Dave Yost, the Attorney General of Ohio, rejected attempts by state Democrats to get around a key election deadline and get President Joe Biden on the ballot, Fox News Digital reported. According to that outlet, the AG’s office, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, and Donald McTigue, the attorney who is representing the Democrat effort to get Biden on the ballot, show that AG Yost rejected efforts from the Democrats to get around Ohio’s deadline.
As background, earlier in April, Secretary of State LaRose warned Democrats that, as the Democratic National Convention won’t occur until after Ohio’s August 7 deadline for certifying the presidential candidates passes, either the Ohio legislature will have to change the law or Democrats will have to change their convention plans, or Biden won’t appear on the ballot.
The Democrats then responded through McTigue, Fox News Digital reports, arguing in a letter that the Ohio Secretary of State has the authority to accept a provision certification before the official certification, which would mean Biden and Harris could get on the ballot before their official certification at the Democrat Convention.
AG Yost’s office shot down that plan in a letter released on Monday, April 15. In the statement, AG Yost’s office rejected the idea that a provisional certification is allowed in Ohio under its laws, saying, “The Democratic Party’s notion of providing a ‘provisional certification’ by the statutory deadline simply is not provided for by law.”
Continuing, AG Yost’s office argued that there must be actual certification of the president and vice-president candidates before the August 7 deadline. It said, “Instead, the law mandates the Democratic Party to actually certify its president and vice-president candidates on or before August 7, 2024. No alternative process is permitted.”
The letter went on to note that, as a result, the Democrats must actually certify candidates for the Secretary of State to allow them on the ballot. It said, “Thus, the Secretary of State lacks authority to accept ‘provisional certifications’ from the Democratic Party pursuant to [the law]. The Democratic Party must actually certify its presidential candidates on or before August 7, 2024 to be placed on the 2024 General Election ballot.”
The letter also noted that the legislature can change the date to fit with the convention schedule, bu that the Secretary of State does not have the power to do so, saying, “The Secretary’s lack of authority to change the certification deadlines in R.C. 3505.10(B)(1) played out on two prior occasions, in 2012 and 2020, when the General Assembly passed legislation relaxing the deadline to accommodate both the Democratic Party’s and the Republican Party’s national convention schedules. On both of those prior occasions, the deadlines were revised through legislation, not by the Secretary of State. Just like the two prior occasions, there is no provision in Ohio’s Election Code that would permit the Secretary to provide the Democratic Party with an alternative process this time around.”
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President Biden’s campaign, for its part, insists that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will appear on the ballot in all 50 states, seemingly ignoring the issue with the timing of the certification and the Ohio ballot.