While some Democrats are desperate to keep Donald Trump off the November ballot by hook or by crook, it appears that someone at the Democratic National Headquarters got their calendars confused.
Now, due to a mixup of dates, Joe Biden may not make the ballot in Ohio for the general election.
ABC News first broke the story that the Biden campaign was apparently unaware of ballot rules in the Buckeye State and it might cost them.
There could be potential general election ballot access concerns for President Joe Biden in Ohio, the state’s Secretary of State’s office said in a letter to Ohio Democratic Chair Liz Walters on Friday.
In the letter, obtained by ABC News, legal counsel for Secretary of State Frank LaRose sought clarification for “an apparent conflict in Ohio law” between the Democratic National Committee’s nominating process and the deadline by which the party’s presidential nominee must be certified to the Secretary of State’s office.
The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to convene on Aug. 19, which will take place more than a week after the Aug. 7 deadline to certify a presidential candidate in Ohio, the office flagged according to state code, which would create a problem for Biden’s eligibility.
“I am left to conclude that the Democratic National Committee must either move up its nominating convention or the Ohio General Assembly must act by May 9, 2024 (90 days prior to a new law’s effective date) to create an exception to this statutory requirement,” legal counsel Paul Disantis wrote in the letter, requesting a quick response on a solution to become compliant with state law.
The Ohio general assembly has the option to enact an exemption waiver before May 9th, or else the convention might need to be rescheduled earlier, a scenario deemed unlikely due to logistical and scheduling constraints.
In the 2020 presidential election, President Donald Trump won the state of Ohio with over 53 percent of the vote, securing 18 crucial electoral votes. Over the past decade the state has moved towards the Republicans and is considered a must-win state for GOP in 2024.
