Biden currently not slated to be on Ohio ballot in November, and state lawmakers didn't bother to fix issue
As things currently stand, President Joe Biden is not slated to be on the Ohio ballot this November, and the state legislature did not remedy the situation before adjourning.
Ohio law requires both parties to certify their nominees for president and vice president 90 days before Election Day, which falls on November 5 this election cycle. The problem for the Biden camp is that the scheduling for the Democratic National Convention is such that Biden will not be officially nominated by his party until August 22, just 75 days before Election Day.
'The Ohio House of Representatives has refused to act, and the Democratic Party has so far offered no legally acceptable remedy.'
Alabama ran into a similar problem this year, but the Republican supermajority there easily resolved the problem earlier this month to ensure Biden appears on the ballot.
Not so in Ohio. Though both the House and Senate in the Buckeye State passed resolutions to address the problem, neither of those bills advanced during the May 8 session.
Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) blamed "dysfunction" and "hyper-partisanship" for the failure to find a legislative fix. "We’ve seen the dysfunction here in this place," Russo said. "And I think we’ve seen that folks have not been able to put aside partisanship and hyper-partisanship and infighting."
State House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) didn't disagree. "It's a hyper political environment at this at this time of year," he admitted. "There are some Republicans who just did not want to vote on it, and there were some who were [willing]."
Despite the legislative action on the issue, many leaders expressed confidence that Biden will appear on the Ohio ballot one way or another.
"I have every confidence that it’s going to get done," Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday. "No one should worry, they’re going to be able to vote for the president or the former president, whoever they want to vote for. You know, this is not going to be a situation where the president’s name is not on the ballot. So it’s either going to be done by the court, or it’s going to be done by the legislature."
Charles Lutvak, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, shared similar optimism. "Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states," Lutvak wrote in an email. "Election after election, states across the country have acted in line with the bipartisan consensus and taken the necessary steps to ensure the presidential nominees from both parties will be on the ballot."
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, however, is less certain. In a letter issued on Tuesday, LaRose warned Democrats: "Unless your party plans to comply with the statutory deadline, I am duty-bound to instruct boards of elections to begin preparing ballots that do not include the Democratic Party's nominee for president and vice president of the United States."
LaRose also stated that he does not "wish to take" this step. However, "The Ohio House of Representatives has refused to act, and the Democratic Party has so far offered no legally acceptable remedy," he explained.
