Earlier in the week, Ohio’s Senate Republicans passed a bill that would both allow President Joe Biden to appear on their general election ballot in November, despite failing to follow the established rules, while also barring foreign contributions to ballot issue campaigns.
The Democrat’s ballot access in Ohio had been uncertain due to a conflict between the president’s official party nomination date and the state’s election certification deadlines. Ohio law requires political parties to confirm their presidential candidates 90 days before the general election, which falls on August 7. Biden was not set to become the official nominee until the DNC convenes on August 19, which is after the deadline. However, the virtual nomination process ensures that Biden is officially nominated before the August 7 deadline.
Rather than work with Republicans and prohibit foreign cash flowing into their elections, Democrats have decided to merely nominate Biden virtually ahead of the convention, writes The Hill.
DNC Chair Jaime Harrison announced Democrats would be holding a virtual roll call to ensure Biden gets on the ballot in all 50 states — an announcement made on the same day Ohio state lawmakers returned to the Capitol for a special session to solve Biden’s ballot access issue.
“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree. But when the time has come for action, they have failed to act every time, so Democrats will land this plane on our own,” Harrison said in a statement.
“Through a virtual roll call, we will ensure that Republicans can’t chip away at our democracy through incompetence or partisan tricks and that Ohioans can exercise their right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice,” he added.
Democrats were notified earlier this year that the timing of their convention didn’t meet a state deadline to certify the party’s presidential nominee. Democrats needed to certify Biden by Aug. 7 in order to make the Ohio ballot, but the Democratic National Convention kicks off beginning Aug. 19.
The move kills two birds with one stone for Democrats. They can pretend that Ohio Republicans tried to keep Biden off the ballot after they tried to prevent Trump from being on the ballot in multiple states for no reason and they can avoid a potential protest during the nominating of Biden.
Earlier in May, it was reported that Democrats are very worried about their convention this summer.
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