Last week, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose informed the Ohio Democratic Party that Joe Biden may be left off the state’s presidential ballot because the Dems would miss a crucial deadline to certify their presidential candidate. The Democratic National Convention occurs on Aug. 19, while the deadline to certify Biden’s nomination so he can appear on the Ohio ballot is Aug. 7.
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LaRose told the Democrats they could either move the convention date or get the Ohio legislature to waive the deadline.
Now, a similar problem has emerged in the state of Alabama. Alabama’s Republican Secretary of State Wes Allen sent a letter to the state Democratic Party informing them that the Democrats must give the state a “certificate of nomination” no later than August 15th. Since the aforementioned national convention occurs on August 19th, Biden is in danger of being left off of Alabama’s ballot as well.
“It has recently come to my attention that the Democratic National Convention is currently scheduled to convene on August 19, 2024, which is after the State of Alabama’s statutory deadline for political parties to provide a certificate of nomination for President and Vice President on August 15, 2024,” Allen wrote in the letter. “The certificate of nomination must be signed by the presiding officer and secretary of the convention and by the chair of the state executive committee of the political party making the nomination.
The Biden campaign sounded fairly confident that this was a non-issue.
“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states,” the campaign said. “State officials have the ability to grant provisional ballot access certification prior to the conclusion of presidential nominating conventions. In 2020 alone, states like Alabama, Illinois, Montana, and Washington all allowed provisional certification for Democratic and Republican nominees.”
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That “provisional ballot access” is dependent on the state legislatures in both Ohio and Alabama.
Four years ago, when Republicans held their convention Aug. 24-27, the Legislature passed a bill to make a one-time change in the deadlines and accommodate the GOP.
Alabama code section 17-14-31(b) says parties must certify their candidates “no later than the 82nd day preceding the day fixed for the election.” With this year’s election on Nov. 5, that makes Aug. 15 the 82nd preceding day, Allen said in the letter.
Allen said the secretary of state’s office has published the certification deadline on its website since June 2023.
Allen said, “If those certificates are not in my office on time, there will be no certification and no appearance on the Alabama general election ballot in accordance with sections 17-13-22 and 17-14-31(a) of the Code of Alabama. With this letter, we are providing ample notification to the leadership of the Democratic Party at the state and national level that the burden of providing those certifications by the statutorily set deadline is a requirement that they must meet.”
How sweet is that?
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The Alabama Republicans are not going to disenfranchise millions of Democratic voters. Or are they? The temptation to play hardball on this issue is strong. The Alabama legislature is overwhelmingly Republican (78-28 in the House; 27-8 in the Senate) and given Trump’s legal troubles, Biden ballot access becomes a tempting target for payback.
Besides, in both Alabama and Ohio, they’re just following the law. Isn’t that what Democrats claim when trying to keep Trump off the ballot?