Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine has called an emergency hearing to put Joe Biden’s name on the presidential ballot, following what he called an “absurd” threat from the state’s top election official to fire the president for deadline had not been met.
For weeks, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has been at loggerheads with Democrats over how to get Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, on the ballot, as their official nomination comes after the US deadline has passed. state of 90. days before the November elections.
The Biden-Harris ticket is expected to be certified after the official coronation on the final day of the Democratic national convention on August 22 in Chicago, 15 days after the August 7 cutoff date in Ohio.
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LaRose, also a Republican, warned this week that current rules would force him to exclude Biden’s name from ballots, depriving voters in the state of a full choice of presidential candidates.
He wrote to Ohio Democratic Party Chairwoman Elizabeth Walters, saying it was up to the party to change its nomination arrangements because the state legislature had ruled out changing Ohio law to accommodate Biden.
During a news conference, DeWine pushed back on that decision, calling the situation “simply unacceptable.”
“Ohio is running out of time to get Joe Biden, the sitting president of the United States, on the ballot this fall,” he said. “If this does not happen, it is simply not acceptable. This is a ridiculous – this is an absurd situation.”
In a post on
I’ve said from here to Colorado that it’s in the voters’ best interest to have a choice in the race for president. I am also required to follow the law as Ohio’s chief election officer.
As things stand now, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate will not be running for the Ohio… pic.twitter.com/Y5AkZBoow2
— Frank LaRose (@FrankLaRose) May 21, 2024
“As it stands now, the Democratic Party nomination will not be on the electoral ballot in Ohio,” he wrote. “That’s not my choice. It is due to a conflict in the law created by the party, and the party has not offered a legally acceptable solution so far.”
Democrats had previously proposed solving the problem by offering a “provisional appointment” of Biden and Harris, a solution that LaRose said did not meet the state’s legal standard. Democrats countered that this position was contradicted by the experience of the 2020 election, when, they argued, several other states adopted a similar resolution on incompatible deadlines for both parties.
DeWine’s decision may spare the Democratic party a lawsuit to force Biden’s name on the ballot.
A similar potential impasse occurred in Alabama, but state lawmakers resolved it by delaying the certification date, with the governor quickly signing it into law.
The furor took place against a backdrop of distrust between Democrats and Republicans over elections, fueled by Donald Trump’s ruthless audacity with a lie that Biden’s 2020 presidential victory had been “stolen.”
Once seen as a swing state, Ohio has trended solidly Republican lately, with Trump prevailing over Biden by eight percentage points four years ago and defeating Hillary Clinton by a similar margin in 2016.
