last day of the DNC. But it appears the bill will not be moving forward, as lawmakers in the Ohio house adjourned before voting on the measure.
Ohio house speaker Jason Stephens, a Republican, said the GOP majority has no intent to change the law to accommodate Biden. “There’s just not the will to do that from the legislature,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
Ohio house minority leader Allison Russo, a Democrat, said the change will most likely not happen through the legislature, suggesting the problem would have to be solved by a court.
“We’ve seen the dysfunction here in this place,” she said. “And I think we’ve seen that folks have not been able to put aside partisanship and hyper-partisanship and infighting. . . . I think at this point, you’re probably going to see either, you know, some sort of inner party effects or perhaps court action.”
Governor Mike DeWine also weighed in on the matter, expressing confidence that Biden will be on Ohio’s ballot one way or another.
“No one should worry, they’re going to be able to vote for the president or the former president, whoever they want to vote for,” he said. “You know, this is not going to be a situation where the president’s name is not on the ballot. So it’s either going to be done by the court, or it’s going to be done by the legislature.”
Biden’s campaign is also confident the president will make it onto the ballot “in all 50 states,” spokesperson Charles Lutvak said.
Ohio Democrats have not responded to LaRose’s latest correspondence so far.
“The Ohio House speaker said today there won’t be a legislative solution, so I’ve sent a letter to [the Ohio Democrats’] chair seeking (again) a solution that upholds the law and respects the voters,” LaRose said. “I trust they’ll act quickly.”