It seems increasingly likely that President Joe Biden will not be able to be listed on the presidential ballot in a crucial swing state. On Wednesday, legislators in Ohio failed to approve any measures that would enable the president to be included on the ballot this coming November.
The urgency to pass such legislation stems from the fact that the Democratic National Convention, where President Biden is set to be formally declared as the nominee for his party, is scheduled after the deadline for filing to be on the Ohio ballot. Unfortunately, there is no provision in the state’s existing laws that would permit an exemption.
“The House and Senate floated separate proposals this week that would change the certification deadline to 74 days before the Nov. 5 election. Under current law, state officials must certify the ballot by Aug. 7 − 90 days beforehand − but Biden won’t be nominated until the Democratic National Convention 12 days later,” Dispatch reported.
“Wednesday ended with no plan to get the president and presumptive Democratic nominee on Ohio’s ballot. And the clock is running out: Secretary of State Frank LaRose said lawmakers had until Thursday to change the deadline. Bills typically take 90 days to become law unless they have an emergency clause attached to them,” the report said.
However, regardless of the necessary measures, whether through legislation or the courts, Republican Governor Mike DeWine has firmly asserted that the president’s name will appear on the ballot. “I don’t want to minimize that this has to happen, but I do want to minimize anybody thinking that there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that this isn’t going to happen,” he said on Wednesday. “The president’s name is going to be on the ballot.”
House Minority Leader Allison Russo expressed her skepticism regarding the possibility of a legislative solution, but emphasized that the Democratic Party still has alternative options available. “We see once again that politicians and the politics and playing games with this piece of legislation ruled the day,” she said. “I think we’ve officially sunk lower than Alabama at this point.”
A bipartisan proposal was introduced that could have impacted upcoming elections by giving a Party the option to officially endorse its nominee 74 days before the election or within three days after their convention, whichever came first. However, Republicans suggested a temporary solution to prohibit foreign citizens or green card holders from contributing to ballot campaigns, ultimately leading to Democrats withdrawing their support for the proposal.
“We use the word compromise a lot,” Republican Senate President Matt Huffman said. “I think this is a reasonable result. There’s some things for both sides to like and dislike. It gets these two issues resolved for the upcoming election.”
Democrat Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio disagreed.
“There wasn’t something for us to love and hate,” she said. “It wasn’t a compromise. It was frankly a dirty trick and we didn’t take the bait.”
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has not wanted to budge on the deadline as he says Ohio law does not allow it.
“The facts are still very clear on this,” he said. “The Democrats scheduled their nominating convention too late to comply with Ohio law, and they’ve admitted that this unforced error creates a problem for their presidential candidate that needs to be fixed. I am left to conclude that the Democratic National Committee must either move up its nominating convention or the Ohio General Assembly must act by May 9, 2024 (90 days prior to a new law’s effective date) to create an exception to this statutory requirement,” Secretary of State’s spokesman Paul Disantis told the Party.
