Alabama’s top election official warned the state’s Democratic Party on Tuesday that President Joe Biden could possibly be left off the state’s general-election ballot due to a key deadline, which comes days before his confirmation as the Democratic presidential nominee.
“It has recently come to my attention that the Democratic National Convention is currently scheduled to convene on August 19, 2024, which is after the State of Alabama’s statutory deadline for political parties to provide a certificate of nomination for President and Vice President on August 15, 2024,” Alabama secretary of state Wes Allen (R.) wrote to state Democratic Party chairman Randy Kelley and Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison.
Biden secured enough delegates to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination a month ago, but he won’t be formally nominated until the Democratic National Convention. It will be held in Chicago from August 19 to 22.
Alabama requires presidential candidates to be certified “no later than the 82nd day preceding the day fixed for the election,” according to a law cited by Allen. The election is scheduled for November 5.
“If this Office has not received a valid certificate of nomination from the Democratic Party following its convention by the statutory deadline, I will be unable to certify the names of the Democratic Party’s candidates for President and Vice President for ballot preparation for the 2024 general election,” the election official said.
In response to Alabama’s warning, a Biden campaign spokesperson told the New York Post of its confidence that the president “will be on the ballot in all 50 states.” The spokesperson expects Alabama to grant provisional ballot-access certification, as it and three other states did for Biden and former president Donald Trump during the 2020 election.
However, the office of Alabama’s secretary of state argued “there are no ‘provisional certifications’ for candidates” under state law. “All candidates must comply with current Alabama law to gain ballot access,” a spokesperson told CNN.
The letter comes after Ohio secretary of state Frank LaRose’s (R.) office gave a similar warning to the state’s Democratic Party on Friday. Ohio must certify presidential candidates by August 7, which is 90 days before the general election. LaRose’s chief legal counsel proposed that Democrats move up their nominating convention before the deadline, or the GOP-controlled Ohio legislature make a one-time “exception” for Biden.
In 2020, Ohio lawmakers made such an exception for both parties by moving the state’s ballot deadline to 60 days before the general election when the timing of the Democratic and Republican conventions was an issue.