President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign faces a significant hurdle in Ohio, a crucial swing state in the upcoming presidential election.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has warned the Democratic Party that state law requires the certification of their presidential nominee by August 7, well before the Democratic National Convention where Biden is set to be officially nominated.
LaRose emphasized that the only solutions to this predicament are for the Democrats to reschedule their convention or for the Republican-controlled Ohio State Legislature to amend the law to accommodate the Democratic Party’s timeline.
As LaRose’s spokesman Paul Disantis explained to the party, “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.”
In an attempt to circumvent the state election law, Donald McTigue, an attorney representing the Democrats, proposed a plan to “provisionally” name Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s nominees, followed by an official confirmation by August 25, three days after the convention’s conclusion.
Ohio AG Yost shoots down Democrats’ proposed fix to get Biden on the Ohio ballothttps://t.co/EAdCINKkhZ
— Andrew Tobias (@AndrewJTobias) April 16, 2024
McTigue argued that preventing the president and vice president from appearing on the ballot would be unconstitutional and would hinder “the millions of Ohioans who support President Biden and Vice President Harris [from exercising] their fundamental constitutional right to meaningfully participate in the presidential election.”
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However, the Secretary of State’s office swiftly rejected this proposal, stating that LaRose lacks the authority to alter the law to accommodate the Democrats.
The office pointed out that in 2012 and 2020, the General Assembly passed legislation to relax the deadline to accommodate both parties’ national convention schedules, emphasizing that revisions were made through legislation, not by the Secretary of State.
LaRose’s office also questioned the Democratic Party’s commitment to upholding the associational rights of its candidates, supporters, and members by adhering to a clear deadline that has governed Ohio elections for nearly two decades.
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The office further noted that this deadline was, in fact, enacted by the Democratic Party’s own elected officials.
