COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — State legislators have until May 9 to change a law that could keep President Joe Biden off the Ohio ballot this fall, because the Democratic Party’s nominating convention in Chicago will be held after the state’s presidential candidate certification deadline. But the Republican leader of the Ohio Senate said Biden will be on the ballot.
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Senate President Matt Huffman says Biden will be on Ohio’s fall ballot
By: Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau
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Huffman said he’ll try to accommodate whatever Democrats propose – though at least one Republican senator has said he won’t vote to help Democrats.An Ohio Democratic Party spokesman has said the party is looking into the situation. Democratic state lawmakers have said they believe there are multiple options and have been talking with the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
A Biden campaign official said in a statement: “Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states. State officials have the ability to grant provisional ballot access certification prior to the conclusion of presidential nominating conventions. In 2020 alone, states like Alabama, Illinois, Montana, and Washington all allowed provisional certification for Democratic and Republican nominees.”
This is the first time only one of the two major party conventions will miss the 90-day deadline for presidential candidates to be certified for Ohio’s general election ballot. That deadline was part of a 2010 law that set up a system to pay voter-approved bonuses to veterans of the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Lawmakers moved the deadline to 60 days for the 2012 and 2020 elections because both the Republican and Democratic conventions were scheduled for after the 90-day deadline.
Two other states are dealing with a similar situation. Lawmakers in Republican-run Alabama have passed legislation to push back the deadline from 82 days to 74 days. And in solidly-Democratic Washington, the state has notified the DNC that an exception to their law could be made for a provisional certification of Biden’s nomination.