Lawmakers haven’t found a fix yet for Biden ballot issue

Ohio officials say President Joe Biden will be on the ballot this fall after Democrats scheduled their convention past the state’s election deadline.

But an exact solution is still taking shape.

Legislative leaders are in talks after Ohio Secretary of State Frank Larose warned that Biden is at risk of not making the Nov. 5 ballot. State law requires officials to certify the ballot by Aug. 7 − 90 days before the election − but the president won’t be nominated until the Democratic National Convention 12 days later.

Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, R-lima, said Wednesday that a legislative fix is on the horizon, but Democrats are still exploring all of their options − which could include litigation or a procedural move by the DNC. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office already nixed a proposal from the party to provisionally certify Biden ahead of the deadline.

“Certainly, it’s something that’s going to happen,” Huffman

said. “We need to take care of it.”

A Biden campaign official reupped a previous statement, saying the president will be on the ballot in all 50 states.

Ohio has one of the earliest ballot deadlines in the country, according to the National Association of Secretaries of State. Some states tie it directly to the convention date: Michigan, for example, requires political parties to submit their nominees for president and vice president one business day after the convention.

Washington and Alabama ran into the same problem as Ohio with this year’s DNC, but both states have already addressed it. The Alabama Legislature is on track to change their deadline and the Seattle Times reported that Washington’s secretary of state will accept provisional certification.

Ohio passed exemptions in 2012 and 2020 to get presidential candidates on the ballot when parties scheduled their conventions too late. Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-kitts Hill, and House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-upper Arlington,

said any legislation passed this year should take care of the problem for good.

“We as Democrats can’t do this by ourselves,” Russo said. “You’ve got to have a willingness from enough Republicans as well and an agreement on what the solution is. From my perspective, continuing to do this temporarily is just setting us up for this to come up again into the future.”

Huffman said he talked with Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-lakewood, this week about how best to move forward with a proposal − which could include a permanent change to the deadline. Stephens said House attorneys are also looking at possible solutions.

Democrats are hedging their bets and emphasized that a legislative fix isn’t the only option on the table. But Antonio said she’s confident it will be handled because “everybody wins when both candidates are on the ballot.”

“The discussion is there, and it will become reality when we see it,” Antonio said. “We have certainly had those conversations, and there seems to be a willingness to do that.”