Ohio lawmakers are confident that President Joe Biden will run in the November election, but how exactly that will happen remains a question. The fix will not be made by the Legislature, Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, and Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, said during separate meetings Tuesday morning.
“There is just no will on the part of the Legislature to do this,” Stephens said.
Russo said she was skeptical the amendment would ever be introduced in the Legislature.
“We saw the dysfunction in this place,” she said. “And I think we saw that people were unable to put aside partisanship, hyper-partisanship and infighting. … I think at this point you’re probably going to see either, you know, some internal party fallout or maybe a court case.”
But Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said the Legislature must implement a solution.
“I have every confidence that this can be done,” he said on Tuesday. “No one should worry, they will be able to vote for the president or former president, whoever they want. It is known that this will not be a situation in which the president’s name will not be on the ballot. So either the court will do it or the legislator will do it.”
Ohio law requires political parties to certify their candidates to the Secretary of State “on or before” 90 days before the election. The problem is that the Democratic National Convention, where Biden will officially be nominated, will not take place until August 22 – 75 days before the election.
Acts of the House of Representatives and the Senate
Two weeks ago o The House of Representatives and the Senate have proposed various ways to solve the problem instead, it would push the deadline to 74 days before the election.
The Senate bill included a voting amendment and amendments that would prohibit foreign nationals from contributing to political campaigns into House Bill 114, the campaign child care bill. The Senate adopted the bill during its session on May 7.
The House passed Senate Bill 92, stripping it of previous language regarding last year’s special elections and placing it on the ballot presidential nomination language – which makes this bill tidy. But the House adjourned before voting to approve their bill.
Alabama Amendment
Alabama found itself in a similar situation, but lawmakers passed legislation and the Republican governor signed a bill guaranteeing Biden would be on the state’s ballot in November.
The bill shortens the certification deadline in Alabama from 82 days before the election to 74 days.
Follow the OCJ reporter Megan Henry on Twitter.
