President Biden is on course to get bucked by the Buckeye State and miss out on the chance to scoop its 17 Electoral College votes on Nov. 5 due to an obscure procedural issue.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, warned the state and national Democratic Party again this week that it is poised to miss an early-August deadline to certify Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as their candidates and ensure ballot access.
“I’ve said from here to Colorado that it’s in the best interest of voters to have a choice in the race for president. I’m also duty-bound to follow the law as Ohio’s chief elections officer,” LaRose explained Tuesday on X.
“As it stands today, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee will not be on the Ohio ballot. That is not my choice.”
Why wouldn’t Biden be on the Ohio ballot?
There is still time to fix the situation so that Biden, 81, could ultimately wind up on the ballot, but the problem has to do with the long-fixed timing of this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Under Ohio law, a political party must certify the names of its presidential and vice presidential candidates at least 90 days before Election Day. This year, the 90-day mark is Aug. 7.
The Democratic convention, when Biden will officially become the party’s standard-bearer, will be held Aug. 19-22.
Ohio’s rule mandating ballot certification 90 days before a general election was adopted in 2010 and has caused complications ever since, with 2016 being the only presidential election year in which legislation extending the deadline was not needed.
Unlike in 2012 and 2020, however, there is no appetite in the Republican-dominated Ohio legislature to cut their rivals a break this time.
‘Just not the will to do that’
On Tuesday, Ohio state House Speaker Jason Stephens indicated that his colleagues will not take legislative action to guarantee Biden and Harris access to the ballot.
“There’s just not the will to do that from the legislature,” Stephens told reporters Tuesday, per Cleveland.com.
“It’s a hyper-political environment at this at this time of year, and there are some Republicans who just didn’t want to vote on it,” Stephens added. “I think there are other alternatives to it, so why create a stir that’s not necessary?”
“Today, Republican politicians at the statehouse made clear that they want to take away Ohioans’ ability to choose who they want to be President,” Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters fired back in a statement.
“Corrupt politicians in Columbus have politicized the process and used it to play political games with Ohioans’ ability to hold their government accountable.”
Down south, Alabama had a similar pickle with its Aug. 15 certification deadline, but earlier this month, Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation granting an extension to Aug. 23, allowing Biden on the ballot as normal.
A solution with a catch
One bill that cleared the GOP-controlled state Senate on May 10 would waive the deadline, but it included a provision that would restrict foreign money from use in state ballot initiatives.
Ohio Republicans have blamed the prevalence of overseas cash on a referendum result last year that guaranteed abortion access in the state’s Constitution.
Democrats have balked at the idea.
Can LaRose do anything?
He says he can’t.
Washington state appears poised to address a similar dilemma by simply offering Democrats a deadline of Aug. 20 to submit a provisional certification of nomination. (Biden is scheduled to be formally crowned as the nominee on Aug. 22, the last night of the convention.)
But LaRose rejected that possibility in his Tuesday warning to the Ohio Democratic Party, in which he referenced an opinion by the state’s Republican Attorney General, Dave Yost.
“As the Ohio Attorney General’s office has advised my office, the Democratic Party’s offer to submit a ‘provisional certification’ by the statutory deadline ‘simply is not provided for by law,’” he wrote.
What can the Democrats do?
LaRose says there’s only one thing they can do: Make “a change in the date by which your party formally nominates a presidential candidate.”
However, moving the Democratic convention at this late date would be a near-impossible logistical undertaking.
The impasse has led to rumors that Democrats are mulling whether to file a lawsuit to force Ohio to put Biden on the ballot.
The Biden campaign and Democratic National Committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
Can Biden win Ohio?
Once a quintessential battleground state, Ohio has lurched considerably to the right in recent years.
Trump won the state twice, beating Biden by eight percentage points in 2020.
He became the first incumbent since Benjamin Harrison in 1892 to win the state while losing re-election, and the first candidate since Thomas Dewey in 1944 to win Ohio and lose an election.
The RealClearPolitics polling average shows Trump up double-digits on Biden in a potential rematch.
