Biden encounters obstacle in securing spot on Ohio’s presidential ballot

Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is facing a complication in Ohio after the secretary of state revealed on Friday that the president could be left off the ballot for the state’s presidential election.

Counsel for Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose wrote in a letter to the state Democratic Party that the deadline to certify the ballot is Aug. 7, a week and a half before the Democratic National Committee’s Aug. 19 nominating convention.

These dates create “an apparent conflict in Ohio law,” legal counsel Paul Disantis wrote, according to ABC News.

Ohio law requires presidential candidates to have been nominated by their national party before they can qualify for placement on the ballot. There are alternative means to make the ballot, but they would require action from the DNC or the state’s general assembly.

“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,” Disantis wrote.

A Biden campaign spokesperson told ABC News that the campaign anticipated it would still make the state’s ballot.

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“We’re monitoring the situation in Ohio and we’re confident that Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states,” the spokesperson said.

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, won Ohio by decisive margins in both 2016 and 2020.