The state’s secretary of state has confirmed that President Joe Biden will not be featured on Ohio’s presidential ballot in November.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said, “Today, the Speaker of the Ohio House told members of the media there would not be a legislative solution,” adding he was “duty bound to instruct boards of elections to begin preparing ballots that do not include the Democratic Party’s nominees for president and vice president of the United States.”
The official nomination of Biden by the Democratic National Convention will not occur until August 19, which contradicts an Ohio law requiring presidential candidates to inform the secretary of state’s office about their nomination 90 days prior to the election.
Due to the current impasse in the swing state’s legislature, it is now too late to amend the law before the August 7 deadline. While the Senate leaders in Ohio have passed a bill that would resolve this issue by allowing certification to take place 74 days before the election, the House of Representatives adjourned without considering any version of the bill.
To resolve the situation, the Democratic Party could either change the date of their convention or pursue legal action,