Democrats are exploring ways to get President Joe Biden on the ballot in Alabama and Ohio after top Republican election officials warned that he would miss the deadline to be certified as the Democratic contender in each state.
The offices of Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen have informed Democrats over the last week that their nominating conventions this summer are too close to the general election for Biden to appear on state ballots.
From August 19 to 22, the Democratic National Convention will take place. Ohio’s certification deadline is August 7, while Alabama’s is August 15. From July 15 to 18, the Republican National Convention will take place.
Historically, when a political party’s nominating convention occurs after a state deadline for certifying nominees, states either pass legislation to extend the deadline, as Ohio did in 2012 and 2020, or accept interim certification from the party.
The Biden team has urged Ohio and Alabama officials to follow historical precedent. One state is now following a precedent: In a letter obtained by CNN, Washington State’s director of elections advised the Democratic National Committee that it would accept provisional certification of the Biden-Harris ticket by August 20th.
The Biden campaign has claimed that it “will be on the ballot in all 50 states.”
It has presented numerous alternatives. As Alabama did for Republicans in 2020, Ohio and Alabama might extend their deadlines or permit the validation of provisional certifications after the conventions. Each presents unique obstacles.
In Ohio, LaRose’s office recommended Democrats either move their convention or enact legislation, which were both unlikely.
Chris Redfern, who chaired the Ohio Democratic Party in 2012 when bipartisan legislation to delay the certification deadline was passed, said Republicans are unlikely to reach across the aisle now. “It certainly won’t happen this time,” he added.
In Alabama, Democratic lawmakers in the state House and Senate presented legislation Thursday to move the certification deadline to August 23.
“These two bills will hopefully receive bipartisan support because it has happened to Republican candidates before and may happen again,” Democratic former Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama tweeted on social media. “It is in everyone’s interest to fix this for this year and the future.”
Jones played off worries that state election officials were scheming against Democrats, saying he appreciated the secretary of state’s letter arriving “in plenty of time to remedy the situation.”
Other alternatives being discussed by the Biden campaign include staging a remote version of the convention roll call, during which delegates would formally nominate Biden, or filing a suit.
In an April 10 letter to Mike Jones, general counsel for the Alabama secretary of state, the campaign hinted at a legal suit. It stated that “a court would have little difficulty finding that a strict application” of the state’s deadline would “impose a severe restriction” on ballot access.
In a letter from Democratic National Committee and Biden campaign lawyer Barry Ragsdale, the campaign argued that provisional certification “avoids the constitutional problems” of keeping the campaign off the ballot and that it was the same process Allen’s predecessor allowed the Trump campaign to use in 2020.
Allen, on the other hand, repeated his position that state law prohibits “provisional certifications.”
“On January 16, 2023, I took an oath to uphold Alabama law, and that is what I am going to do,” he said in a prepared statement. “My office will accept all certifications that comply with Alabama Code Section 17-14-31(b).”
The latest initiatives in Ohio and Alabama come after attempts in numerous Democratic-led states to keep former President Donald Trump, the probable Republican nominee, off the ballot. Proponents said that Trump’s conduct on January 6, 2021, rendered him unsuitable for public office under the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist” provision.
Last month, the US Supreme Court declared that the former president could not be removed from Colorado or any other state’s ballots.
