The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced Tuesday that it will nominate Joe Biden through a “virtual roll call” vote before the August convention to ensure his inclusion on the Ohio ballot in November.
Ohio’s ballot deadline is two weeks before the DNC's planned in-person presidential nomination convention in Chicago. Last week, Frank LaRose, Ohio's Republican secretary of state, warned that Biden would not appear on the state’s ballot unless lawmakers moved the ballot access deadline beyond the Democratic convention. In response, the DNC decided to expedite the nominating process, although the date for the virtual roll call has not yet been set.
“There are typically a few states each election year whose ballot certification deadlines do not align with the party’s official nominating convention. These misalignments are almost always quietly resolved by either the state legislature or by the Secretary of State,” Politico reports.
The virtual nomination process will resemble the method used during the 2020 convention, which was largely virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The DNC confirmed that the Chicago convention will proceed as planned, serving as a gathering event for the party.
Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, called a special session to pass a law ensuring Biden's appearance on the ballot. However, GOP lawmakers insisted that any changes include a campaign finance bill to prohibit foreign donations to state and local ballot-issue campaigns. The party’s supermajority rejected a Democratic proposal to simply move the ballot deadline without additional provisions.
In addition to Ohio, the states of Washington and Alabama also have early certification deadlines before the DNC convention. Democrats in Washington resolved the issue by offering provisional certification of Biden’s nomination. In Alabama, lawmakers passed legislation earlier this spring to defer the state’s certification deadline until after the DNC convention.
