President Biden is in danger of not appearing on Ohio’s general election ballot, thanks to the fact that the Democrats’ nominating convention is scheduled to take place after the state’s candidate certification deadline.
The chief legal counsel for Ohio secretary of state Frank La Rose broke that news to Ohio Democratic Party Chairwoman Liz Walters via a letter, the Washington Post reports. He noted that Ohio law sets the presidential candidate certification deadline at 90 days before the election — which this year means Aug. 7. Trouble is, the Democratic national convention in Chicago doesn’t start until Aug. 19.
The letter offered two varyingly implausible avenues by which Dems could fix the snag:
- Reschedule the national convention so Biden can be nominated before Aug. 7
- Persuade the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature to enact an exception to the law out of the kindness of their hearts, and coax Republican Gov. Mike DeWine to sign it
In 2020, both party conventions were similarly scheduled after the Ohio deadline. Legislators did pass a one-time exception then, but they were incentivized to do so because the GOP also needed relief. This time, it’s only the Democrats swinging in the breeze.
Right on cue, a University of Cincinnati political science professor told the Post that if Biden doesn’t appear on the ballot, it would sap confidence in American governance. “If this were to actually occur and President Biden were held off the ballot, it would be devastating to the general sort of faith in democracy,” said David Niven.
Given their attempts to block Trump from ballots on flimsy 14th Amendment “insurrectionist” claims, Democrats are in no position to ask for mercy. Republicans aren’t the only ones who’d like to tell the Democrats “tough luck.” After all, while constantly crowing about saving Our Democracy®, the Dems are engaging in aggressive lawfare to make sure Americans don’t have the option to vote for independent and third-party candidates.
Donald Trump won Ohio in 2016 and 2020 — beating both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden by 8 percentage points — and he’s up by 10 in the RealClearPolitics Ohio polling average. Given that, Biden’s absence from the ballot may be something of a moot point in the race for Ohio’s 17 electoral votes, but could sap already-sagging leftist enthusiasm about the election, which could impact down-ballot Democrats.
One of those trying to ride Sleepy Joe’s musty, mothball-scented coattails is incumbent Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, who’s in a competitive race with Republican challenger Bernie Moreno. In a poll taken before Moreno won the primary, Brown led the Trump-endorsed Moreno by 4 points.
Whistling past the Ohio election graveyard, a Biden-Harris 2024 spokesman told the Post, “We’re monitoring the situation in Ohio and we’re confident that Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states.”
