President Joe Biden will plausibly make his way onto Ohio’s general-election ballot after the Democratic National Committee came up with a solution, allowing the incumbent to be nominated by delegates ahead of the party’s convention and the state’s statutory ballot deadline in August.
The DNC on Tuesday proposed to host a virtual roll call, in which Biden will be recognized as the party’s official nominee before the Democratic National Convention, which starts August 19, and Ohio’s ballot deadline, set for August 7. The roll call currently has no scheduled date. Democratic officials will convene next week to proceed with the virtual session, with a committee vote to follow soon after.
DNC chairman Jaime Harrison announced the ballot-certification proposal while also slamming Republicans:
Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree. But when the time has come for action, they have failed to act every time, so Democrats will land this plane on our own. Through a virtual roll call, we will ensure that Republicans can’t chip away at our democracy through incompetence or partisan tricks and that Ohioans can exercise their right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice.
In April, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, first made the Ohio Democratic Party aware of the state law requiring political parties to certify their presidential and vice-presidential candidates 90 days before the November 5 election. His office suggested two options: to either push back the Democratic convention to comply with the August 7 deadline, or let the Ohio legislature change the ballot-certification statute. Otherwise, Biden wouldn’t appear on Ohio’s ballot.
“It’s encouraging that they’re now actively pursuing both of those options,” LaRose said in a statement on Wednesday. “Whatever the outcome, I’m hopeful this gets resolved quickly and in the best interest of Ohio voters so we can move forward with preparing for the November election.”
The Democratic Party and its legal counsel have not yet contacted the secretary of state “about the revisions they reportedly intend to make to their nominating process,” LaRose spokesman Benjamin Kindel told National Review.
The Ohio legislature convened for a special session on Tuesday at the behest of Republican governor Mike DeWine to consider passing legislation that would move up the state’s statutory ballot deadline to August 23, the day following the end of the Democratic convention.
During the special session, the Ohio senate passed two Republican-led bills: One changes the deadline to 74 days before the election, and the other bans foreign citizens from contributing money to state and local ballot-issue campaigns. Democrats opposed the latter bill, accusing Republicans of being “partisan” in trying to combine both issues. But Republicans believe the foreign-citizens bill is a necessary addition.
“Which side is really being partisan?” asked state Republican senator Rob McColley. “Because if we all agree that foreign election interference and foreign contributions into our elections are a problem, then why would somebody vote no on this bill?”
DeWine congratulated the Ohio senate for passing the special-session legislation, saying it’s still needed even though the DNC proposed an alternative solution.
“While I understand the Democratic National Committee has just today proposed a work-around to help get President Biden on the Ohio ballot, it is prudent legislation be passed to get this done,” DeWine said in a statement. “As I previously said, we do not want to leave something so basic as having the sitting President of the United States on the ballot to others when this can — and should — be done legislatively. It’s the right thing to do.”
The governor also expresses support for the Republican measure to combat foreign election interference in the state.
LaRose did the same, saying he’s “hopeful that legislators don’t leave town this week without sending a clear message that Ohio’s constitution is not for sale to foreign billionaires.”
The Ohio house, whose Republican members adjourned last week before voting on a legislative fix for Biden’s ballot access, will take up the bills next.
LaRose sent an additional warning to state Democrats on the day that lawmakers adjourned, urging the party to work with Ohio officials in seeking an alternative solution. The state’s top election official said that neither Ohio Democrats nor the DNC had responded to his office’s warnings by then, expressing their “intent to comply with Ohio’s ballot access deadline.”
Enacted in 2009, the ballot-access law had been temporarily modified by the Ohio general assembly in 2019 to accommodate both parties prior to the last presidential election. At the time, LaRose’s office noted that the statute would revert back to its 90-day requirement after 2020.
Responding to detractors’ accusations that LaRose waited until the last minute to notify Democrats of Biden’s potential ineligibility if he was nominated past the deadline, the LaRose spokesman said Ohio Democrats and the DNC had no reason to be unaware of the 90-day requirement.
“Ultimately, both political parties have well-paid attorneys who are capable of advising them on the legal requirements for ballot access,” Kindel said in defense of the timing for LaRose’s April 5 letter.
“Our staff was completing the March primary election and beginning the preparation process for the general election ballot,” he added. “When we couldn’t find any indication that the DNC bylaws had been changed to meet the requirements in Ohio law, we reached out and asked for clarification.”
LaRose slammed Democrats, noting that their party was the one to write and enact the ballot-access law 15 years ago.
“Democrats in 2024 forget their own law and schedule their convention too late to comply with it. Republicans remind them,” he posted on X. “Democrats accuse Republicans of incompetence, political tricks & threatening democracy. This is politics in 2024, folks.”
Biden faced ballot-access issues in Alabama and Washington as well. However, both states resolved the problem earlier this spring. The Republican-controlled Alabama legislature voted to change the 82-day deadline to 74 days, and Washington’s Democratic secretary of state agreed to offer a provisional certification of Biden’s nomination. Democrats previously offered to submit a provisional certification by the statutory deadline in Ohio, but state officials rejected the proposition.