They say timing is everything and it may come down to timing to see if President Joe Biden will appear on the Ohio ballot.
Biden’s hope to be on the ballot in the Buckeye state is if “the state’s Republican-dominated legislature creates an exception to the ballot deadline or the Democratic Party moves up its convention, according to the office that oversees the state’s elections,” according to The Hill.
Ohio’s deadline to certify presidential candidates for the general election is Aug. 7. This is about two weeks before the Democratic National Convention. Biden is the presumptive nominee to run against Republican challenger Donald Trump.
Under Ohio law, a presidential candidates needs to be certified 90 days before the general election, which is on Nov. 5 this year, said a letter written last week by Paul DiSantis, chief legal counsel for Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
“Please contact me as soon as possible with any information that can assure this office of timely compliance with Ohio law,” the letter said.
Biden’s campaign said Monday that this will not keep the president off the ballot.
“We’re monitoring the situation in Ohio, and we’re confident that Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states,” the campaign said in a statement.
In the 2020 presidential election, both the Republican and Democratic conventions were scheduled after the deadline window. Ohio lawmakers approved changing the cutoff to 60 days, but that change was only for that election.
A letter sent to Ohio Democratic Party Chair Liz Walters said that the legislature would need to act by May 9 to enable an exception to the 90-day deadline. The other option is for Democrats to move up their convention, which would seem unlikely, The Hill reported.
Trump won Ohio in 2016 and in 2020. His win in 2020 led to him becoming the first losing presidential candidate Ohio had supported since it sided with Richard Nixon over John F. Kennedy in 1960, per the outlet.
