Biden campaign forced to deal with GOP-led states to get on ballots
President’s appearance on Ohio and Alabama ballots depends on Republicans accepting provisional certifications
COLUMBUS, Ohio — President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is wrangling with Republican-dominated state governments in Ohio and Alabama to assure he is listed on their fall ballots, as once-mundane procedural negotiations get caught up in the nation’s fractious politics.
Both states, which carry a combined 26 electoral votes, have deadlines for appearing on the ballot that precede the Democratic National Convention from Aug. 19 to Aug. 22 in Chicago. Lawyers for Biden’s campaign have asked their secretaries of state to accept provisional certifications before the cutoff, which would then be updated once Biden is formally nominated.
That’s where things have gotten sticky. Election chiefs in both states have identified solutions that are putting Democrats in the tenuous position of asking Republicans for help. Though former President Donald Trump is favored to win both states, any absence of a sitting president from the ballot could sway faith in the electoral outcome.
It also raises the question: Will the divided parties be able to cooperate for the sake of voters?
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen told The Associated Press that he will not accept a provisional certification because
he does not have legal authority to do so. Allen said he sent a letter to the Alabama Democratic Party notifying them of the date problem as a “heads up” so they could address the issue.
“I’m not denying anybody. I’m just telling them what the law is,” Allen said.
The state’s Democratic Party chairman, Randy Kelley, accused Allen of “partisan gamesmanship,” pointing out that Alabama has made adjustments to accommodate late Republican conventions in the past.
Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose sent a similar letter to the Ohio Democratic Party last week. The letter suggested the party needed either to reschedule its convention or obtain a legislative fix by May 9 to get Biden on the Nov. 5 ballot.
The notion of striking a presidential candidate from a ballot began with a legal campaign last year to remove Trump from various state ballots by citing a rarely used clause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment prohibiting those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office. After Democratic-dominated states including Colorado and Maine did so, Republicans warned they could counter by barring Biden from ballots in red states if the Supreme Court didn’t reverse the actions.
The high court did just that last month, ruling that individual states can’t bar a candidate running for national office under the constitutional provision. But Alabama and Ohio have proceeded anyway, citing the technical conflicts between Biden’s official nomination and their own ballot deadlines.
Biden’s campaign argues there is precedent in Alabama for accepting provisional certification, including when Republicans faced the same issue in 2020. In that year, the state both accepted a provisional certification for Trump and passed legislation containing a one-time deadline change. Democratic lawyers argue it was the provisional certification, and not the legislation, that allowed Trump onto the ballot.
Regardless, Allen’s Republican predecessor as secretary of state, John Merrill, said Alabama worked it out for Trump and “absolutely the state should do the same” for Biden.
“Everybody deserves the chance to vote for the major party nominees. That’s why it’s important for the state to do whatever is necessary to make sure that everybody in the state is properly represented,” he said.
Republicans also submitted provisional certifications for Trump in Montana, Oklahoma and Washington in 2020, as did Democrats for Biden in those three states. On Thursday, the state of Washington agreed to accept a provisional certification for Biden to meet its preconvention deadline. Oklahoma’s deadline also falls before the convention this year, but a spokesperson said its law already anticipates such occasions by allowing for provisional certifications.