Ohio’s Gop Leadership Rejects Democrat’s Push to Secure Biden’s Ballot Spot

Ohio officials rejected Democrats’ bid to put President Joe Biden on the November ballot after the party moved its convention past a state election deadline.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose warned Ohio Democrats earlier this month that Biden may not appear on the November 5 ballot. State law requires officials to certify the ballot 90 days before an election, which is Aug. 7 this year. However, the president will not be officially nominated until the Democratic National Convention on August 19.

In a letter to LaRose’s office acquired by the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, attorney Don McTigue stated that the Democratic Party would temporarily certify Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris before the August 7 deadline. McTigue pointed out that Biden had already collected enough delegates for the Democratic candidacy while having no substantial primary contest.

Biden handily won Ohio’s presidential primary, receiving 87% of the vote.

“If President Biden and Vice President Harris are not listed on the ballot as the Democratic Party candidates, their supporters in Ohio will be stripped of the opportunity to associate with their preferred candidate,” McTigue said in a statement. However, Attorney General Dave Yost’s office argues temporary approval is ineffective, and LaRose cannot adjust election deadlines unilaterally.

“Instead, the law mandates the Democratic Party to certify its president and vice-president candidates on or before August 7, 2024,” Julie M. Pfeiffer, an attorney on Yost’s staff, informed LaRose’s legal counsel. “No alternative process is permitted.”

Ohio Leaves Biden and Democrats in a Bind

Pfeiffer’s letter appears to give Democrats two options: rely on the legislature or litigate.

Lawmakers could grant an exemption from the 90-day limit by May 9, as they did in 2020 when both parties held their conventions too late. But the prospects of that are small. Top Democrats have declared they will defer to the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee, while Republican leaders are unlikely to help.

“I think it’s a Democratic problem,” Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, told reporters last week. “There should be a democratic solution. “That has not been proposed to me.”

Ohio is not the only state with election deadlines before the convention. Alabama and Washington are in the same predicament, but Washington’s secretary of state, a Democrat, will accept temporary certification, according to the Seattle Times. Oklahoma, Illinois, Washington, and Montana did the same for both parties in 2020.

McTigue and a Biden campaign official declined to discuss probable next moves.

“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states,” a Biden campaign official stated. “State officials can grant provisional ballot access certification before the conclusion of presidential nominating conventions.”