Ohio warns Dems that Biden may miss deadline for Nov. ballot
Democrats may miss a deadline to get President Joe Biden on the general election ballot in Ohio, according to the state’s election management office.
In a letter seen by The Washington Post, the Ohio secretary of state’s office told Ohio Democratic Party Chair Liz Walters that the Democratic National Committee’s nominating convention is scheduled too late for Mr. Biden to make the Ohio ballot because a state law requires nominees to be certified at least 90 days before the general election.
The letter, citing Ohio’s presidential ballot laws, said the deadline to certify a presidential candidate in Ohio is 90 days before the general election.
The election is Nov. 5 this year, putting the Ohio deadline at Aug. 7 — but the Democratic National Convention, which is expected to nominate Biden for a rematch against Donald Trump, isn’t scheduled to convene until Aug. 19.
The letter from Paul DiSantis, chief legal counsel for Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, asked Democratic state legislative leaders for clarification to assure the party’s “timely compliance with Ohio law.”
“We’re monitoring the situation in Ohio and we’re confident that Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states,” Josh Marcus-Blank, a Biden-Harris 2024 campaign spokesperson, told The Post in an email.
Arrest made after fire at Sanders’ office
Authorities in Vermont arrested a man they said used an accelerant and a lighter to start a fire Friday outside the Burlington office of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
The man, Shant Soghomonian (also known as Michael Soghomonian), 35, previously of Northridge, Calif., was arrested Sunday on a charge of using fire to damage the building at One Church Street in Burlington, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont said in a statement Sunday.
Prosecutors and police did not identify a possible motive for the fire.
On Friday morning, according to prosecutors and the Burlington Police Department, Mr. Soghomonian walked into the vestibule of the Sanders’ office, where a security camera captured him as he sprayed an “apparent accelerant” near the outer door of the office.
Mr. Soghomonian then used a lighter, and “a blaze quickly began” as he fled via a staircase, prosecutors said.
Flooding forces Russia to declare emergency
Russia’s government declared the situation in floodhit areas in the Orenburg region a federal emergency on Sunday, with preparations for possible flooding underway in three other regions, state media reported.
The floods, caused by rising water levels in the Ural River, forced over 4,000 people, including 885 children, to evacuate in the Orenburg region, the regional government said.
State news agency Tass said that a further 2,000 homes were flooded, bringing the total to nearly 6,300 in the region.
The total damage from the flood in the Orenburg region is estimated to amount to around 21 billion rubles ($227 million), the regional government said Sunday.
Russia’s Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov arrived in Orsk — one of the most hard-hit cities — on Sunday to supervise rescue operations.