- Ohio and Alabama are both controlled by Republicans and may not confirm Mr. Biden on the ballot in November.
- Both states require party candidates to be officially certified by a certain deadline.
- And the Democratic National Committee, which Biden is expected to certify this year, will miss those deadlines.
Ohio and Alabama, both Republican-run states, have said they may not recognize Biden on the ballot this November.
Everything hinges on deadlines before Biden is formally nominated, and officials in Ohio and Alabama say he may be too late.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen sent a letter to the chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party on Tuesday saying that unless the party formally certifies Biden as its presidential nominee by Aug. 15, the president will not be on the November ballot. I warned you. .
That's because Alabama requires political parties to file nomination papers at least 82 days before the Nov. 5 election, Allen wrote.
“I took an oath to support and defend our state's laws and Constitution, and I take that oath very seriously,” Allen said in a statement to Business Insider. “I will administer Alabama's elections in accordance with Alabama law and the deadlines set forth therein.”
Biden already has enough delegates to win the nomination in 2024.
But the Democratic National Convention, at which Mr. Biden will receive formal recognition, is scheduled to begin on August 19, four days after that deadline.
The same problem occurred in 2020, when the Republican National Convention, where Trump was officially nominated, was held after the Alabama deadline. But the state's Republican-controlled Legislature passed a special bill making a one-time exception to the deadline, allowing Mr. Trump to vote again that year.
Alabama officials could do the same thing against Democrats this year if they wanted to.
Ohio, run by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, has also warned that the Democratic convention will be held after Ohio's own Aug. 7 deadline.
Like Alabama, Ohio requires political parties to submit formal candidates by a deadline if they want to appear on the ballot. And in advance of the 2020 election, the state also created a one-time exception to that rule because that year's DNC and RNC were both scheduled after the deadline, a spokesperson for the Ohio Secretary of State told BI. Admitted.
“This legislation has been in the works for years,” Ben Kindel, a spokesman for the Ohio Secretary of State, told BI. “Ultimately, both political parties have highly paid lawyers who can advise them on the legal requirements for access to the ballot.”
“Each political party sets its own bylaws, organizes national conventions, and establishes rules for certifying candidates for the ballot,” Kindel continued. “Our office is not involved in that process.”
Paul DeSantis, chief legal counsel for the Ohio Secretary of State, wrote a letter to the Ohio Democratic Party chairman last week. In it, he said that for Biden to appear on the ballot, either the DNC would have to move up the convention date or state legislatures would have to grant another exception to the deadline by May 9. .
The Biden campaign insisted it was not worried.
“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states,” a Biden campaign spokesperson said in a statement shared with BI. “State officials may grant provisional ballot access certification before the presidential nominating convention concludes.”
The statement continues: “In 2020 alone, states such as Alabama, Illinois, Montana, and Washington all allowed provisional certification of Democratic and Republican candidates.”
Alabama is a deep red state, while Ohio is much more competitive but has trended toward Republicans in recent years.